Shiffrin leads in Sölden, targeting her first giant slalom victory in 1,031 days

The Alpine Skiing World Cup season got under way in Sölden with the women’s giant slalom — and the very first race brought plenty of surprises. The biggest disappointment for Austrian fans was Julia Scheib’s retirement. Last year’s winner in Sölden and holder of the Small Crystal Globe at the end of the previous season made a mistake on a steep section of the course and ended up in the safety netting. Fortunately, she escaped injury.

Mikaela Shiffrin led after the first run. The American was 14 hundredths of a second ahead of Sweden’s Sara Hector, while Switzerland’s Camille Rast was 37 hundredths behind. A potential victory would have been Shiffrin’s first in the World Cup giant slalom for 1,031 days. The last time she won the discipline was in Lienz in December 2023. The American won in Sölden in 2021.

Shiffrin has reached the podium at the Austrian resort six times in her career, winning twice on the Rettenbach glacier. In the absence of injured Canadian Alpine skier Valerie Grenier, Britt Richardson was able to give Canada’s coaches and fans something to celebrate. She was fourth after the first run, half a second behind the leader.

Paula Moltzan, Lara Colturi and Estelle Alphand followed. Petra Vlhova, returning after a lengthy absence, also made it through to the decisive run, as did several athletes who had started well outside the top 30.

Alpine Skiing World Cup, women. Sölden (Austria). Giant slalom. First-run results.

The best result among the competitors who had started with numbers outside the top 30 was recorded by Sweden’s Hanna Aronsson Elfman. Starting with bib 46, she completed the first run in 18th place, 1.77 seconds behind. Kira Weidle-Winkelmann was another pleasant surprise. One of the world’s strongest speed specialists was 21st after the first course, 1.93 seconds off the lead.

Five Alpine skiers who had started with high numbers made it through to the decisive run. Particular attention was focused on Petra Vlhova: the Slovakian was returning to the World Cup after a serious injury, numerous operations and a long lay-off. She was 11th after the first run, 1.31 seconds behind.

The weather in Sölden changed very quickly. Sunshine gave way to light snowfall, while the upper part of the Rettenbach glacier was at -6° with variable cloud. The second course was set by the Italian team’s coach.

14:30. Switzerland’s Vanessa Kasper opened the second run. She had been 2.54 seconds behind Shiffrin after the first run. Kasper reached the finish in 2:17.61, with her time on the second course two seconds faster than her first-run result.

14:31. Marina Gąsienica-Daniel, one of the most experienced competitors on the World Cup circuit, returned to competition after injury. The Polish skier negotiated the second section confidently and gained half a second there. Her advantage then grew further, and she reached 78 km/h on the run-out. At the finish, Gąsienica-Daniel was 1.67 seconds ahead of Kasper.

14:33. Simone Wild began her second run with an advantage of 11 hundredths, but the cushion quickly disappeared. After the steep section, the Swiss skier was already more than a second behind. Wild finished second, 0.98 seconds behind the Polish athlete.

14:35. Wendy Holdener finished the first run very differently from how she had hoped. The Swiss skier built up good speed on the upper part of the course, but by the second section she was 43 hundredths behind Gąsienica-Daniel. Holdener tried to maintain her pace but could not get past the Pole. Wendy finished second, 80 hundredths behind.

14:37. Lena Dürr was 25th after the first run and set off with an advantage of 34 hundredths. Visibility had meanwhile deteriorated slightly as the sun disappeared. The German began to lose time and eventually finished third, 0.85 seconds behind. So far, none of the competitors had managed to get close to Gąsienica-Daniel’s time.

14:39. Switzerland’s Stefanie Grob was also unable to enter the battle for the lead. She was already half a second behind on the second section and dropped to fifth in the lower part of the course. Her deficit was 1.03 seconds.

14:40. Lara Della Mea was 24th after the first run and had not made a particularly convincing start to the season. The Italian looked good through the acceleration section, extending her advantage and spending some time on the fastest schedule. But after the steep section, like many of her rivals, she began to lose ground to Marina. Della Mea could not make up the deficit at the bottom in the fight for second place and finished the run second, 0.61 seconds behind. There were still 23 competitors to come.

14:42. Alice Pazzaglia made it through to the decisive round with bib 41. The 24-year-old Italian experienced serious difficulties on the steep descent, losing 2.41 seconds there. She was last, eighth, at the bottom, 2.46 seconds behind. Pazzaglia’s second run did not go well.

14:44. Nina O’Brien began the run with a half-second advantage. The American retained her cushion through the first two sectors, but in Sölden it is generally the steep section that decides so much. O’Brien lost her advantage there and negotiated the dip rather nervously. She managed to claw back a little time in the lower part, but finished second, 0.57 seconds behind Gąsienica-Daniel.

14:45. Kira Weidle-Winkelmann started with bib 32 and was 21st after the first run. The German performs particularly well in the speed disciplines, but had yet to achieve any notable results in giant slalom. Weidle-Winkelmann was on the fastest time at the top, but lost a lot on the more difficult section — her deficit reached 1.35 seconds before the finish.

At the finish, Kira was eighth with a result of +1.04. She recorded the fastest speed on the flatter section, however, and made up 31 hundredths.

14:47. Sweden’s Hilma Lövblom was given an advantage of 61 hundredths before the start. She remained in the green through the two upper sections, but then also began to lose time on the most difficult part. Lövblom crossed the finish line second, 0.53 seconds behind. Nina O’Brien was just four hundredths ahead of her.

14:49. Neja Dvornik returned to the World Cup after an absence of almost a year. The Slovenian made a decent start, but made a mistake on the second section and lost a great deal of time. It was difficult to make up the deficit, and Dvornik then lost a pole as well. As a result, she finished last, in 12th, 2.71 seconds behind.

Meanwhile, Marina Gąsienica-Daniel had already climbed ten places, and it appeared that her progress was not yet over.

14:52. Hanna Aronsson Elfman, who had started 46th, was 18th after the first run. The Swede followed a familiar pattern: she negotiated the flatter section confidently, but began to lose time lower down. She was fifth at the finish, 0.65 seconds behind the leader.

The results were gradually tightening up, but Gąsienica-Daniel remained out of reach. The closest to the Pole was Hilma Lövblom in second, 53 hundredths behind.

14:53. USA’s Elisabeth Bocock began her second run with an 82-hundredth advantage, but lost it fairly quickly. By the third split, the American was 33 hundredths behind and continued to fight for second place. She managed to finish second — exactly half a second behind Gąsienica-Daniel.

14:53. Asja Zenere was Italy’s last hope in the race. After the acceleration section, she extended her advantage and reached the steep section in the green, 78 hundredths ahead of Gąsienica-Daniel. The cushion then began to shrink, but the Italian still had 10 hundredths in hand before the final metres.

Zenere maintained a good pace all the way to the finish and beat the Polish skier by 40 hundredths. Conditions had also become slightly more difficult: visibility had worsened compared with the moment when Gąsienica-Daniel had taken to the course.

14:57. Franziska Gritsch was the only Austrian representative in the decisive run. She began her second run with virtually no cushion, having gained two hundredths on Zenere. The Austrian negotiated the opening section well and even increased her advantage to 11 hundredths, but then gave a little back.

Gritsch continued to fight for a place in the top three, but lost a little more time on the run-out. At the finish, she was 40 hundredths behind Zenere — exactly the same deficit as Gąsienica-Daniel. The Austrian therefore shared second place with the Pole. In any case, Gritsch achieved her best result: last season, she did not finish in the top 15 once.

14:59. AJ Hurt of the USA set off with a 12-hundredth advantage and was on the fastest time through the first two sections. However, she faded noticeably after the steep section and finished fourth, 0.89 seconds behind.

15:00. New Zealand’s Alice Robinson had started the first run with bib one, but finished only 13th. In the second run she challenged for the lead, although her advantage was minimal — just five hundredths. Robinson’s ski wandered on several turns and she took risks, but could not match Zenere’s time.

Robinson lost 29 hundredths to the Italian and finished second.

15:03. Zrinka Ljutić took to the start. The snowfall at the top had meanwhile intensified slightly. The Croatian retained her advantage on the upper part of the course and was 14 hundredths ahead on the second section. But she almost came to a halt on the steep section and lost more than half a second. Ljutić reached the finish in fifth, 0.63 seconds behind.

15:05. Petra Vlhova was competing in the giant slalom for the first time since January 2024. The Slovakian had been forced to miss a great many events because of a serious injury. Vlhova began losing time on the second sector, and her deficit then exceeded a second. She no longer had enough speed at the bottom and Petra finished only 14th, with a result of +1.36.

15:06. Thea Louise Stjernesund had started the first run from the strongest group and finished 10th, 1.26 seconds behind Shiffrin. In the second run, the Norwegian was on the fastest time, but her advantage quickly disappeared. Stjernesund did not negotiate the steep section particularly well and was already 1.19 seconds behind there.

