Mikaela Shiffrin reveals what led to ‘Today’ show slip-up from Olympics

Mikaela Shiffrin had a whirlwind Olympic journey in Milano Cortina, Italy, that included several failed medal attempts before capturing gold.

She and teammate Breezy Johnson finished fourth in the women’s combined skiing event, as Shiffrin’s slalom performance failed to bring them to the podium. She then suffered a disappointing giant slalom, finishing 11th overall in the standings.

However, Shiffrin’s third and final event, the women’s slalom, was her best result of the 2026 Milano Cortina Olympics. Shiffrin’s two dominant runs in the event gave her a combined score of 1:39.10, topping Switzerland’s Camille Rast by an impressive +1.50 on the leaderboard.

The big win gave Shiffrin four medals from all of her Olympic appearances, moving her past Lindsey Vonn as the most decorated women’s alpine skier at the Olympics.

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It also led to more attention for Shiffrin, as she appeared in various live interviews, including one for NBC’s live morning program, “Today,” where hosts Craig Melvin, Hoda Kotb, and Carson Daly asked about her latest Olympics.

While discussing being in a more spiritual place lately mentally, Shiffrin seemingly forgot she was on live television and let several curse words slip out. However, the show’s hosts were understanding, with Kotb even joking that they would pay any fines the FCC issued to NBC.

Shiffrin recently appeared on Kylie Kelce’s podcast, “Not Gonna Lie with Kylie Kelce,” where she discussed the slip-up during “Today.”

“So over the course of the evening after the slalom race, I probably had a total of just one, but everybody on our team, we had a like celebration toast, and everybody on our team was there, like donors and sponsors and all these sponsors, and they were all handing me espresso martinis. I was like double-fisting espresso martinis,” she confessed to Kelce.

She explained that people told her to pace herself because she hadn’t had a drink like that in two years, hadn’t eaten, and was in the mountains. She also said she “downed a glass of champagne” before making a speech, all of which may have led to her accidentally swearing on live TV.

“The first thing I thought when this happened, when I said, ‘Oh s***,’ is my aunts are gonna come after me,” Shiffrin said, also explaining she’s been a “bad influence” on her mother, who wouldn’t have sworn on TV.

She indicated she’d recently read somewhere that “swearing helps you live longer,” so it may not have been as damaging for her. Additionally, many fans and viewers seemed happy to see that Shiffrin was relatable and authentic, even as she was caught up in the excitement of the Olympics.

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