By STEVE DOUGLAS AP Sports Writer
CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy (AP) — Make that seven straight races without a medal for Mikaela Shiffrin at the Winter Olympics.
The American skiing standout was given the ideal platform to win the new team combined event after partner Breezy Johnson led the opening downhill leg on Tuesday.
Shiffrin was the last racer out in the slalom — the second leg of the event — and had the 15th fastest time, dropping the U.S. to fourth place and extending her Olympic slump that stretches back to 2022 when she didn’t win a medal in any of her six races at the Beijing Games.
Ariane Raedler and Katharina Huber of Austria won gold, while Paula Moltzan and Jacqueline Wiles took bronze ahead of their more high-profile U.S. teammates.
Olympic redemption will have to wait, then, for Shiffrin, who is the most successful World Cup racer of all time with a record 108 victories. She is set to compete in her core events of slalom and giant slalom later in the Milan Cortina Games as she looks to add to her two golds and a silver from her first two Olympics.
Johnson missed out on a second medal, having won the downhill on Sunday.
Klaebo nears gold medal record
Don’t be surprised if Johannes Høsflot Klæbo soon holds the all-time record for gold medals at the Winter Games.
The Norwegian cross-country star powered to his second straight Olympic gold — and seventh of his career — by winning the men’s sprint. He was a comfortable 0.8 seconds ahead of Ben Ogden of the United States.
Klæbo moved to one gold behind three compatriots: Marit Bjørgen, Bjørn Dæhlie and Ole Einar Bjørndalen, all of whom have retired with a record-tying eight. Bjørgen and Dæhlie also were cross-country skiers. Bjørndalen won his gold medals in biathlon, which combines cross-country skiing with shooting.
Klæbo can join them by winning the 10-kilometer freestyle on Friday. He already won the skiathlon on Sunday for his sixth gold.
In the women’s final, King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden watched as the country swept the medals. Linn Svahn edged defending champion Jonna Sundling and Maja Dahlqvist was third.
Emotions run high for Norwegian medalists inbiathlon
It was an emotional day for Norway’s medal winners at the biathlon.
After winning the men’s 20-kilometer individual race, Johan-Olav Botn paid tribute to a Norway teammate who died in the lead-up to the Olympics.
Botn pointed to the sky as he crossed the line in honor of Sivert Guttorm Bakken, who was found dead in his hotel room in Lavaze, Italy, in December.
Sturla Holm Laegreid won the bronze medal and then gave quite the post-race interview, revealing — while fighting back tears — in a live broadcast that he had been unfaithful to his girlfriend.
The golds for Botn and Klæbo took Norway to six overall — three more than any other nation so far.
Swedish siblings win curling’s mixed doubles
Isabella and Rasmus Wranå, Sweden’s first-ever team of siblings at the Winter Olympics, won gold in mixed doubles curling by beating U.S. pair Cory Thiesse and Korey Dropkin.
A two-point play by Isabella off the final rock of a tight match sealed a 6-5 win for the Swedish duo, who used to be rival players and now are Olympic champions together.
The Americans won a first medal in Olympic mixed doubles, and Thiesse became the first American woman to capture a medal in curling.
Taubitz adds to German dominance in luge
Gold in women’s singles luge went to Germany — again.
Julia Taubitz became the 13th winner from Germany in 17 editions, finishing nearly a full second ahead of Elina Bota of Latvia after four runs over two days. Ashley Farquharson took bronze, the third singles medal ever for USA Luge at the Olympics and matching the best finish by an American women’s slider.
An Olympic gold completes Taubitz’s resume. Now-retired German great Natalie Geisenberger won the last three gold medals.
Medal No. 12 for Fontana in short track speedskating
Twenty years later, Italian short track speedskater Arianna Fontana is still winning medals at the Winter Olympics.
The latest was a gold in the mixed team relay. That took her to three golds and 12 medals overall in an Olympic career that started in 2006 — when she was 15 — at the Winter Games in Turin.
Fontana was already the most decorated short track speedskater of all time and there’s chances for more medals in the 500 and the 3,000 relay at the 2026 Olympics.
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AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics