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American skier Mikaela Shiffrin made history as the first American alpine skier to win gold three times and the first woman to win the slalom gold twice, while both Team USA and Team Canada survived potential quarterfinal upsets during the 12th day of the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics on Wednesday (February 18).
Shiffrin, 30, had two dominant runs to win the women's slalom by 1.50 seconds, with world champion Camille Rast of Switzerland taking second and Anna Swenn-Larsson of Sweden taking bronze. The American added onto her 0.82-second lead from her first run with a strong performance on her second run to win gold, ending her eight-year Olympic medal drought.
Shiffrin went 0-for-6 at the 2024 Beijing Winter Olympics and finished fourth in the team combined event with Breezy Johnson earlier at the 2026 Milan Cortina Games, having placed 15th in the slalom and 11th in the giant slalom portions. The Colorado native had previously won gold in the women's slalom at the 2014, becoming the youngest slalom gold medalist in Olympic history at 18 years and 345 days, as well as gold in the women's giant Slalom and silver in the women's combined events at the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.
Team USA avoided an upset in its men's ice hockey quarterfinal matchup against Sweden, winning, 2-1, in overtime. The Americans, who entered Wednesday's game with a perfect 3-0 record and having outscored their opponents 31-3 in Olympic play, edged Sweden after Quinn Hughes scored 3:27 into overtime.
Team USA will face Slovakia in the semifinals on Friday (February 20). Top-ranked Team Canada also avoided an upset in its men's ice hockey quarterfinal matchup against Czechia.
The Canadians, who entered Wednesday's game with a perfect 3-0 record and having outscored their opponents 20-3 in Olympic play, survived with a 4-3 overtime win to advance to the semifinals. Mitch Marner scored the game-winner 1:22 into overtime off assists from Macklin Celebrini -- who scored the game's first goal and also assisted on Nathan MacKinnon's second period goal -- and Thomas Harley.
The Canadians will face Finland in the semifinals on Friday (February 20).
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