2026 Winter Olympics: Mikaela Shiffrin shares her experience as gold medalist

Mikaela Shiffrin’s gold medal in Slalom at the 2026 Winter Olympics holds more meaning to her than just a metal piece around her neck.

On February 18, Shiffrin reached a new summit in her sport and became the most decorated Skier in Olympic history and also the first US skier to win three Olympic gold medals. She wondered if she’d even want to keep skiing without him. She also reached a special milestone in her personal life.

She further told PEOPLE, “This was a moment I have dreamed about. I’ve also been very scared of this moment”. She also told, “Everything in life that you do after you lose someone you love is like a new experience. It’s like being born again, and I still have so many moments where I resist this. I don’t want to be in life without my dad”.  Still, Shiffrin’s gold medal moment helped her come to terms with that, she said.

“Maybe today was the first time I could actually accept this reality. And instead of thinking I would be going in this moment without him, to take the moment to be silent with him,” she said. “And with the whole team who’s here with me now, and with my mom, who is here with me now and has been with me since the beginning. It was just a little more spiritual than I usually am, but I’m really grateful for that”.

Shiffrin said she’d tried to take a nap in between her first and second runs, and as she did so, started to cry thinking about her father. But a change in perspective helped her focus on her goal.

“I was thinking about the fact that I actually can show up today and honestly say in the start that I have all the tools that are necessary to do my best skiing and to earn that moment,” she said, adding that she wanted to win not just for herself, but for her family, including her brother and pregnant sister-in-law, and fiancé Aleksander Aamodt Kilde.

“I just wanted to take that moment,” she said, “and communicate in my heart and in my mind with the people who have been there, and thank them.”

Upon winning, she put her head in her hands in a clear display of emotion. She was seen hugging her mom in a long embrace, and while being awarded her medal, kissed her fingers and touched the podium.

Shiffrin’s gold medal marked her first visit to the Olympic podium in eight years after a disappointing turn in Beijing.

Her combined finish time of 1:39.10 put her 1.50 seconds ahead of the second-place finisher, Camille Rast,  the largest margin in any Olympic alpine skiing event since 1998.

To learn more about all the Olympic and Paralympic hopefuls, come to people.com to check out ongoing coverage before, during and after the games. Watch the Milan Cortina Olympics and Paralympics, beginning Feb. 6, on NBC and Peacock.