Mikaela Shiffrin, a dominant force in alpine skiing with 108 FIS World Cup victories, faced an unexpected setback at the Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics. Partnering with Bridger Johnson in the women's team combined slalom event held in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Shiffrin secured a total time of 2 minutes 21.97 seconds, which placed her team in 4th position overall. Although Johnson's impressive performance in downhill secured the fastest time at 1 minute 36.59 seconds, Shiffrin's disappointing slalom result, coming in 15th among 18 participants with a time of 45.38 seconds, contributed to their failure to medal.

Shiffrin's underwhelming performance in slalom marks the first time since 2012 that she has scored so poorly in an individual event. Despite the pressure of expectations given her past achievements, including a gold medal in slalom at the Sochi 2014 games and multiple medals in Pyeongchang 2018, her struggles at the Beijing 2022 Olympics where she failed to medal only added to the weight of anticipation on her shoulders to perform well this time around. In a response to her performance, Shiffrin expressed a resolve to learn from the experience, indicating her determination to improve and thrive in future competitions.

This event served as a critical opportunity for Shiffrin to regain her competitive confidence after previous disappointments, but the opening race ended on a bittersweet note. With a focus not only on personal redemption but also on national pride, it will be interesting to see how Shiffrin rebounds from this challenging start as the Olympics continue. Her journey through these games will be closely watched by skiing fans and sports enthusiasts around the world, eager to see if she can reclaim her status as an alpine skiing champion.