Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on February 10, 2026
2 min readLast updated: February 10, 2026
Add as preferred source on GoogleAustria wins gold in Olympic Alpine skiing team event, surprising favorites Shiffrin and Johnson. Germany takes silver, U.S. bronze.
By Alan Baldwin
CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy, Feb 10 (Reuters) - Austria's Ariane Raedler and Katharina Huber won women's team combined Olympic gold on Tuesday as overwhelming U.S. favourites Breezy Johnson and Mikaela Shiffrin missed out on the podium in a major shock.
Germany's Kira Weidle-Winkelmann and Emma Aicher took the silver, 0.05 behind, and Jacqueline Wiles and Paula Moltzan finished third for the United States on a slalom piste set by the Austrian coach.
World and Olympic downhill champion Johnson and dominant slalom skier Shiffrin finished fourth -- missing a medal by 0.06 of a second -- after looking set to repeat their 2025 world championship win.
Johnson was fastest in the downhill leg but Shiffrin, winner of seven out of eight slaloms this season and the most successful World Cup skier of all time, was only 15th in the slalom run on Cortina d'Ampezzo's Olimpia delle Tofane piste after losing the advantage early on.
Shiffrin arrived at the 2022 Beijing Games as favourite to win a fistful of medals but left empty-handed. She has two more chances in giant slalom and slalom.
The fourth place also ended Johnson's hopes of a "double double" -- holding both the world downhill and team combined titles and adding Olympic golds in both.
Silver was Aicher's second of the Games after she finished runner-up in the downhill. Remarkably, the German skied the slalom leg on Tuesday.
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Ed Osmond)
Alpine skiing is a competitive winter sport where participants navigate down snow-covered hills on skis, often through a series of gates. It includes various disciplines such as slalom, giant slalom, and downhill racing.
An Olympic gold medal is awarded to the first-place winner in each event at the Olympic Games. It symbolizes the highest achievement in sports and is made primarily of silver, with a thin layer of gold.
A team combined event in skiing involves both downhill and slalom races, where teams compete collectively. The combined times from both disciplines determine the overall winner.
A podium finish refers to the top three placements in a competition, where athletes receive medals: gold for first, silver for second, and bronze for third.
A slalom run is a type of alpine skiing race where competitors navigate through a series of closely spaced gates. It tests agility and precision as skiers make quick turns.
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