It’s been a while, but Mikaela Shiffrin is once again atop the Olympic podium.
The American alpine skiing star ended an eight-year Olympic drought by winning gold in the women’s slalom on Wednesday. It was Shiffrin’s third career Olympic gold and fourth medal overall, adding to her legendary legacy.
The slalom was the final event for Shiffrin at the Milan Cortina Olympics, and the win broke a streak of eight straight Olympic events without a medal for the 30-year-old from Colorado.
As Shiffrin celebrates her return to Olympic glory, let’s crunch the numbers on her gold medal performance.
Alpine skier Mikaela Shiffrin will be the first to say she doesn’t get emotional, but the Olympic superstar couldn’t help get teary-eyed as she remembered the coach who changed the trajectory of her career.
1.5
Shiffrin finished with a total time of 1:39.10, putting her 1.5 seconds ahead of silver-winning Camille Rast of Switzerland.
While 1.5 seconds may not seem like a long time, it’s an eternity in alpine skiing. The combined winning margin between first and second place at the 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018 and 2022 women’s slalom was 1.51 seconds (h/t Rodger Sherman).
U.S. alpine skier Mikaela Shiffrin was trying to connect with her dad, who passed away in 2020, before her gold medal slalom run.
2
Shiffrin is the first American to win two Olympic slalom golds.
Switzerland’s Vreni Schneider is the only other skier — man or woman — to win two slalom golds, doing so in 1988 and 1994.
4
Shiffrin is only the second American woman to collect four career Olympic alpine medals, joining Julia Mancuso.
Decorated Olympic alpine skier Mikaela Shiffrin grabs a palette of pasta sauce and starts painting ahead of the Milan Cortina Olympics.
12
Shiffrin went 12 years between Olympic slalom golds.
The 12-year gap is the largest ever between individual gold medals in the same Winter Olympic event (h/t Bill Mallon).
18 and 30
Shiffrin is now the youngest and oldest American woman to win Olympic alpine gold.
She was 18 when she won her first Olympic gold at the 2014 Sochi Games and is 30 years old in Milan Cortina.
She may be fast down the slopes, but can U.S. alpine Skier Mikaela Shiffrin keep up making pasta with Italian nonnas?