Going into the Giant Slalom at Åre, no skier had won more titles than Mikaela Shiffrin. The 31-year-old currently holds the women’s record for most career GS wins with 22. But she hasn’t won in the discipline since December 2023, although that was set to change. The American was on her way to securing a decent lead in her first run in Åre, until tragedy struck.

The three-time Olympic gold medalist was well on her way to setting a lead of more than half a second. That was after she flew through the first two splits with the fastest time on the slope and was ahead of leader Camille Rast going into the third sector.

But right before she reached the finish, Shiffrin unexpectedly skidded off course and was forced to brake to make the next gate.

“You don’t often see Mikaela Shiffrin make mistakes in any disciplines but she had to put the brakes on there. Just managed to stop in time to haul the skis around the next right footed turn and she’s 2.29 off the pace,” said the commentator.

“Shiffrin will be kicking herself, to get so close to crossing the line with leadership in the bag,” and then the error costed her the leadership.

However, Shiffrin remained unfazed by the loss, as she spoke post the error.

“I felt a really good mentality, both runs. In GS racing, it’s so important to be willing to take the speed,” Mikaela Shiffrin said, as per ESPN.

“I felt really positive things. I was just not really expecting to get like a kind of a little bit of a jump on this last roller.”

“My goal this run was to be really attacking, then I had more speed than I expected,” she added. “For the rest of the run, that was the best run in GS skiing I had in a race this year. I’m so happy with that.”

That unfortunate skid put Mikaela Shiffrin 2.29 seconds off the lead and in 12th place. It echoed her results in the Giant Slalom at the Milano Cortina Olympics, where she finished in 11th place, although just 0.92 seconds behind the gold medalist Federica Brignone. However, the American managed to limit the damage as she recovered enough in her second run to finish fifth on the table.

Mikaela Shiffrin keeps her lead over Emma Aicher in the overall standings

Even that, however, was dangerously close, as Emma Aicher produced a career-best performance. The German currently sits second in the overall standings, behind Mikaela Shiffrin. She finished a career-best fourth, 1.74 seconds behind the eventual winner, Julia Scheib, earning 55 points. That would have hurt Shiffrin even more had she not finished 2.22 seconds behind and ended up in fifth place.

It does mean that the American’s lead stands at 120 points over Aicher and 223 over Rast, in third, with just four races left in the season. However, the next race up on the schedule is the slalom, Shiffrin’s specialty. The 31-year-old won her lone gold at the 2026 Winter Olympics in that discipline, breaking a record in the process.

She finished her two runs with a lead of 1.5 seconds over her nearest competitor, the largest winning margin in Olympic alpine skiing since 1998. That further strengthens the case with the American chasing after her sixth overall title while heading into the final race at Åre as the bona fide favorite for the slalom.