“My teammates are incredible (we knew this already🤩)!” Mikaela Shiffrin wrote in her comeback post on February 15 this year. In her long career, she has had several comebacks. But this time it was special. How so? She had to survive multiple wounds with a deep puncture to the muscles on her right side. When she returned to the circuit, she saw a perfectly gelled US alpine ski racing team waiting for her. Look for the names and titles to hand the answer. 

The present team has names like Breezy Johnson (winner of downhill gold and a team combined gold with Mikaela Shiffrin), Lauren Macuga (achieved Super-G bronze), and Paula Moltzan (giant slalom bronze). All these names might find their entries in the 2026 Winter Olympics. If everything goes well, Lindsey Vonn will also have her chance to enter the mega event scheduled for next year. Altogether, a perfect US ski racing team might form in the Games. What might be their chance to win the team event in the Games? Huge, right? But there might be an issue at the roots. 

The 2026 Winter Olympics has something missing 

It is about removing an event from the 2026 Winter Olympics schedule. According to a report published on February 26 by Sport Bible, the Alpine skiing team event may not occur at the 2026 Winter Olympics. Also, the combined Alpine skiing events might also go down in history. Any reason behind it? 

Something concrete has yet to come. In 2023, the organizers announced that the alpine skiing combined event would change to a team format. In the new schedule, two ski racers of the same gender will represent their nation in the contest. One will compete in the downhill run, while the other will enter the slalom course. Such a schedule would have been much more suitable for the event.

Targeting that aspect only, the International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS) suggested the International Olympic Committee incorporate such changes. But the latest announcements are bound to change the entire map. 

The team event is gone with the wind, while the combined team event is also at risk. The news might give a shockwave to the ski racing fans. Especially, the alpine skiing team event had come up in 2018. Since then, the event has been featured in only two Winter Olympic Games. On the other hand, the combined event has a long history at the Winter Olympics, starting in 1936.

Since then, it’s been a topsy-turvy journey for the famous event. Additionally, the signs hint the journey might remain the same. But what about Mikaela Shiffrin? How is she gripping up with the pre-Winter Olympics vibe? 

Mikaela Shiffrin is looking forward to welcoming her favorite destination 

Mikaela Shiffrin is already feeling the vibe of the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics. There are multiple reasons, though. First, she will have the option to compete in Cortina, the Italian city where she has a pleasant memory of competing in more than a dozen races. It’s not only about competing, though. 

Mikaela loves everything that comes with Cortina. In her interaction with NBC last year in August, she said, “This is one place [Cortina] in the world I would say whether it’s during the games or after, if you travel anywhere you should travel to this region because it’s our favorite stop on the World Cup tour for most of the athletes, one of the favorites at least.”

Also, during that interaction, Mikaela expressed interest in visiting a special food joint place.

“My favorite pizza restaurant in the whole world is about an hour away from Cortina,” she revealed in that interview while attending the Paris Olympics. Craving for a cheese burst pizza now, eh?

However, the event may go under the wilderness. Sure, Shiffrin and Co will go down in history as winners in the event previously. But, there’s no future to look forward to. Hopefully, they reverse the decision and keep the team events. 

The food and the heavenly slopes will wait for her. At the cost of skiing events, though! Do you think they should keep the team events? Who doesn’t love a team event? Put your comments in the section below.