CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy, Feb 10 - In a surprising turn at the women's team combined Olympic event on Tuesday, Austria's Ariane Raedler and Katharina Huber secured gold, denying heavy U.S. favourites Breezy Johnson and Mikaela Shiffrin a place on the podium.
The Austrian duo finished ahead of Germany's Kira Weidle-Winkelmann and Emma Aicher by 0.05 seconds. The American pairing of Jacqueline Wiles and Paula Moltzan took the bronze for the United States, while Johnson and Shiffrin ended in fourth, missing a medal by 0.06 seconds.
The contest was held on the Olimpia delle Tofane piste, on a slalom course designed by the Austrian coach. Johnson, who holds the world and Olympic downhill title, recorded the fastest time in the downhill leg of the event. Shiffrin, widely dominant in slalom this season with seven wins in eight events and described as the most successful World Cup skier of all time, slipped to 15th place in the slalom leg after losing an early advantage on the course.
The fourth-place finish not only kept the U.S. pair off the podium but also ended Johnson's bid for a "double double" - the prospect of retaining both the world downhill and team combined titles while also adding Olympic gold medals in each discipline. For Aicher, the silver earned on Tuesday marked her second medal of the Games, following a runner-up finish in the downhill; notably, Aicher took part in the slalom leg on Tuesday.
For Shiffrin, the result continues a pattern from the 2022 Beijing Games, where she entered as a favourite yet left without a medal. According to the available information, she still has two remaining opportunities at these Games: the giant slalom and the slalom events.
The margins in Cortina were exceptionally tight: Austria topped the podium by 0.05 seconds over Germany, while the American team featuring Johnson and Shiffrin narrowly missed bronze by 0.06 seconds. The outcome underscored how small differences in downhill and slalom legs can determine the medal order in team combined competition.