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Austria's Ariane Raedler (L) and Austria's Katharina Huber celebrate their first place with their gold medals after competing in the slalom run of the women's team combined event during the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games at the Tofane Alpine Skiing Centre in Cortina d'Ampezzo. Michael Kappeler/dpa
Ariane Rädler and Katharina Huber claimed an improbable alpine combined team Olympic gold for Austria after superstar Mikaela Shiffrin failed to clinch matters for the United States.
Breezy Johnson and Shiffrin won the gold at last year's world championships, and Sunday's downhill champion Johnson had led the downhill portion on Tuesday.
But Shiffrin failed to bring the gold home with a somewhat hesitant run as they faded to fourth.
Instead, Rädler and Huber rose from second to first for Austria's first gold in their main sport, five hundredths of a second ahead of German pair Kira Weidle-Winkelmann and Emma Aicher, who got silver from sixth.
Aicher had the leading slalom run and got a second silver, after losing out by four-hundredths to Johnson in the downhill.
The US team got a medal after all, a bronze from fourth-place downhill finisher Jacqueline Wiles and slalom specialist Paula Moltzan.
Huber had taken team event gold with Austria in Beijing and has now backed it up in its successor event in Italy.
"I was so nervous when Ariane had her run and also on mine. To stand here as Olympic champion I don't know what to say. Kathi's run was so good," Huber said.
Weidle-Winkelmann spoke of "a rollercoaster" and called Aicher's run "unbelievable. She delivered 100%."
Aicher said: "It’s pretty crazy. It's very nice, and I am happy to do it with Kira. It’s been a good 48 hours.”
While Shiffrin is the most successful World Cup skier ever with 108 victories and won this season's discipline title at a canter, her Olympic drama continued after she posted only the 15th best slalom time, a full second slower than Aicher.
"Didn't quite nail it. I didn't quite find a comfort level that allowed me to produce full speed," she said.
"So, I'm going to have to learn what to do, what to adjust in the short time we have before the other tech races."
Shiffrin won slalom gold in 2014, and four years later giant slalom gold and alpine combined silver in 2018, but the 30-year-old failed to medal at all in 2022 and has now also missed a first opportunity at Milan/Cortina.
Sunday's bronze medallist Sofia Goggia of Italy meanwhile fell in the downhill leg and Slovakian 2022 slalom gold medallist Petra Vlhova straddled a gate in her first race since a severe knee injury in January 2024.
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Austria's Ariane Raedler (L) and Austria's Katharina Huber celebrate their first place with their gold medals after competing in the slalom run of the women's team combined event during the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games at the Tofane Alpine Skiing Centre in Cortina d'Ampezzo. Michael Kappeler/dpa
You must be registered for see images attach
Austria's Ariane Raedler (L) and Austria's Katharina Huber celebrate their first place with their gold medals after competing in the slalom run of the women's team combined event during the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games at the Tofane Alpine Skiing Centre in Cortina d'Ampezzo. Michael Kappeler/dpa
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