Olympics
It was a hotly anticipated women’s team combined today, February 10, in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy. With so many favorites on the start list, a nail-biter to the finish felt inevitable—and race day did not disappoint. The day ended with Team Austria 2 take the gold, while Team Germany claimed silver, and USA’s Team 2 claimed bronze. USA’s Team 1 finished just off the podium in fourth.
Alpine team combined consists of a downhill and a slalom run with the combined time counting. Here’s how the day unfolded:
Starting with the downhill, USA’s Team 1 established early dominance as Breezy Johnson laid down a time of 1:36.59. Slotting into a close second was Austria’s Team 2, led by Ariane Rädler, just 0.06 seconds behind Johnson, while third place went to Italy’s Team 2 with Pirovano and Peterlini. Sitting closely behind in fourth was USA’s Team 2 of Wiles and Moltzan, followed by Austria’s Team 1 in fifth, Germany’s Team in sixth, Norway’s Team in seventh, and France’s Team 2 in eighth. Beyond that, time gaps ballooned to more than a second, making medal contention near impossible.
Tragically, Italy’s Team 1, led by the Queen of Speed Sofia Goggia, as well as USA’s Team 3, led by Bella Wright, ended the downhill—and thus their entire team combined—with DNFs.
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USA’s Team 4 finished in 21st, with Keely Cashman 3.32 seconds behind her teammates on Team 1.
Then came the slalom, conducted in reverse order of the downhill results. The pressure was firmly on the tech skiers to bring it home, and it proved harder than one might expect. Of the 26 teams that started run one, eight failed to finish the slalom, keeping everyone on edge until the very end and leaving plenty of room for heartbreak.
AJ Hurt from USA’s Team 4 continued Cashman’s solid performance, setting a benchmark slalom time of 44.99—eighth fastest of the day and a result she can be truly proud of—bringing the team to a combined time of 2:24.90. Ultimately it was 15th place for the best friends from Tahoe.
But the standout slalom run came from young gun Emma Aicher of Germany, who delivered the fastest slalom time of the day, launching Team Germany into the lead and setting a mark that would become the stumbling block for many. France’s Team 2, which had been sitting eighth after the downhill, saw its podium hopes end with a DNF, while seventh-ranked Norway finished but dropped behind Switzerland’s Team 1.
Aicher, who claimed silver in the downhill just two days ago, switched disciplines today and extended Germany’s lead to 0.83 seconds, throwing down the gauntlet for the remaining contenders. Austria’s Team 1 could not match her pace, losing the advantage Cornelia Hütter had built in the downhill by the mid-section and falling half a second behind Germany.
Next to attack the course was Paula Moltzan. The American delivered a fast run but bled time to Aicher, finishing 0.20 seconds back. With three teams still to go, anything remained possible and the podium was far from decided. With Italy’s Team 1 already out, the responsibility of defending the host nation’s honor fell to Team 2, but the pressure proved too much for Peterlini, who straddled a gate to end Italy’s podium bid. In the finish area, Weidle-Winkelmann and Aicher erupted in celebration, knowing a podium was now guaranteed—though the color of the medal was still uncertain.
Katharina Huber was next out of the gate for Austria’s Team 2, and she delivered a clean, controlled run that vaulted Austria into the lead by 0.05 seconds. Rädler and Huber celebrated wildly in the finish.
That left only the reigning world champions in the team combined: Mikaela Shiffrin and USA’s Team 1. Shiffrin lost Johnson’s time advantage from the downhill run early, slipping 0.11 seconds behind the Austrians. The American slalom specialist pushed on the increasingly soft course but couldn’t find the necessary speed, falling even further back behind both Germany and USA’s Team 2, leaving her teammates to claim bronze and finishing just outside the podium.
Today also excitingly saw the return of Petra Vlhova to competitive ski racing. While her run ended with a DNF, the Slovakian ski racer had put down a competitive top-half. We look forward to seeing her compete at the women’s slalom race on Wednesday, February 18.
