Mikaela Shiffrin Dominates Slalom, Eyes Olympic Gold/ Newslooks/ WASHINGTON/ J. Mansour/ Morning Edition/ Mikaela Shiffrin is off to a flawless slalom start in the 2025-26 World Cup season with four consecutive wins. She’s also making progress in giant slalom and super-G as she eyes a strong showing at the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics. Shiffrin could compete in up to four Olympic events, including a potential return to team combined.
Mikaela Shiffrin’s 2025 Season So Far: Quick Looks
- Shiffrin is 4-for-4 in slalom races this season.
- She returns to Semmering this weekend, where she’s previously won seven times.
- Recovering from two career-impacting crashes, she’s regaining form in other disciplines.
- Giant slalom remains a work in progress, with two fourth-place finishes.
- She attempted her first super-G in nearly two years in St. Moritz.
- Slalom victories have come with dominant margins, averaging 1.5 seconds.
- She’s approaching her best-ever slalom start of five straight wins (2018-19).
- Olympic goals include slalom, giant slalom, super-G, and team combined.
Deep Look: Shiffrin’s Flawless Slalom Run Sets the Stage for Olympic Comeback
December 25, 2025 — While most athletes are taking time off for the holidays, Mikaela Shiffrin has every reason to celebrate — and no plans to slow down. The two-time Olympic gold medalist is enjoying a perfect start to the 2025-26 World Cup slalom season, winning all four races and looking increasingly like the skier who dominated Alpine skiing over the last decade.
More than just racking up wins, Shiffrin is rebounding from what she describes as one of the most challenging periods in her career — marked by two major crashes and a struggle to regain confidence and control in non-slalom disciplines.
“This season so far I had the ability to bring top-level turns in pressure moments,” Shiffrin said. “Every time I stand at the start, it’s a new situation — and so far, I’ve found a way to dig really deep.”
Back to Semmering: A Proven Battleground
This weekend, Shiffrin returns to Semmering, Austria, one of her most successful venues. She’s earned seven of her record 105 World Cup victories at the resort, including sweeping three races in both 2016 and 2022.
This time, only two races are scheduled: a giant slalom on Saturday and a slalom on Sunday. While slalom has been her stronghold, Shiffrin is eager to reestablish herself in giant slalom, where she holds a record 22 World Cup wins — but hasn’t stood on the podium in the discipline since a serious crash last season.
The Killington, Vermont crash left her with a deep puncture wound and trauma to her oblique muscles, forcing a difficult recovery. However, she’s placed fourth twice in giant slalom this season, suggesting that a return to form may be within reach.
“It’s just going to keep taking time,” she said. “I want to keep improving, or maybe just build repetition from the slalom level.”
Super-G Return in Sight
Shiffrin also dipped her boots back into speed events, entering a super-G race in St. Moritz, Switzerland, for the first time since crashing in Cortina d’Ampezzo nearly two years ago. Although she missed the final gate, her performance marked steady progress.
She hopes to fully reintroduce super-G into her program before the 2026 Milan-Cortina Olympics, which will hold women’s Alpine events in Cortina, where she once fell but hopes to rise again.
“Even if it’s not the Olympics, super-G is a big goal of mine,” Shiffrin emphasized.
Slalom Dominance and Momentum
In slalom, Shiffrin is untouchable right now. Her four consecutive victories this season have come with commanding margins — averaging 1.5 seconds — and even when she makes mistakes mid-run, she’s able to recover instantly.
It’s a stark contrast to the second half of last season, when she struggled with post-traumatic stress related to her crash.
“Right now I can feel when I have a disruption in my momentum,” she said. “Then in my mind it’s like a gas pedal — I can turn up the pace.”
One more win and she’ll match her career-best slalom start of five straight wins, set during the 2018-19 season. Including the final slalom race from last year, she’s currently on a five-race winning streak — just two wins shy of her all-time best streak of seven.
Looking Ahead: Olympics and Team Combined
Already the winner of two Olympic gold medals — slalom in Sochi 2014 and giant slalom in PyeongChang 2018 — Shiffrin could contend in four events at the 2026 Winter Olympics: slalom, giant slalom, super-G, and the new team combined event.
She and Breezy Johnson won gold in team combined at the 2025 World Championships. The event pairs a downhill skier and a slalom skier, with combined times determining winners.
There’s even buzz that Lindsey Vonn, now 41, could reunite with Shiffrin in a “dream team” pairing for the Olympics after a strong comeback season.
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