Mikaela Shriffin has strong reaction to Team USA gold at Winter Olympics

Mikaela Shriffin is one of many skiing stars representing the United States at the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympic Games, and she’s hoping to replicate the results of one of her teammates on Sunday.

Recently making headlines, she’s also been cheering on her fellow American Olympians, including the women involved in Sunday’s downhill skiing results. That included Breezy Johnson and Lindsey Vonn, who each had differing results at today’s medal event.

Johnson finished first in the event, recording a time just slightly better than Germany’s Emma Aicher, who achieved second place. With that, she ultimately stood tall on the podium to claim her first-ever gold medal. It was also the first gold medal, or any medal, for Team USA at this year’s Winter Olympics.

Read more: Breezy Johnson Wins Team USA’s First Gold Medal at Winter Olympics

Shriffin and others were spectators from afar, as she shared a video on her official Instagram reacting to the emotional moment. The footage showed her seated on a bed with several others, cheering on Johnson as they watched the event unfold on television. 

Moments later, Shriffin turned the camera to her face, showing she had become teary-eyed when she saw Johnson tear up after her gold medal win.

“It never gets easier to watch @breezyjohnsonski… your first Olympic medal and gold?! GIRL,” she wrote in her caption with multiple emojis, adding “Always cheering for you!!”

“You’re too kind,” Johnson promptly replied to Shriffin in the comments, with fans also congratulating Johnson in their replies to her comment.

Shriffin is a two-time Olympic alpine skiing gold medalist and is seeking more medals to add to her achievements at this year’s Winter Olympics in Cortina.

“I’ve been to four different Games, and they’ve been four wildly different experiences. And with those experiences, being able to show up to Cortina and still be wide-eyed and just as excited and motivated as the first is really great,” she told reporters at an Olympics media event on Saturday.

Shriffin, who won gold at last year’s World Championships in Saalbach alongside Johnson, will compete in three events, with the first of those scheduled for Tuesday. Her events include slalom, giant slalom, and the team combined event, with the latter a slalom run for her.

Her emotional reaction to Johnson’s win was one of several that Shriffin shared after the emotional women’s alpine downhill skiing event. After choosing to compete after a torn ACL last month, fellow American competitor Lindsey Vonn suffered a horrific crash while competing in Sunday’s Olympics event, and was airlifted from the event for medical attention.

Following the event, Shriffin shared an image of Vonn on her Instagram Story, accompanied by a broken-heart emoji and several praying-hands emojis showing support for the injured skier.

Read more: Lindsey Vonn Suffers Horror Crash at Winter Olympics

For more about the Winter Olympics, visit Newsweek Sports.