Mikaela Shiffrin misses out on record-setting finish at worlds

Mikaela Shiffrin fell short of winning a record 16th medal at a world championship on Saturday, finishing fifth in the women's slalom at the Alpine skiing world championships in Saalbach, Austria.

The American was in third place after the first run but finished the second run in 12th place. She ended up 1.37 seconds behind winner Camille Rast of Switzerland (1:58.00), who joined Wendy Holdener to put the Swiss 1-2 in the event, but just 0.05 seconds out of third.

Austria's Katharina Liensberger was 1.32 seconds back to take the final podium spot, followed by American Paula Moltzan, who won bronze in the giant slalom on Thursday.

This was Shiffrin's third time skiing competitively since returning from an injury she suffered when she crashed Nov. 30 in a giant slalom run in Killington, Vt., and wound up with a stab wound in her oblique muscle that required surgery.

This marked the first time Shiffrin, 29, missed the podium in the slalom event at a world championship. She had four golds, a silver and bronze medal entering the 2025 event.

Overall, she has eight golds at the worlds to go with four silver medals and three bronze.

"It's a little bit strange to be making a return midseason, and especially world championships," Shiffrin told NBC Sports after the race. "It's sort of strange to balance the feeling of, ‘I just want to make progress,' and then the feeling of, ‘Where do medals fit into that?' I think winning one gold was out-of-this-world beyond expectations."

On Tuesday, she and teammate won the team event.

Shiffrin has three more World Cup competitions this season, continuing next week in Sestriere, Italy. She is continuing her quest to extend her World Cup record of wins to 100.

--Field Level Media