Thea finished 12th, with a deficit of 1.20 seconds. The Norwegian’s second run clearly did not go to plan.

15:09. Emma Aicher was given a 25-hundredth advantage before the start. A good acceleration from the German was fully expected, but she then began to lose ground — first 13 hundredths, then 23. There was still one final section where Aicher could make up the difference.

And that is exactly what happened. Emma reached 81 km/h, recorded the fastest speed and beat Zenere by 20 hundredths. This was particularly important for Aicher: giant slalom had generally been less successful for her than the other disciplines. Before the strongest eight took to the start, Emma Aicher led, Asja Zenere was second and Alice Robinson third.

15:12. Norway’s Mina Fürst Holtmann began the final run with almost no cushion and lost time within the first few metres. She was 62 hundredths behind after the steep section, and the deficit grew further in the lower part. The Norwegian finished tenth, 1.17 seconds behind.

15:13. Estelle Alphand was one of the biggest surprises of the first run: starting 24th, she climbed to seventh place. In the second run, the Swede began with a 24-hundredth advantage and retained the lead on the upper part of the course. But the key question was how cleanly she would negotiate the most difficult section.

After the third sector, Alphand was already 39 hundredths behind. She finished seventh, 0.98 seconds off the lead.

15:15. Lara Colturi, who represents Albania, switched to HEAD during the off-season. She held her advantage confidently in the second run: first she was 43 hundredths ahead, then she doubled her cushion. After the steep section, Colturi was already more than a second ahead of Aicher.

The Albanian athlete reached the finish without mistakes and gained 51 hundredths on Emma. Colturi took the lead, while Aicher dropped to second.

15:18. Paula Moltzan set off with a good cushion. After the steep section, the American was 47 hundredths ahead of Colturi. In the final metres, Moltzan managed to get past Lara — by just one hundredth, but it was enough to beat the Italian competing for Albania.

15:20. Britt Richardson was fourth after the first run and had every reason to expect a strong overall result. However, the second course did not go well for the Canadian: she began to lose time and then made a serious mistake. Richardson practically came to a halt on the course and lost more than two seconds.

In the end, Britt finished 24th, 2.29 seconds behind.

15:21. Camille Rast joined the battle for victory. The Swiss began her second run with a 22-hundredth advantage, but was already 58 hundredths behind on the second sector. She could not make up the deficit afterwards: it grew to 1.10 seconds. Rast finished fifth, 0.81 behind.

Paula Moltzan had thereby guaranteed herself a place on the podium — just as she had the previous year. Lara Colturi also still had a chance of reaching the podium.

15:23. Sara Hector began her second run with a 45-hundredth advantage. The Swede’s acceleration was not ideal: she was already 73 hundredths behind on the second section. The next sector was also nervy for Hector, and she continued to lose time.

As a result, Sara missed out on a medal, finishing fourth. She was 63 hundredths behind Moltzan and 11 hundredths behind Aicher, who was holding third place at that point. Moltzan had guaranteed herself at least second place, while Colturi moved into third.

15:25. Mikaela Shiffrin was the last to start. The American knew the course extremely well, but visibility had deteriorated as snow was falling. Shiffrin began to lose her advantage: first she was 21 hundredths behind, then 71. Mikaela encountered denser snow on the course.

The American did not have enough speed in the lower part of the course and could not retain the lead. Shiffrin finished only seventh, 83 hundredths behind Paula Moltzan.

Paula Moltzan won the first race of the season. During the off-season, the American switched to Van Deer and brought victory to herself and Hirscher’s brand in her very first race. It was Moltzan’s first win after 10 podium finishes.

Lara Colturi came within just one hundredth of the first victory of her career. Emma Aicher finished third, reaching the podium in the giant slalom for the first time. Last season, she finished fourth once: that happened in Åre in March and remained her best career result.

Alpine Skiing World Cup, women. Sölden (Austria). Giant slalom. Overall result after two runs.

• I — position;
• II — bib number;
• III — first name, surname;
• IV — country;
• V — first-run result;
• VI — position in the first run;
• VII — second-run result;
• VIII — position in the second run;
• IX — progress;
• X — result after two runs;
• XI — difference from the leader.

The men’s giant slalom will take place in Sölden tomorrow. The first run will begin at 12:00 Moscow time.

Photo: footage from the SRF Sport television channel. 13:25 24.10.26