CORTINA, D’AMPEZZO, Italy — Well, that’s an upset. Breezy Johnson and Mikaela Shiffrin finished fourth in the Alpine team combined, missing the podium by 0.06 seconds.
Johnson gifted Shiffrin a slight lead, winning the downhill portion of the event by 0.06 seconds for a time of 1:36.59. Shiffrin led at the first timing interval of the slalom, but then looked progressively slower. She finished 15th out of 18 with a time of 45.38, a full second slower than Germany’s Emma Aicher, who won the slalom run. That’s a shocking gap for someone who has won the first seven World Cup slaloms and finished second in the other.
Johnson and Shiffrin finished with a combined time of 2:21.97. But, Americans did take home a medal. Jacqueline Wiles and Paula Moltzan upstaged their Olympic champion teammates for the bronze medal with a combined time of 2:21.91. Austria’s Ariane Raedler (1:36.65) and Katharina Huber (45.01) won gold with a time of 2:21.66. Germany’s Kira Weidle-Winkelmann (1:37.33) and Emma Aicher took silver in 2:21.71.
Johnson and Shiffrin, who have been good friends since they were kids, won the team combined at last year’s world championships, when the event made its debut. It was not certain if they’d be paired up again for the Olympics because U.S. Skiing uses previous results to create the teams, and Lindsey Vonn is higher in the downhill standings than Johnson.
But Vonn broke her left leg in a crash during the Olympic downhill and Johnson won gold in the race, ensuring she and Shiffrin would team up together again.
‘It’s been something that I’ve wanted ever since they announced this event,’ Johnson said of being paired with Shiffrin. ‘To be able to have a moment where you win a gold medal with one of your best friends is not something that a lot of people get to experience in their life and it’s really cool.’
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