Emotional Shiffrin and Johnson crowned first ever Team Combined world champions

Childhood friends Mikaela Shiffrin (USA/Atomic) and Breezy Johnson (USA/Atomic) proved an unstoppable force in the Team Combined at the Saalbach 2025 Alpine World Ski Championships on Tuesday, capping off a truly remarkable few days for the pair.

Just 24 hours after revealing the “mental/PTSD struggle” she has been experiencing since suffering a deep puncture wound to her core little more than 10 weeks ago; Shiffrin showed extraordinary mental strength to convert Johnson’s fourth place after the Downhill into a gold medal-winning Slalom run.

With it Shiffrin becomes the equal most successful World Championship skier ever, tying her alongside Christl Cranz’s (GER) total medal haul of 15. An eighth win also lifts Shiffrin into second-place on her own in the all-time gold medal list.

While Johnson, who first raced alongside her all-conquering teammate aged just 11, cannot match those eye-watering statistics, she has picked up two World Championships crowns of her own in just four days. All after arriving in Saalbach having never previously won a single elite-level race.

“This what makes sport so emotional,” Switzerland’s Lara Gut-Behrami (Head) said of the champions’ feats.

There were plenty of emotions for Gut-Behrami too, on day that saw fans and skiers alike embrace the new event with fervour. After only managing the 12^th quickest Downhill run in the morning, the Swiss star found herself charging round the finish area when partner Wendy Holdener (SUI/Head) produced the Slalom run of the day to snatch the pair silver – World Championship medal number eight for Holdener and number nine for the grateful Gut-Behrami.

Much to the delight of the boisterous fans, Katharina Truppe (AUT/Voelkl) also soared up the afternoon leaderboard to claim bronze for Austria, alongside Stephanie Venier (Head).

The agony of ski racing is never too far away from the ecstasy and so it proved with none of the top three teams after the Downhill run able to turn their advantages into a medal. Halftime leaders, USA 2 came closest, with Paula Moltzan (Rossignol) putting up a brave fight in the Slalom before fading to end fourth alongside Lauren Macuga (Rossignol).

‘This is super impressive’

Ultimately, though this was Johnson and Shiffrin’s day, with the former summing up some of what Shiffrin has been through to claim her record-equalling medal.

“I know that my injuries have been hard, but just watching from the outside of somebody who's coming back from an injury like that to your core muscles, especially the obliques, (which) are really important for skiing, like I don't know if people that don't ski realize that it's not your knee or your shoulder… it's your freaking core. You need that,” Johnson explained.

“So, yeah, to see her come back in two months when all of my (similar injuries) have taken me years, then you're just like this is super impressive in and of itself. And I wanted to help her 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 certainly returned the favour on Tuesday. The newly crowned Downhill world champion flew down the Zwölferkogel once more, registering a time of 1:42.11, just 0.51 seconds behind fellow USA speedster Macuga.

But perhaps just as importantly as the Downhill time, Johnson also gave Shiffrin exactly what the 99-time World Cup winner needed when she realised she was not ready to return to Giant Slalom racing and could potentially team up with her childhood roommate.

Shiffrin, who will now get a chance to go for a record-setting 16th world championship medal in Saturday's Slalom, added; "Since Courchevel (when she returned to World Cup racing last month after a 60-day absence) I've been saying it's scary, but I want to be here. And in the last the last two weeks, I haven't felt that a lot. I haven't felt like I wanted to be here. I felt like it's too f***ing terrifying.

 “And so to hear her (Johnson) talking about this, like, ‘no, no, it's fun’. And she's throwing herself down this Downhill, fearless, like the wind… and I'm like, OK, so (it’s going to be) nerve wracking, there's going to be all the emotions, but there is fun in this, and let's do it together.

"She really lifted me up to be able to fully take on this day.”

‘I was pretty sure she could do that’

 In a sign perhaps of a battle to come, Holdener outshone even Shiffrin in the Slalom leg. Not that Gut-Behrami was shocked.

“I could believe it, if there's someone that can ski that fast in slalom, that’s her,'” a breathless Gut-Behrami said after watching Holdener catapult them into silver medal position. “I was pretty sure she could do that.

“It was fun to race with her. It was fun to have something different, again. It's a different format. It makes (it) fun for the athletes, it makes sense for everyone to watch it. So I think, yeah, it was a great, great start for the Team Combined. And of course, even more happy that we won a medal.”

The duo have bestrode Swiss ski racing for so long and to finally get a chance to race together was clearly a pleasure for both.

 “I was really happy to stand on the start with Lara today, I knew I had to go full gas if we wanted to fight for a medal. I'm happy. It worked out, let's say it that way,” Holdener said. “I was nervous on the start, of course, but yeah, we had nothing to lose.”

‘Team Always Funny on the podium’

Best friends Venier and Truppe, who named themselves ‘Team Always Happy’, were of a very similar mindset.

“I called her before and I said to her, go all in, but with the right mindset. She did it well, we did it well, it's crazy,” said Venier, who also won the women’s Super G. “Team Always Funny is on the podium.”

There were tears as well as smiles, with Venier and Truppe’s compatriot Katharina Liensberger (AUT/Rossignol) among those to suffer. After Downhill silver medallist Mirjam Puchner (AUT/Atomic) had put her just 0.28 seconds off the lead, Liensberger admitted that she had “wanted to give maybe a bit too much”.

It was even tougher for the Germans. Two teams inside the top five after the Downhill turned into a solitary 17^th place, with a well-set Lena Duerr (Head) making a huge mistake on the pitch.

Vonn departs with ‘work to do’

She was not alone, with even the great Lindsey Vonn (USA/Head) finding the going tough. The 40-year-old arrived in Saalbach hoping to add World Chanmpionship medal number nine to her miraculous comeback, but left seeking answers.

“It was not a fast run. I honestly, I can't tell you what is going wrong. I was in my tuck pretty much the whole way down and just not accelerating anywhere at any point in time,” said Vonn, whose morning Downhill was 2.51 seconds slower than Macuga’s.

“I have a year to figure it out, and I think I will, but right now, it's hard to really change, you know, your entire setup while you're racing the World Championship.

“I know I expect to do better, and everyone else expects me to do better, but at the same time I do, need a little bit of grace and patience and kindness to just, you know, give me some time to figure it all out.”

‘I love this event’

It was left to teammate Macuga, 18 years Vonn’s junior, to sum up a race that clearly stole hearts on its major championship debut.

“I love this event,” said fourth-placed Macuga. “No matter how stressful it was to have no control. It's still so fun to see the best downhill and slalom skiers in the same day.”