Feb 10, 2026
3 min read
Mikaela Shiffrin will race exclusively in her core slalom and giant slalom events, as well as on the combined team at the Milan Cortina Olympics after competing in Beijing four years ago.After two serious accidents, it is halving its racing program started in 2022.
CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy - Micaela Shiffrin is narrowing her focus for the Milan Cortina Olympics after suffering a setback in Beijing four years ago.She is cutting her racing program in half from 2022 after two serious accidents.
The American's standout skiing is slalom and giant slalom, plus she only competes in the big team events -- what the U.S. calls her slalom run, head coach Paul Kristofits told The Associated Press on Thursday.
That's compared to the six competitions she competed in in 2022 - when she didn't finish three races and didn't win a medal.
Shiffrin entered one World Cup super-G this season at St. Moritz, Switzerland, in December and performed well until missing the final gate. She was pleased by that performance but then didn't race any other super-Gs.
"That [decision] was made a long time ago to focus on slalom and GS," Kristofic said.
Shiffrin won the 2019 Super-G World Cup in Cortina and has won medals of every color at the World Championship event, including bronze at the 2021 edition in Cortina.
But Shiffrin crashed in Cortina in January 2024 and suffered further injuries after a bad fall in the giant slalom last season in Killington, Vermont.
Kristofic believes Shiffrin's more rational approach, focusing on the slalom (the event in which she won 71 of her record 108 World Cup victories) and the giant slalom (22 World Cup victories) will help her "only positively".
"When you're pursuing so many topics in speed and technology, you can spread yourself too thin," Kristofik said.
“And so I think that narrow focus has helped me stick to what I'm trying to do.
Shiffrin suffered a deep stab wound to her abdomen in Killington and only returned to the GS podium in her final race this weekend before the Olympics less than two weeks ago.
After struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder from the Killington crash, it was a challenge both physically and mentally to get her status at GS.
"There are really two parts," Kristofich said."It just took time and a little patience and continued planning and building every time we got there."
While Shiffrin will not enter the hill on Sunday, Lindsey Vonn, 41, is planning to run despite tearing the ACL in her left-handed knee last week.
Vonn posted a video on social media in which she is actively working out while wearing giant nails.
“I'm sure she'll be as prepared as possible,” Kristofik said.“She made it clear that she would push forward.And we will see that thingsHow will it develop between training and competition?”
Even after Vonn's injury.
"Of course that may still be the case," Kristofic said."I think everybody knows that we have that ability, and not just with one athlete, but with several athletes... We're in a good place going into these competitions."
No one knows how he will act now.
Without being specific about Vonn's status, Krisofic said the two-for-four U.S. delivery will take place after Sunday's scrimmage.
"Of course we want to keep the bottom line in Cortina in the game for that team selection," he said."We just need to see how things develop."
In last year's World Championships, the team of Johnson and Shifrin won gold.So, does their history together play a role in the choice?
"Objective performance is what will determine how our team will do," Kristofic said. "I know there's a lot of passion for the matches that people want to see, but at the end of the day, my job is to put together the best combinations so we can get medals and win."
The slalom standings have been set, with Shiffrin in the lead, followed by Moltzan, Nina O'Brien and AJ Hurt.
A combined team consists of one skier who races downhill and another who races slalom and they combine their times to determine the results.
Is there a discussion with the athletes during the selection process?
“There are always discussions with the athletes,” Kristofic said.“But in the end the decision is up to the coach.
