ByMaggie McGrath,

Forbes Staff

andForbesWomen Team,

Forbes Staff.

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Feb 20, 2026

This is this week’s ForbesWomen newsletter, which every Thursday brings news about the world’s top female entrepreneurs, leaders and investors straight to your inbox. Click here to get on the newsletter list!

CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, ITALY - FEBRUARY 18: Gold medalist Mikaela Shiffrin of Team United States celebrates on the podium during the medal ceremony following the Women's Slalom Run on day twelve of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics at Tofane Alpine Skiing Centre on February 18, 2026 in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)... More

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We still have the Winter Olympics on the brain here at ForbesWomen, so once again, we begin our weekly newsletter with a look at what’s happening in competition (and in post-competition press conferences) in Milano-Cortina. Here’s a rundown:

• Mikaela Shiffrin claimed gold in her final event of the 2026 Winter Olympics, the women’s slalom, marking her first Olympic medal since 2018 and completing a comeback after a crash at the 2024 world championships. Fun fact: At the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, the then 18-year old Shiffrin became the youngest skier to win a gold medal, and Wednesday’s win, according to NBC, makes her the oldest U.S. woman to earn a gold in Alpine skiing.
• Freestyle skier Eileen Gu has earned two silver medals in the 2026 Winter Games so far, but it’s her response to a reporter’s inquiry about whether she sees the medals as “two golds lost” that has echoed around the world. Gu, who grew up in the U.S. but competes for China, openly laughed at the question before saying, “I’m the most decorated female freeskier in history. I think that’s an answer in and of itself.”
• U.S. Olympic figure skater Amber Glenn fell to the cruelest rule in Olympic figure skating on Tuesday: After hitting the highest-graded triple Axel of her career and a solid triple-triple jump combination, Glenn just needed one more jump to complete the most difficult elements in her short program skate. When it came time for that jump, a planned triple loop, she doubled it—and received zero points for the element. (Ed note: Glenn sat in 13th place going into the women’s free skate/at the time this newsletter was sent out. She finished in a much better position, though out of medal contention. Her teammate Alysa Liu skated—brilliantly—into first place, earning the United States’ first women’s singles Olympic title since 2002 .)

The Forbes SportsMoney team is keeping a close eye on all Olympic developments here, so bookmark that link if you haven’t been able to keep up with the competition in real time!

Cheers!

Maggie McGrath

Exclusive Forbes Profile: Gene Editing Has Struggled To Go Commercial. This Nobel Laureate Has A $1 Billion Plan To Fix That.

CODY PICKENS FOR FORBES

Crispr’s ability to cut genetic code like scissors has just started to turn into medicines. Now, gene editing pioneer Jennifer Doudna wants to build an entire ecosystem to bring these treatments mainstream. Core to her plan is the Innovative Genomics Institute: Doudna plans to raise $1 billion for the institute to support a budget of $100 million a year for the next 10 years to set up the next generation of scientists. With that funding, she hopes to start making personalized gene editing a more widely available treatment, to use Crispr to create therapies for common diseases like cancer and even to find applications in agriculture and the environment — all in a way that’s cost-effective. “My biggest ethical concern is actually access and inequality,” Doudna tells Forbes. “We really want to make sure that the work we’re doing ultimately benefits everybody, not just a few wealthy individuals.”