Mikaela Shiffrin is opening up about the moment that helped her reset before winning Olympic slalom gold in Milano-Cortina.
Speaking on TODAY, Shiffrin said she had an “almost out-of-body experience” at the start-gate before her second run. The moment came after she watched the skier ahead of her miss a gate, bringing her back to her disappointing performance at the 2022 Beijing Olympics.
“My biggest fear going into the Games was that I would feel really isolated and alone,” Shiffrin said.
But, thanks to her team, that’s not how she felt on the Italian slopes last month.
“They made me feel very supported and feel very together,”
Shiffrin said of her backers. “It felt like they were skiing it with me.”
The 31-year-old went on to complete a clean second run and top the Olympic slalom podium, earning her third career individual gold medal. The victory only padded Shiffrin’s already-stacked resume, which spans a record 110 World Cup wins and a record-tying six overall World Cup titles.
Will Olympic Skier Mikaela Shiffrin Compete in the Next Winter Olympics?
While she remains at the top of her game, questions still surround Shiffrin’s future — especially when it comes to participating in the 2030 Winter Games in the French Alps.
“We look forward to seeing you at the next Winter Olympics,” TODAY anchor Craig Melvin told her with a smile, closing out the interview.
“Very good, Very good. We’ll talk later,” she laughed.
Mikaela Shiffrin returned to the top of the podium Wednesday, as the US star won the women's slalom by a dominant 1.50 seconds at the 2026 Winter Olympics — her first medal since 2018.
The 30-year-old posted a combined time of 1:39.10 across two runs. Switzerland's Camille Rast took silver, while Sweden's Anna Swenn Larsson claimed bronze at age 34, becoming the oldest slalom medalist in Olympic history.
Shiffrin led Wednesday's race from the start. She posted 47.13 seconds in the first run, building a 0.82-second lead before going last in the second run and sealing the victory.
The victory ends an eight-year Olympic medal drought. She went nine consecutive events without reaching the podium, including six at the 2022 Beijing Olympics, where she failed to finish three races. In Cortina, she's finished fourth in the team combined and 11th in giant slalom.
Mikaela Shiffrin Leaves Her Mark on the Olympic Slopes
The slalom triumph mirrored Shiffrin's Sochi 2014 gold medal performance, won at just 18 years old. Now, 12 years later, she becomes only the second skier to win two Olympic slalom golds, joining Switzerland's Vreni Schneider.
"Maybe just today, I realized what happened in Sochi," an emotional Shiffrin said afterward. "It's crazy."
The gold also makes Shiffrin the most decorated US alpine skier in Olympic history, with three golds and four total medals. Additionally, she holds the record for most World Cup victories with 108 wins.
The winningest alpine skier in FIS World Cup history has one shot left at a 2026 Winter Games podium finish, as Team USA star Mikaela Shiffrin hunts her first Olympic medal in nine straight attempts in Wednesday's women's slalom final.
While Shiffrin entered this month's Olympics having won the event seven times across her most recent eight World Cup starts, the US standout has struggled so far in Cortina — four years after failing to medal at the 2022 Beijing Games.
After a 15th-place slalom run — notably amid difficult course conditions — pushed Shiffrin and teammate Breezy Johnson down to fourth in last week's team combined, the 30-year-old posted an 11th-place finish in Sunday's giant slalom, an event in which Shiffrin won gold at the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics.
In a sport where split-second margins determine victory or defeat, Shiffrin preempted her critics by reframing the outcome of her Sunday race, saying "when I think about it, I'm [only] three tenths off of the podium."
"It's such a high level of competition," Shiffrin explained. "It is really, really cool that we as athletes were able to showcase that on this day."
How to watch Mikaela Shiffrin in the Olympic women's slalom
The USA ski star will cap the 2026 Winter Games with her best event, racing in the women's slalom on Wednesday.
Shiffrin will race for Olympic hardware beginning at 4 AM ET, live on USA Network.
Team USA will see 97 skiers and snowboarders representing the red, white, and blue in Milan next month, with US Ski & Snowboard tapping a wealth of veteran experience for the 2026 Winter Olympic roster on Thursday.
All-time winningest FIS World Cup skier Mikaela Shiffrin will compete in her fourth Winter Games, with the 30-year-old two-time Olympic gold medalist hunting hardware in her preferred slalom event after failing to medal in Beijing in 2022.
At the same time, 41-year-old skier Lindsey Vonn is also mounting a dramatic comeback, participating in her fifth Olympics after winning multiple downhill medals on this season's World Cup circuit.
Also returning to the Olympic stage will be 25-year-old halfpipe star Chloe Kim, who is officially clear to return to competition after a recent shoulder dislocation put her Milan plans to become the first snowboarder to win three straight Olympic gold medals in jeopardy.
Alongside the deep veteran talent on the roster, US Ski & Snowboard is sending 48 athletes to make their Olympic debuts next month, including 15-year-old halfpipe freestyle skiier Abby Winterberger and 20-year-old two-sport talent Sammy Smith.
Smith, a Stanford sophomore and starting defender for the 2025 College Cup runner-up Cardinal soccer team, will compete in cross-country skiing for Team USA in Milan.
Considering 15 of the 25 US Olympic medals at the 2022 Beijing Games came from ski and snowboarding, US snowboard program director Rick Bower noted that, "In many ways, making this team is even harder than [competing in] the Olympics themselves."
With the 2026 Winter Olympics fast approaching, US skiing icon Mikaela Shiffrin has started the 2025/26 FIS World Cup cycle in top form — particularly in her favored slalom event.
Closing out last season with a victory, Shiffrin is currently on a multi-event winning streak, earning her sixth straight slalom title in Semmering, Austria, on Sunday.
"It was a really hard day today, tough conditions, a really big fight, and the pressure's on… I did my best, best possible run," Shiffrin said afterwards.
Momentum is on her side, with Shiffrin set to enter the 2026 Winter Games in Italy as the winningest skier in World Cup history, surpassing Swedish legend Ingemar Stenmark's 86 wins in March 2023 and becoming the first skier to reach 100 World Cup victories earlier this year.
Sunday's race marked the 30-year-old's 106th career World Cup title, with Shiffrin looking to add to her ever-growing historic record with three more slalom events scheduled before the Olympic women's Alpine skiing events kick off on February 8th.
The 2014 Olympic slalom champion and 2018 Winter Games giant slalom gold medalist is aiming to return to the podium after failing to medal at the 2022 Beijing Olympics.
Shiffrin will likely hit the slopes again next weekend, when the women's FIS World Cup lands in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, for a giant slalom and slalom competition.