Colorado native Mikaela Shiffrin wins Olympic slalom gold, ending eight-year medal drought

CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy (KRDO) – Colorado native Mikaela Shiffrin is once again on top of the Olympic podium, winning gold in the women's slalom to end her eight-year medal drought at the Winter Games and underline her status as one of the greatest alpine skiers of all time.

On Wednesday, the Vail-born skier finished 1.5 seconds ahead of Switzerland's Camille Rast, marking the largest margin of victory in the Olympic Alpine skiing event since 1998.

But Shiffrin says the competition meant a lot more than hardware this time around. It was her first Olympic win since her father died in a tragic accident at the family's home in Colorado in 2020. Through it all, Shiffrin says she never stopped thinking about him.

"This was a moment I have dreamed about – I’ve also been very scared of this moment," Shiffrin said in an interview after the win. "Everything in life that you do after you lose someone you love is like a new experience. It’s like being born again, and I still have so many moments where I resist this. I don’t want to be in life without my dad. And maybe today was the first time that I could actually accept this, like, reality. And instead of thinking I would be going in this moment without him, to take the moment to be silent with him."

Wednesday’s win sent 30-year-old Shiffrin back to the Olympic podium for the first time since 2018, snapping a drought that followed her six-race medal shutout at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.

With the victory, she also became the first American skier in history to earn three Olympic gold medals in Alpine skiing.

Stay up to date with the latest local news, sports, and investigations by downloading the KRDO13 app. Click here to download it from the Apple App Store. Android users can download it from Google Play here.