Mikaela Shiffrin Reacts as Medal Drought Continues After Women's Giant Slalom at Winter Olympics

American skier Mikaela Shiffrin accentuated the positive after her 11th-place finish in the giant slalom at the 2026 Winter Olympics.

In Sunday's giant slalom, Shiffrin was 0.92 seconds behind winner Federica Brignone and missed a medal by 0.30 seconds. When this event isn't her specialty, she thought she gave her best on the slope.

"It felt good to push, which was amazing, and I think that's one of the reasons why it felt really good to ski high intensity," she said, per The Athletic's Matthew Futterman. "Returning to GS racing, and I was so far off, I felt like there was no hope to be faster, and then to be here now, like within, just in touch with the fastest woman, that's huge for me."

Shiffrin was also happy to see Brignone add to her impressive comeback story. The 35-year-old broke multiple bones and tore the ACL in her left leg in an April 2025 crash. Competing on home soil, she now has two gold medals.

"That was, like, the greatest show of GS skiing that we've had in a really long time," Shiffrin said. "And to do it, you know, at the Olympics where people actually have eyes on the sport. Federica skied incredible. That was so cool to watch."

Having missed the podium in the 2022 Games, Shiffrin is 0-for-2 so far in Milano Cortina. She and Breezy Johnson were fourth in the women's combined thanks to her poor slalom run.

The women's slalom closes out the alpine skiing portion of the 2026 Olympics on Wednesday. The first runs get underway at 4 a.m. ET, with the second runs to follow at 7:30 a.m.

While these have been a disappointing Olympics for Shiffrin, she has the opportunity to leave Italy on a high note.