The fairytale ending was not to be for Mikaela Shiffrin and her U.S. teammates in the final Alpine skiing event of the 2022 Winter Olympics. The United States advanced to the medal rounds of the mixed team parallel slalom competition but lost out in the bronze medal match to Norway via tiebreaker and finished off the podium.
Austria, the winningest nation in the history of Alpine skiing at the Winter Olympics, also needed a tiebreaker to defeat Germany in the gold medal final. Johannes Strolz collected his second gold medal – and third overall – of the 2022 Games with the win. He was joined on the podium by Katharina Truppe, Stefan Brennsteiner and Katharina Liensberger as Austria upgraded its 2018 silver medal in the team event to gold.
With the silver, Germany earned its first Alpine skiing medal of the 2022 Winter Games.
The United States team of Shiffrin, Paula Moltzan, Tommy Ford and River Radamus missed out on bronze by 0.32 after upsetting the No. 3-seeded Italians in the quarterfinal round.
The mixed team event was Shiffrin's final opportunity to leave Beijing with a medal. She won one of her four heats throughout the competition, skiing each time on the decidedly slower left-hand (red) course, as decided by the U.S. team coaches. She completed the course cleanly all four times.
Shiffrin said. "I get that people will say we came up short," Shiffrin said. "But the thing is that, to have this kind of depth on our team coming from the U.S., competing in a European-dominated sport... I can't emphasize enough how unbelievable it is for us to be here and be in the hunt for a medal."
She praised and thanked each of her teammates, saying, "After a long Olympics, this is my absolute favorite memory."
See how the action unfolded in real-time with our live updates below:
SEE MORE: Shiffrin grateful to teammates for support at Winter Games
LIVE UPDATES
(9:56 p.m. ET) - Austria triumphs over Germany in gold medal match
The winningest Alpine skiing nation in the history of the Winter Olympics adds another gold to its arsenal, topping Germany via tiebreaker in the big final. Stefan Brennsteiner and Katharina Liensberger picked up the decisive victories.
(9:46 p.m. ET) - Norway beats Team USA to bronze
There will be no medal for Mikaela Shiffrin at the 2022 Winter Olympics. The United States lost a tiebreaker against Norway in a 2-2 small final to finish fourth overall in the Alpine skiing team event. Norway picks up its 36th medal of the Beijing Games.
(9:25 p.m. ET) - Team USA to battle for bronze
A costly DNF by Paula Moltzan cost the U.S. a guaranteed medal in the mixed team event as Germany advances 3-1. River Radamus picked up the lone American victory while Moltzan, Mikaela Shiffrin and Tommy Ford came up short. The U.S. now heads to the small final against Norway with a chance at the bronze medal.
(9:19 p.m. ET) - Top seed Austria to ski for gold
Austria is back in the gold medal match after a tiebreak win over Norway. The Norwegians will fight for bronze in the small final.
(9:12 p.m. ET) - Final four set to begin
Matchups are: Austria vs. Norway, USA vs. Germany
View social media post: https://twitter.com/usskiteam/status/1495219008366338060
(9:09 p.m. ET) - Germany eliminates No. 2 Switzerland
There will be no more medals for the Swiss at these Winter Olympics. The No. 2 seed fell, 2-2 via tiebreaker, to No. 7 Germany in the biggest upset of the event thus far. The Germans will clash with the U.S. for a chance to ski for the gold medal.
(9:01 p.m. ET) - USA upsets Italy for semifinal berth
Paula Moltzan, Tommy Ford and River Radamus all scored wins to take the U.S. through to the semifinals, past a strong Italy team.
Mikaela Shiffrin nearly scored a win on the slower red course but came 0.02 short, skiing sharply. The U.S. is guaranteed the chance to compete for a medal.
(8:56 p.m. ET) - Norway comes back to eliminate France
Trailing 2-1 and down in the tiebreaker, Fabian Wilkens Solheim produced a stellar race for Norway to eek past France by 0.02. All four winners came from the blue course, which appears noticably faster.
