Fresh off an emotional gold medal victory at the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics, Mikaela Shiffrin proved that even champions have very human moments.
Appearing live on Today from Milan on Feb. 19, just hours after winning gold in women’s slalom, the 30-year-old skier reflected on a deeply personal moment she experienced at the top of the mountain. Before her run, she said, she spoke to her late father, Jeff Shiffrin, who passed away suddenly in 2020.
As she described that emotional pause, her voice wavered — and an expletive slipped out.
“There’s been a spiritual journey I’ve been on this last year,” she began, before accidentally dropping the F-word mid-sentence. Realizing it instantly, she gasped, covered her mouth, and apologized: “Oh my God, I’m so sorry.”
The studio erupted — not in shock, but in laughter.
Co-hosts Carson Daly, Hoda Kotb, and Craig Melvin quickly reassured her. “We got you!” Kotb joked. “We’ll pay the fine.” Melvin added, “You’re wearing gold! It’s okay!” The lighthearted response only made the moment more endearing.
Shiffrin, still flustered, tried to recover — even joking that the espresso martinis her teammates kept handing her after the win might have contributed to the slip. “They kept saying, ‘Pace yourself!’ and then handing me another,” she laughed, apologizing again.
The candid exchange struck a chord because it wasn’t polished or rehearsed. It was real. As Daly later noted, she wasn’t delivering a scripted answer — she was speaking from the heart about her father. And in that raw honesty, emotion simply took over.
Her gold medal marked the end of an eight-year Olympic drought and made her the first American skier to win three Olympic golds, adding to her victories in Sochi (2014) and Pyeongchang (2018). But for many viewers, it was this unscripted, vulnerable moment that made the morning unforgettable.
If it was possible for fans to admire Mikaela Shiffrin more, this was the moment that sealed it — gold medalist, record breaker, and unapologetically human.
