When two legends rub shoulders together, there are bound to be some sparks flying. That is exactly what happened between Lindsey Vonn and Mikaela Shiffrin. Back in January, Lindsey Vonn was all excited about the idea of pairing up with Mikaela Shiffrin at a brand-new event at the 2025 Alpine World Championships. The new combined event, which will also make its Olympic debut at Milano Cortina 2026, features two specialists in a team instead of one skier. One skier will compete in a downhill while the other will do a slalom, with the fastest aggregate time determining the winner. Vonn’s excitement indeed came for a reason.
The two women sit atop the disciplines. Shiffrin holds the record for most Slalom wins whereas Vonn has the most downhill victories. “It’s 181 World Cup wins between the two of us. I’ve told my coaches that I want to,” Vonn had said back then. In the subsequent weeks, there was a dramatic turn of events. Within days of Vonn’s statement, Shiffrin declared on her social media handles, “I need to keep my energy focused on preparing for the giant slalom and slalom races during world championships, and will not be able to participate in the team combined.” So the possibility of a ‘dream team’ fizzled out. But on February 10, Shiffrin changed her plans..
She stated that she was struggling to overcome her fears following her November crash. Therefore Shiffrin decided to withdraw from defending her giant slalom title and race the combined instead. However, instead of Vonn, she paired up with downhill world champion Breezy Johnson. That did not sit well with Vonn and being the outspoken person she is, Vonn publicly vented her disappointment.
“I’m excited for Breezy and Mikaela to team up together and I believe they are a great pair. However, I am disappointed in the way it was handled,” Vonn said in a statement sent to The Associated Press. She went on to pair with AJ Hurt. She even took to X to express her displeasure. What added to the pain was Team Shiffrin walked away with gold whereas Vonn and Hurt had to be content with a 16th-place finish. But ever since the entire episode happened, Vonn seems to be trying to break the ice apologizing for taking it to X. Now leaving the bitterness behind, she took time to hail Shiffrin for her massive achievement.
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