The women's combined team has a clear favorite: the world champion duo Breezy Johnson/Mikaela Shiffrin from the USA.
10.02.2026, 05:00
10.02.2026, 06:54
SDA
The 2022 Olympic Games were a sporting nightmare for Mikaela Shiffrin, who was spoiled for success. Regarded as a candidate for six medals, she returned home from China empty-handed. In her specialty disciplines of slalom and giant slalom, she was eliminated after just a few gates in the first run. "Thank you for taking a picture that shows me standing up," she said at a media conference in Cortina - and complained that she deserved more laughs for that line.
Shiffrin, who already has two gold medals and a silver in her Olympic palmarès from the 2014 and 2018 Games, has not yet fully come to terms with her failure, but the 30-year-old American also wants to put things into perspective. "I can tell you, I would choose Beijing over falling in Killington with an abdominal injury any day." She crashed on November 30, 2024 on the way to her 100th World Cup victory and suffered a stab wound to her stomach, which took a long time to recover from.
Tuesday is now set to be the start of a more successful 2026 Games - and the chances are excellent in the team combination. There had long been speculation as to whether the dream duo of superstars Shiffrin and Lindsey Vonn would happen. Shiffrin had stayed out of the discussions. "I'm glad I had nothing to do with the decision. I'm happy about every teammate."
With Vonn's crash and broken leg in the downhill on Sunday, everything is clear anyway. Shiffrin will line up as the absolute favorite with Breezy Johnson, just like at the World Championships a year ago. Back then, before winning gold together, Johnson had previously been downhill world champion and is now Olympic champion. The USA has a new dream duo that is no less strong - and should help to banish Shiffrin's Olympic demons.
