German skiers Kira Weidle-Winkelmann and Emma Aicher won the silver medal in the team combined. The German pair missed the gold by only 0.05 seconds. Emma Aicher has already won her second medal at this year’s Olympics. She also won silver in the downhill. The competition on the historic Olimpia delle Tofane slope underlined the high sporting importance of medal events in alpine skiing.

Outsiders on the podium

After the morning downhill, the German women’s duo were considered more like outsiders. Few would have tipped them for the medal positions at that moment. However, the twenty-two-year-old Aicher gave her all in the slalom and secured another medal for the German team. On a relatively smooth slalom course of 540 metres, the aim was to pass 59 gates at high speed. Aicher showed a controlled, yet brilliant and fast run. She was the fastest slalom racer.

Poor downhill conditions

Halfway through the race, the German duo was in sixth place. After the downhill Weidle-Winkelmann was less than half a second behind the podium. The downhill was very difficult, especially because of the scattered visibility. However, the competitors coped with it as befits the best female athletes in the world.

━━ ( Source: Daniel Stiel /  Unsplash+ )

Unexpected victory

While the Germans took silver, the gold medal was unexpectedly won by the Austrians Ariane Rädler and Kaharina Huber. The bronze went to the American duo of Jacquelina Wiles and Paula Moltzan. Mikaela Shiffrin and Breezy Johnson were the favourites, but the Americans finished fourth. Italian medal hope Sofia Goggia was also aiming for the podium. Unfortunately, she experienced a truly crushing disappointment after she lost her outside ski about a minute into the race, flipped over and lost her balance. She just slipped around the gate and was eliminated.

Who is Emma Mathilda Aicher

She is a German alpine ski racer who competes in all disciplines in the Alpine Skiing World Cup. Among her achievements is the bronze medal she won at the World Championships. From this year’s Olympics in Italy, the young competitor has already taken two medals. She won her first medal in the downhill alpine skiing on Saturday.

Her silver is historic. At 22, Aicher is the youngest Olympic downhill medalist since Italy’s Isobel Kostner in 1994 and the first German to reach the podium in downhill since the legendary Katja Seizinger won gold in Nagano in 1998. It is also her first individual Olympic medal.

Team combined event

The discipline in which the German duo scored is one of the innovative winter sports disciplines in the Olympic competition programme. The competition combines downhill skiing and slalom. Not only speed but also technical precision is expected of the competitors. The team combined event made its debut at the 2025 World Championships. The times from the downhill and slalom are added together according to the rules.