MILAN — Team USA earned a medal on the ski slopes Tuesday — but it was not the medal many were expecting.
The women's Alpine team event pairs two skiers, with their times added together. The fastest combined time wins.
The U.S. top team featured Breezy Johnson — who won gold earlier in the Games — and Mikaela Shiffrin, one of the most decorated alpine skiers in history and a multi-time Olympic medalist.
But in the end, Johnson and Shiffrin narrowly missed the podium.
This is a sport that comes down to fractions of a fraction of a second, and the American duo missed out by just 6 hundredths of a second.
Instead, the U.S. bronze medal went to the second American team: Paula Moltzan and Jackie Wiles, a former Utah Valley University skier. It was both Moltzan's and Wiles' first Olympic medal.
After the race, Shiffrin focused on her teammates' success.
"Watching our teammates receive a medal was really special," Shiffrin said. "It was incredible — a really incredible day, actually, for our team."
On a U.S. ski team that is visibly close, the entire squad appeared elated by the result — even as Johnson and Shiffrin were left just off the podium in one of the tightest finishes of the Games.
