American skier Mikaela Shiffrin aims to end eight-year medal drought

The GIST: American skiing star Mikaela Shiffrin, the winningest Alpine skier of all time, hasn’t won an Olympic medal since 2018 — and her final chance to reach the podium at these Games is in today’s 7:30 a.m. ET slalom. Drop right in on today’s story as her Olympic journey continues.

⛷️ Slalom is Shiffrin’s best event: Slalom is the shortest of the five Olympic Alpine skiing events, featuring competitors navigating through gates and racing to the finish line. And it’s where Shiffrin really shines: Of her record-setting 108 career World Cup victories, 71 are in slalom and seven came this year alone.

👀 But Shiffrin hasn’t met high expectations on the Olympic stage: Competing in her fourth Games, Shiffrin (who’s won two Olympic golds and one silver) has not medaled since 2018. She missed the podium in all six of her races in Beijing 2022 in the wake of her father’s unexpected death, a tragedy that, if you ask her mom/coach, almost ended her career.

• As for these Games, Shiffrin had an unexpectedly slow slalom in the team combined last week and finished 11th in an extremely competitive giant slalom.

🏅 Zooming out: Milano Cortina has seen many stars fall short of the moment and succumb to the pressure (see: figure skaters Ilia Malinin and Amber Glenn, or Norwegian skier Atle Lie McGrath). A household name, the spotlight is squarely on Shiffrin in the slalom. All we can do is watch and wait.