Mikaela Shiffrin breezes to Winter Olympic slalom gold in emphatic fashion

American star Mikaela Shiffrin cemented her place among the greats of alpine skiing by winning the Olympic slalom gold medal in impressive fashion.

Twelve years after winning the title in Sochi at age 18, Shiffrin cruised to victory overall with a time of 1:39:10; This was a remarkable 1.50 seconds ahead of second place and made the three-time Olympic champion.

The 30-year-old pilot rose to pole position with a time of 47.13 seconds in the first run at Olimpia delle Tofane and had a 0.82-second gap with second-place Lena Duerr.

The German skier was the only skier to finish a second after Shiffrin, but she took herself out of medal contention by straddling the first gate on her second run.

This ultimately left Shiffrin facing an exhibition run to take the gold medal, completing the run in 51.97 seconds.

Swiss Camille Rast won the silver medal, while Swedish Anna Swenn Larsson won the bronze medal.

Shiffrin, a seven-time world champion, initially appeared in disbelief as she crossed the line, but eventually crouched down on her skis with her head in her hands before punching into the crowd.

While the margin of victory this time was significant, things have not gone to plan for him at Cortina so far.

He finished 11th in the giant slalom and finished an agonizing fourth in the team event alongside Olympic downhill champion Breezy Johnson.

In fact, the Olympics have not been a happy hunting ground for Shiffrin since her slalom gold at Sochi 2014 followed by her giant slalom gold at Pyeongchang 2018.

Four years ago in Beijing, he retired from both the giant slalom and slalom races just seconds into his run, completing six races but returning home without a medal.

But this time the most decorated alpine skier of all time triumphed, putting years of Olympic pain behind him to step onto the big stage.