(8:49 p.m. ET) - Austria returns to semifinals
After receiving a bye into the last eight, defending silver medalists Austria are back in the mixed team event semifinals after dismissing Slovenia, 3-1. Katharina Truppe, Stefan Brennsteiner and Katharina Liensberger all picked up wins for Austria. Johannes Strolz, a two-time medalist at these Games, skied out in his irrelevant fourth heat.
(8:44 p.m. ET) - Quarterfinals set!
View social media post: https://twitter.com/NBCOlympics/status/1495212055867146241
(8:40 p.m. ET) - Switzerland annihilates China
This one was not much of a fight. Switzerland, winners of five Alpine gold medals at these Winter Games, swept right through the host nation for a 4-0 win. Wendy Holdener, Justin Murisier, Andrea Ellenberger and Gino Caviezel won their matchups by a combined time of more than six seconds.
(8:35 p.m. ET) - Germany dismisses Sweden
With 3-1 win, German becomes the 7th team in the quarterfinals and will take on the winner of Switzerland/China. Linus Strasser and Lena Duerr both picked up victories for the Germans.
(8:28 p.m. ET) - Team USA dominates Slovakia as Shiffrin picks up win
Mikaela Shiffrin, skiing confidently, got the U.S. off to a winning start with her first completed run of a technical course at the 2022 Winter Olympics. River Radamus followed to put the States up 2-0, and Paula Moltzan sealed the win in the third spot. Tommy Ford competed the sweep in a meaningless heat. The U.S. will face No. 3 Italy in the quarterfinal
(8:23 p.m. ET) - Italy advances past ROC
The third-seeded Italians are through after a 3-1 win over the Russian Olympic Committee. Team USA is up next.
(8:17 p.m. ET) - No. 4 Norway edges No. 13 Poland
Another matchup ends 2-2 and is decided on the tiebreaker. This time it goes the way of Norway, one of the favorites in the event. The first four quarterfinalists are now set! Austria, Canada, France and Norway.
(8:09 p.m. ET) - France KO's Czechs
France joins Austria and Canada in the quarterfinals with a 3-1 win over the Czech Republic. France won the first three matchups to render the fourth purely academic.
(8:05 p.m. ET) - Canada wins first R16 matchup
A tiebreaker was needed to decide the very first race of the mixed team event as Canada and Slovenia played out to a 2-2 draw. However, Canada's total time was quicker, so the Canadians advance to the quarterfinals.
(7:52 p.m. ET) - Mixed team event to get underway
The course is set and the mixed team event is about to get underway, 24 hours later, with the Round of 16. First up is Slovenia vs. Canada.
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(10:35 p.m. ET) - Competition rescheduled for Saturday evening
Race officials announced that the mixed team event has been rescheduled for Saturday at 8 p.m. ET. High winds remain in the forecast, but they'll set up to try again and hope for calmer conditions.
(10:35 p.m. ET) - Mixed team event postponed
With no sign of the high winds letting up, the decision was made not to run the mixed team parallel slalom event tonight. Officials will meet imminently to discuss the possibility of trying again tomorrow, the final day of the 2022 Winter Olympics. However, high winds are also in tomorrow's forecast.
View social media post: https://twitter.com/nzaccardi/status/1494877880161087494
(9:40 p.m. ET) - Delay extended
More high winds on course, without sign of letting up as of yet. Race officials have announced an additional one-hour delay to the mixed team event. The next decision will come at 10:30 p.m. ET for an 11 p.m. start.
View social media post: https://twitter.com/ToddLewisGC/status/1494863839048859653
(8:30 p.m. ET) - Start time delayed one hour
High winds have returned to the Yanqing Alpine Skiing Center, forcing the race officials to delay the mixed team event start time to 10 p.m. ET at the earliest. A decision will be made at 9:30 p.m. ET on whether a further delay is necessary. Winds are currently gusting up to 25 miles per hour with temperatures below zero.
