Mikaela Shiffrin and Breezy Johnson won the gold medal in the new team combined event at the Alpine skiing world championships, giving Shiffrin another major accolade in just her second race back from a two-month absence and extending a career-best week for Johnson.

The top American team rose from fourth place after the downhill leg to top the podium when the leaders faltered in the slalom Tuesday in Saalbach, Austria.

Johnson — who won the downhill gold on Saturday — left the duo 0.51 seconds off the lead of their compatriots, Lauren Macuga and Paula Moltzan, after her run. Germany’s Emma Aicher, teaming with Lena Duerr, was in second, 0.23 back. Austria’s Mirjam Puchner, paired with Katharina Liensberger, was in third, 0.28 behind.

In the afternoon slalom, Shiffrin posted the third-best time to put her and Johnson in the lead in a combined 2:40.89, with the top three teams still to go. Liensberger then struggled, finishing nearly a full second behind Shiffrin. Duerr made a massive mistake on her run, slipping around a gate near the bottom and finishing 4.51 seconds worse than Shiffrin.

It came down to Moltzan, who couldn’t hold the lead Macuga carved out after her sparkling downhill run. Moltzan ran the 15th-best slalom time, dropping the No. 2 U.S. team to fourth overall, 0.64 behind Shiffrin and Johnson.

In her first race at these world championships, Shiffrin won her eighth gold and record-tying 15th overall medal at the biennial international showcase.

“I felt pressure to live up to (Shiffrin’s) talent,” Johnson told reporters after the race, “and I wanted to help her also be able to start this world championships with a gold medal.”

Switzerland’s Lara Gut-Behrami and Wendy Holdener, in 12th place after the downhill run, took the silver after Holdener posted the top slalom time of 58.39, ending 0.39 behind Shiffrin and Johnson. Austria’s Stephanie Venier and Katharina Truppe took the bronze, 0.53 back.

Lindsey Vonn, the American star returning to the sport at 40, had spoken about her desire to be paired with Shiffrin in this event, which would’ve teamed the two winningest women’s World Cup Alpine skiers of all time. But with Johnson fresh off her downhill gold, she got the nod with Shiffrin on the No. 1 U.S. team, and it paid off with a gold medal.

Instead, Vonn was on the third American team with 24-year-old slalom specialist A.J. Hurt. Vonn was well off the pace throughout her downhill run, finishing 2.51 seconds behind Macuga, 21st out of 26 skiers. Vonn and Hurt finished 16th overall.

The fourth American team, Jacqueline Wiles and Katie Hensien, finished 10th.

Shiffrin was not originally planning to ski in the event, but when she announced Monday she would skip the giant slalom at the world championships, citing mental struggles lingering after her crash in November, she also said she’d pair with Johnson in the team event.

“I talked with Breezy a little bit,” Shiffrin told reporters, “and she was like, ‘Hey, it’s not for the medal. Do it because this is crazy fun. Do it because you like skiing, and because you want to be here.’ … And the last two weeks, I haven’t felt that a lot. I haven’t felt like I wanted to be here. I’ve felt like it’s too f— terrifying.”

Vonn told The Associated Press she was “disappointed” with the communication in the team selection process.

“Always been a team player and I support my team no matter what,” Vonn wrote Monday on X. “I’m not surprised by the decisions made but at least now it’s clear that it’s not my decision. I have always been supportive and respectful and that will never change.”

The gold medal extends a banner week for Johnson, who has never won a World Cup race but now has two world titles in four days. She missed most of the last three seasons, first with injuries and then a 14-month ban for violation of whereabouts rules in the anti-doping policy. She returned in December.

It also gives Shiffrin another major piece of hardware in just her second race back after two months away recovering from her crash in a giant slalom race in Killington, Vt. The 99-time World Cup winner returned two weeks ago and finished 10th in a slalom in Courchevel, France. She is still scheduled to compete in the slalom, her best event, on Saturday at worlds.

Shiffrin and Johnson have been friends for years and have raced together since they were 11, Shiffrin noted in Monday’s announcement of their pairing. Their careers have taken different trajectories since, but Johnson came into Tuesday’s event with confidence after her downhill win over the weekend and was determined to help get the still-recovering Shiffrin back on a podium.

“I want to help because I feel like she deserves it after everything that she’s been through and all the ways that she’s helped me from when I was just a little kid,” Johnson told reporters.

Shiffrin said she found inspiration in watching Johnson fly through the course this week.

“She’s throwing herself down this downhill,” she said, “fearless, like the wind, and I’m like, ‘Yeah. OK. It’s nerve-wracking, there’s going to be all the emotions, but there is fun in this. And so, let’s do it together.’ She really lifted me up to be able to fully take on this day.”

The team-combined event was making its world championship debut. It also will be on the program in the 2026 Olympics in Milano-Cortina, Italy.

This article originally appeared in The Athletic.

Olympics, Women's Olympics

2025 The Athletic Media Company