Alpine skiing-Austria win surprise team combined gold as Shiffrin misses out again

CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy, Feb 10 : Austria's Ariane Raedler and Katharina Huber won women's team combined Olympic gold on Tuesday as overwhelming U.S. favourites Breezy Johnson and Mikaela Shiffrin missed out on the podium in a major shock.

Germany's Kira Weidle-Winkelmann and Emma Aicher took the silver, 0.05 behind, and Jacqueline Wiles and Paula Moltzan finished third for the United States on a slalom piste set by the Austrian coach.

World and Olympic downhill champion Johnson and dominant slalom skier Shiffrin finished fourth - missing a medal by 0.06 of a second - after looking set to repeat their 2025 world championship win.

Johnson was fastest in the downhill leg but Shiffrin, winner of seven out of eight slaloms this season and the most successful World Cup skier of all time, was only 15th in the slalom run on Cortina d'Ampezzo's Olimpia delle Tofane piste after losing the advantage early on.

Shiffrin arrived at the 2022 Beijing Games as favourite to win a fistful of medals but left empty-handed. She has two more chances in giant slalom and slalom.  

The fourth place also ended Johnson's hopes of a "double double" - holding both the world downhill and team combined titles and adding Olympic golds in both.

Silver was Aicher's second of the Games after she finished runner-up in the downhill. Remarkably, the German skied the slalom leg on Tuesday.