View social media post: https://twitter.com/usskiteam/status/1494847710691741700
(7:57 p.m. ET) - Mixed team event bracket:
The Untied States faces Slovakia in the first round, while top seed Austria gets a BYE into the quarterfinals.
View social media post: https://twitter.com/NBCOlympics/status/1494838240364445704?s=20&t=iXK8UIbjSd_UV8TGvTR2qQ
How does the Alpine skiing mixed team event work?
Included for the second time ever at the Winter Olympics, the mixed team parallel slalom event pits teams of four – two men and two women per team – against each other in a series of side-by-side slalom races. Each team member races a member of the opposite team (of the same gender) down identical slalom courses. The athlete that gets to the finish first wins a point for his/her team, and the team with the most points after all four races advances to the next round. In the event of a 2-2 tie, the team with the lowest combined time advances.
The competition begins with the Round of 16 and follows a single-elimination format until there are four semifinalists. The two semifinal winners then race for the gold medal, while the semifinal losers match up for bronze.
CLICK HERE FOR THE FIRST ROUND MATCHUPS
Though teams only use four skiers per round, each team is allowed six total athletes and may rotate who participates in each round.
The mixed team competition, like all 10 individual Alpine skiing events, will take place at the Yanqing Alpine Skiing Center. However, it will not take place on either of the two courses that have hosted events previously. Instead, a third, wider piste will host the competition.
The Americans
In the event’s Olympic debut four years ago, the United States suffered a frustrating first-round defeat to Great Britain via a tiebreaker. However, that U.S. team did not have Shiffrin.
The big question for the U.S. this time around is what version of Shiffrin will it be? The 26-year-old is the most accomplished slalom skier of all-time and, under normal circumstances, would be all but a guaranteed point for the U.S. every time she races. However, the circumstances at these Games have been anything but normal for Shiffrin. In three technical races (giant slalom, slalom and the slalom half of the combined event), she has failed to finish all of them.
Regardless of how she and the U.S. fair, Shiffrin would make history simply by taking part. She would become just the second woman to compete in all six Alpine skiing events at the Winter Games. Coincidently, the first, 2022 slalom gold medalist Petra Vlhova, will not be available for Slovakia, who the U.S. faces in the first round.
Shiffrin will be joined on the U.S. team by Paula Moltzan, AJ Hurt, Tommy Ford, River Radamus and Luke Winters.
The Favorites
The 2018 event came down to a matchup between the Alpine skiing giants Austria and Switzerland. Those nations are seeded No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, this time around and are the overwhelming favorites to meet in the final. But between them, it’s the Swiss who are clear favorites. Apart from having already set a Winter Games record with five individual gold medals, the Swiss had six athletes finish in top-10 position in either the men’s or women’s slalom. Austria, meanwhile, had two.
Norway, with the bronze medalist (Sebastian Foss-Solevaag) and fourth-place finisher (Henrik Kristoffersen) in the men’s slalom, will have sights set on an upset.
What time does the mixed team event start?
After a postponement of one day from its originally scheduled start date, the mixed team parallel slalom event is now scheduled to start at 8 p.m. ET Saturday night.
How to watch the mixed team event on TV
The entirety of the Alpine skiing mixed team event will be broadcast LIVE on the USA Network as part of its 24/7 Olympics coverage.
How to stream the mixed team event on NBCOlympics.com and the NBC Sports app
Users with cable or satellite subscriptions can authenticate via TV Everywhere to stream every Alpine skiing event in the NBC Sports app or on NBCOlympics.com. A simulcast of NBC Primetime and USA Network coverage is available, as well as a World Feed stream with OBS-provided commentary.
| Network | Start time | Stream Link |
| USA Network | 8 p.m. ET | HERE |
| World Feed | 8 p.m. ET | HERE |
How to stream the women's combined on Peacock
For the first time, users can stream every event of the 2022 Winter Olympics LIVE on Peacock. World Feed coverage of the mixed team event begins at 8 p.m. ET. Sign up HERE.
