Gold medalist Mikaela Shiffrin tests positive for COVID-19 less than 6 weeks before Olympics

Mikaela Shiffrin, the two-time Olympic gold medalist, says she has tested positive for COVID-19. The positive test comes less than six weeks before the Beijing Winter Olympics. 

Shiffrin, 26, says she is doing well but will not compete in this week’s Alpine Ski World Cup races in Lienz, Austria. 

“I’m following protocol and isolating, & I will miss Lienz. Best of luck to my teammates…I’ll be cheering for you. Thank you all for your support. I’ll see you in the new year,” she tweeted Monday. 

Shiffrin, who won gold in the slalom at the 2014 Sochi Olympics and won gold in the giant slalom at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics, is expected to be a top contender in this year’s Beijing Olympics, which is set for February 4. The skiing star’s participation is up in the air as China redoubles its efforts to control new virus outbreaks.

Shiffrin is the latest elite skier to test positive for COVID-19. Former overall champion Lara Gut-Behrami, Austrian world champion Katharina Liensberger and New Zealand’s Alice Robinson have all recently tested positive for the virus. 

Lienz will host the women’s giant slalom and slalom races on Tuesday and Wednesday. Shiffrin is the current women’s overall leader, but may lose out on retaining her overall World Cup title if she doesn’t recover in time. Italy’s Sofia Goggia trails Shiffrin by 115 points, with only a few months left in the season. Last year, Shiffrin won her sixth gold and a ninth career medal from the worlds — one more than Lindsey Vonn at the top of the all-time list of American medalists.