American alpine skiing superstar Mikaela Shiffrin saw her quest for an Olympic medal at the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Games continue without success on Sunday, as she finished 11th in the women’s giant slalom.
The 30-year-old Shiffrin, widely regarded as the most successful World Cup skier in history, completed two clean but conservative runs on the demanding Tofane course under clear blue skies. Her combined time of 2:14.42 left her 0.92 seconds behind gold medalist Federica Brignone of Italy and just 0.30 seconds off the shared silver medal positions.
Brignone, competing on home snow, delivered a dominant performance to claim her second gold of these Games, following her earlier victory in super-G. She finished with a time of 2:13.50. Sweden’s Sara Hector and Norway’s Thea Louise Stjernesund tied for silver at 2:14.12, showcasing exceptional consistency across both runs.
Shiffrin, starting with bib No. 3, sat in seventh place after the first run (1:04.25), trailing the leader by over a second. Despite pushing hard in the second run (1:10.17), she dropped four positions as several competitors posted faster splits.
This result extends Shiffrin’s Olympic medal drought to eight consecutive events across the last two Winter Games. She last medaled — and won gold — in giant slalom at the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics, where she also claimed her first Olympic title in slalom at Sochi 2014. Challenges have mounted since, including a serious crash in a 2024 World Cup giant slalom in Killington, Vermont, that caused a puncture wound to her abdomen and required extensive recovery.
Shiffrin had acknowledged before the race that she was still regaining her full “drive” in giant slalom, an event where she has shown improvement in recent World Cup starts but struggled at the Olympic level. Post-race, she expressed optimism despite the outcome.
“Both runs I felt I pushed really hard from the start,” Shiffrin said. “I’m three-tenths off the podium… Today was a really great practice for a strong, flexible mentality, which is what I want to feel in the coming days as well.”
The giant slalom served as valuable preparation for her strongest discipline, slalom, scheduled for Wednesday — her final opportunity to end the drought and add to her Olympic legacy at these Games.
Earlier in the Olympics, Shiffrin finished fourth in the team combined event, narrowly missing a medal alongside her U.S. teammates.
As the pressure builds for the American star, all eyes will turn to the slalom course later this week, where Shiffrin has historically excelled and could still salvage a podium finish in what has otherwise been a challenging Olympic campaign.
