Mikaela Shiffrin’s post-Olympic season has been anything but smooth. Chasing her first Giant Slalom victory in over two years, the American led comfortably in Åre. That was until a mistake just five gates from the finish forced her to slam the brakes. The half-second advantage vanished, and so did her bid for redemption. Yet, even as the result slipped away, Shiffrin’s composure hasn’t shaken.

The 31-year-old, who celebrated her birthday the day before the race, was pushing hard and fast in the GS to help boost her overall standings and regrets absolutely nothing.

“A little bit of ‘dumba$$’ and a little bit of ‘efff yeahhh’,” Shiffrin wrote on X. “Mistakes happen…today it happened for me in the first run because I was pushing so hard, which is equally annoying and also exciting!! I was so grateful that it was still enough to give it a go in the second run and climb the ranks!”

The unfortunate but costly mistake sent Shiffrin flying down the ranks as she finished 2.29 seconds behind Rast in the end. Things became even worse when German Emma Aicher produced a career-best performance to climb all the way to fourth at the end of her second run. But that’s when Shiffrin picked herself up and produced an impressive second run to finish fifth.

This echoes Mikaela Shiffrin’s earlier Olympic setbacks.

She endured early hurdles at the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics, beginning with the inaugural women’s alpine team combined event. There, her 15th-place slalom leg dropped her and Breezy Johnson to fourth (just 0.06 seconds off the podium) despite Johnson’s strong downhill.

Shiffrin followed with an 11th-place finish in the giant slalom, extending her Olympic medal drought amid high expectations. She rebounded emphatically by winning gold in the slalom. It was a dramatic turnaround after her Beijing 2022 struggles.

Yet, this time, despite the poor end to her first run and despite Julia Scheib, Aicher, and others outperforming her, Mikaela Shiffrin had nothing but praise for her fellow competitors. After Scheib’s Giant Slalom crown win at Åre, she gave a lot of love to the German Aicher.

“So happy for Julia—first GS globe with STELLAR skiing🥹 So happy for Alice and Paula with their skiing today. And Emma: PB in GS and pushing the overall title race!! Only skier who has achieved top 4 in every discipline—you are a BADASS💪,” Shiffrin added.

Although Mikaela fell short of her ultimate goal, she didn’t leave empty-handed. The American star still set another record despite the disappointment.

Mikaela Shiffrin wins record-extending 109th World Cup race

However, Mikaela Shiffrin’s recovery meant that Aicher only managed to slice off five points from the American’s lead in the race for the overall crystal globe. She now holds a lead of 120 points over Aicher and 223 over Rast, but has now added to that with a big win in the slalom. It’s Shiffrin’s signature event, as she had already secured the title in January before she won the Olympic gold in February.

Although that only came after others put the pressure on, kicked off by Katharina Truppe. She set the pace with a 50.92-second first run, and Emma Aicher (50.73 secs) was the only skier to beat her before Shiffrin arrived. The American finished 0.51 seconds over Aicher’s time to take the lead and never gave up pole position from there.

So much so that she showed exactly why she has more World Cup slalom wins than anyone in history, with her second run. It was a dominant performance as Shiffrin added to her lead to finish 0.94 seconds ahead of Aicher, to secure her 72nd slalom win and a record-extending 109th World Cup win. Even Wendy Holdener and Truppe couldn’t compete, finishing third and fourth, respectively.

“That was really amazing. I was pretty nervous and pretty excited, but in the end, it was challenging to ski,” Shiffrin said, as per Olympics.com.”I pushed really hard, and [am] quite happy to get to the finish too.”

But Aicher’s second-place finish means that Mikaela Shiffrin currently has 1286 points while the German has 1146, giving the American only a 140-point lead in the race for the overall globe. And with four races left in the season (one in each discipline), only time will tell if Shiffrin can secure a record-equaling sixth World Championship gold.