Raedler and Huber of Austria win team combined at the Olympics, Mikaela Shiffrin is 4th

Austrian Underdogs Claim Olympic Gold as Shiffrin’s Medal Drought Continues

In a stunning upset at the Milan Cortina Games, Austria’s Ariane Raedler and Katharina Huber captured gold in the inaugural Olympic team combined event on Tuesday, despite neither having ever won a World Cup race in their careers.

The unexpected victory came as American superstar Mikaela Shiffrin surprisingly finished fourth in her slalom run, squandering a strong first-run lead established by teammate Breezy Johnson in the downhill portion. The result extends Shiffrin’s Olympic medal drought to seven consecutive races.

“For me, it was sure that Mikaela could do it,” Huber said after the race. “In the end, it was really a surprise gold medal for us.”

The team combined event, making its Olympic debut at Cortina d’Ampezzo, pairs one athlete competing in downhill with another in slalom. The combined times determine the final standings, creating opportunities for nations to leverage specialists across disciplines.

Raedler’s second-place finish in the downhill leg gave Austria a strong foundation, while Huber’s 10th-fastest slalom run proved sufficient for gold when Shiffrin failed to deliver her usual slalom dominance. Shiffrin, who holds the all-time record with 108 World Cup victories—including 71 in slalom—surprisingly posted only the 15th fastest time in her specialty discipline.

Germany’s Kira Weidle-Winkelmann and Emma Aicher claimed silver, while Americans Paula Moltzan and Jacqueline Wiles secured bronze. For Wiles, who placed fourth in the downhill portion, and Moltzan, who delivered the fourth-fastest slalom run, the bronze represents their first Olympic medals.

“Usually, Mikaela is the best slalom skier, and we expected her to be super good in this slalom today, too,” Weidle-Winkelmann said. “But this is also slalom. You never know.”

The disappointing performance continues a troubling Olympic pattern for Shiffrin, who despite her World Cup dominance, has struggled on the sport’s biggest stage in recent years. After collecting two golds and a silver in her first two Olympics, Shiffrin failed to medal in any of her six events at the 2022 Beijing Games.

Before Shiffrin’s final run, she received a seemingly reassuring message over team radio: “No tricks here at all. Actually, it’s nothing to report. You got it.” However, the 29-year-old American lost time at every checkpoint and finished 0.31 seconds behind the leaders—just 0.06 seconds shy of joining her compatriots Moltzan and Wiles on the podium.

In the finish area, Johnson—who recently claimed individual downhill gold—embraced her visibly disappointed teammate while the Austrian duo began their celebration.

For Aicher, the silver adds to an impressive Games performance, as she had already secured silver in the individual downhill. The young German skier stands out as one of the few all-around competitors participating in every alpine event at these Olympics.

The Austrian victory highlights the unpredictable nature of Olympic competition, where established stars sometimes falter while lesser-known athletes rise to the occasion. For Raedler and Huber, the gold medal represents a career-defining achievement that transcends their World Cup results.

Shiffrin still has opportunities to end her Olympic medal drought with her individual events—giant slalom and slalom—yet to come. As the most decorated slalom skier in history, expectations remain high despite Tuesday’s disappointing performance.

The team combined event has added an exciting new dimension to Olympic alpine skiing, creating opportunities for strategic team selections and dramatic finishes that showcase both speed and technical disciplines within a single competition.