Mikaela Shiffrin has failed to break her medal drought at the 2026 Olympics so far. Having not won an Olympic medal in the last 8 years, she has failed to win in both her first two events. In the team event, she and Breezy Johnson finished 4th, short of the podium by just 0.06 seconds. In the giant slalom event, Shiffrin finished 11th. While Shiffrin has failed to impress, her coach has scripted history. 

Shiffrin’s coach Karin Harjo became the first woman to set a course for an Olympic alpine ski race, setting Sunday’s giant slalom at the 2026 Olympic Winter Games in Cortina. A course setter is the person assigned to design the exact gate pattern. Harjo, in this case, decided where each gate went, what turning rhythm it created, and how the course managed speed. Everything while maintaining the FIS rules and the event’s safety plan. 

“This is for your daughter’s daughters,” Harjo said in a release from the U.S. Ski and Snowboard. “We’re in 2026, and it’s the first time, but the reason is because of Mikaela. She set out to lift up women in sport, whether it’s competitors, coaches, or workers. Through her greatness, she’s providing the opportunity for women to rise and pave a path for everybody behind us.”

Harjo essentially dictated how the event went. In the past, she has already broken the same barriers in the World Cup. In 2016, she became the first woman to set a women’s World Cup technical course for the first slalom run in Flachau, Austria. She also became just the second woman to serve as a head women’s alpine coach when she joined Alpine Canada in 2022. Today, she remains one of the few women coaches at the Olympics, coaching the most decorated World Cup Alpine Skier of all time. 

“Karin is an exceptional human being, leader and coach,” Shiffrin said in a message to USA TODAY Sports. “I’m so inspired by the work she does. I’m confident it will also inspire the next generation of athletes and coaches.” But if Mikaela Shiffrin’s coach set her course, does that go against the ethics of the tournament? That is a popular debate. However, a course setter is not an “official” judge affecting the results, and the setting is constrained, supervised, and transparent. Amid the conversation around course setting, the spotlight ultimately belonged to the athletes, and one comeback stood above the rest.

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Mikaela Shiffrin Sends Clear Message To Giant Slalom Gold Medalist

As Mikaela Shiffrin lagged behind, another story emerged at the Giant Slalom event at the Olympics. Federica Brignone injured her leg after an accident last year and had to surgically repair it. She explained her level was “not even 80%” when these Olympic Games began. Despite her physical woes, she won her second gold medal in 5 days, claiming the giant slalom title to go with her top finish in the Super G. Despite her disappointing show, Shiffrin was happy for Brignone.

“I think the fastest GS skier in the world got the Olympic gold today, and I think she hammered both runs. The conditions were great for me. I would say it’s a wonderful Olympic GS, and it’s so stacked. This was such a wonderful show of giant slalom competition.”

Shiffrin wore bib No. 3, a nod to the fact she’s back in the top 7 in the world in the GS, something she considered a “challenging task” when the season began. Even as Brignone celebrated, Shiffrin’s Olympic journey remains far from over. Her best event, the slalom, is up ahead. 

Shiffrin has slowly but surely ramped up and could come into her own in the final event. Shiffrin is in top Slalom form. She won the World Cup Slalom title for a record 9th time. In her last race before the Games, it was the record-extending 108th of her World Cup career and 71st in slalom, winning by her biggest margin of the 2025-26 campaign