Mikaela Shiffrin's fourth Olympics begin with a sluggish slalom and a fourth-place finish

CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy (AP) — Mikaela Shiffrin didn't offer any excuses. No sense of anger, frustration or tears for that matter either.

The most decorated slalom racer in history could tell the snow under her skis didn't feel right as she made her way down the Tofane Alpine Skiing Center in the first Olympic women's team combined event on Tuesday.

Something about the feedback she was getting seemed ... off.

By the time Shiffrin crossed the finish line, the slim lead Breezy Johnson handed her after a brilliant and gutsy downhill was gone. So was a shot at the gold, which went to Austria's Ariane Raedler and Katharina Huber.

Silver and bronze disappeared too, with fellow Team USA members Jackie Wiles and Paula Moltzan holding off their two friends for third to earn the first Olympic medals of their lengthy careers.

Shiffrin's been doing this a long time. She knows these things happen. Yet for Shiffrin, they have typically come in training. The only time they seem to pop up in competition is at the Olympics.

Four years removed from a forgettable two weeks in Beijing when she went 0 for 6 and failed to even reach the finish line three times, Shiffrin's fourth Olympics began with a run that started slow and never came together. She lost time at every checkpoint, sending her and Johnson sliding down to fourth.

How sluggish was Shiffrin? Her time of 45.38 was 15th fastest out of the 18 skiers who reached the bottom. For comparison, Shiffrin hadn't finished that low in an individual slalom she finished since 2012, when she still was a teenager and her rise to three Olympic medals and a record 108 World Cup titles (and counting) was still beyond her wildest dreams.

“There's something to learn today,” Shiffrin said. “I'm going to learn it.”

It wasn't a confidence issue. Shiffrin took the chair lift up to the top of the course inspired by Johnson, who backed up a gold-medal performance in the women's downhill on Sunday by storming her way to the front to give Shiffrin a slim lead of .06 seconds heading into the slalom.

Shiffrin, who knows a thing or two about attention, marveled at Johnson's ability to focus given the whirlwind that comes when you break through at the Olympics. She leaned forward at the start intent on giving Johnson her second gold in 48 hours.

Down at the finish, Wiles and Moltzan sat in third torn between rooting for their teammates and dreading having a medal snatched away by the best to ever do it.

“We were asking for a miracle,” said Wiles.

They got one. Shiffrin stood in the finish area after her time was posted and was immediately embraced by Johnson. Hugs with Moltzan and Wiles — well aware of the bullet they dodged — soon followed.

“I think if you let Michaela go run that course (again), I think she'd come down at least a second (faster),” Moltzan said.

Only she didn't. Not this time anyway. Whatever personal disappointment Shiffrin might have felt was offset by watching two friends she's skied alongside for the better part of two decades have their Olympic moment years in the making.

Wiles, who cried while talking to the media after a fourth-place finish in the downhill, became the oldest woman to medal in an alpine event at 33 years and seven months.

“There’s so much sweet about the day,” Shiffrin said. “So we’re taking that and I will have some learning to do like always.”

She always does. Shiffrin expressed confidence coming into Cortina and with good reason. Shiffrin arrived at the snow-capped Dolomite mountains having already secured her record ninth World Cup season title in her signature discipline thanks to seven victories that have offered tangible proof she remains as dominant as ever at 30.

Shiffrin was careful to not put too much pressure on herself, having learned that every Olympic experience is different. There was joy in Sochi in 2014 and Pyeongchang four years later. There was dismay in China after her ambitious schedule was pockmarked with baffling DNFs that left her sitting in the snow wondering what went wrong.

The spotlight she commanded in Beijing isn't quite so bright this time around, thanks in part to the return of star Lindsey Vonn. Shiffrin also took a more calculated approach to Cortina, limiting herself to the team combined, giant slalom and the slalom.

The media pen that was packed to watch Vonn in the downhill was a little more roomy on an overcast afternoon. When Shiffrin crossed the line, there wasn't a collective groan from the grandstand but shouts of joy from the winners nearby.

Shiffrin will spend Wednesday recovering. On Thursday, she'll point to the rest of an Olympics that may still have plenty to offer. Just not on Tuesday, when the comfort level she needed to get to full speed never arrived.

“I’m going to have to learn what to do, what to adjust in the short time we have before the other tech races,” she said. “There’s always something to learn.”

AP Sports Writer Andrew Dampf contributed to this report.

AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

United States' Breezy Johnson celebrates at the finish area of an alpine ski, downhill portion of a women's team combined race, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

United State's Mikaela Shiffrin reacts as she looks back to see her disappointing time as Germany's Emma Aicher, background left, and Kira Weidle Winkelmann celebrate winning the silver medal in an alpine ski, women's team combined race, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

United States' Breezy Johnson celebrates at the finish area of an alpine ski, downhill portion of a women's team combined race, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

United States' Mikaela Shiffrin speeds down the course during an alpine ski, slalom portion of a women's team combined race, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)

United States' Mikaela Shiffrin, left, hugs teammates at the finish area during an alpine ski, slalom portion of a women's team combined race, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

United States' Mikaela Shiffrin at the finish area during an alpine ski, slalom portion of a women's team combined race, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

United States' Mikaela Shiffrin at the finish area during an alpine ski, slalom portion of a women's team combined race, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The National Governors Association will no longer hold a formal meeting with President Donald Trump when the group of state leaders meet in Washington later this month after the White House planned to invite only Republicans.

“NGA staff was informed that the White House intends to limit invitations to the annual business meeting, scheduled for February 20, to Republican governors only,” Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, a Republican who is the chairman of the NGA, said in a Monday letter to fellow governors obtained by The Associated Press. “Because NGA’s mission is to represent all 55 governors, the Association is no longer serving as the facilitator for that event, and it is no longer included in our official program.”

The NGA is scheduled to meet in Washington from Feb. 19-21. Representatives for Stitt, the White House and the NGA didn't immediately comment on the letter.

Brandon Tatum, the NGA's CEO, said in a statement last week that the White House meeting is an “important tradition” and said the organization was “disappointed in the administration's decision to make it a partisan occasion this year.”

The governors group is one of the few remaining venues where political leaders from both major parties gather to discuss the top issues facing their communities. In his letter, Stitt encouraged governors to unite around common goals.

“We cannot allow one divisive action to achieve its goal of dividing us,” he wrote. “The solution is not to respond in kind, but to rise above and to remain focused on our shared duty to the people we serve. America’s governors have always been models of pragmatic leadership, and that example is most important when Washington grows distracted by politics.”

Signs of partisan tensions emerged at the White House meeting last year, when Trump and Maine's then-Gov. Janet Mills traded barbs.

Trump singled out the Democratic governor over his push to bar transgender athletes from competing in girls’ and women’s sports, threatening to withhold federal funding from the state if she did not comply. Mills responded, “We’ll see you in court.”

Trump then predicted that Mills’ political career would be over for opposing the order. She is now running for U.S. Senate.

The back and forth had a lasting impact on last year’s conference and some Democratic governors did not renew their dues last year to the bipartisan group.

Peoples reported from New York.

President Donald Trump steps off Air Force One, early Monday, Feb. 9, 2026, at Joint Base Andrews, Md., after returning from a trip to Florida. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)