As the first snowflakes of the season dust the fabled Levi Black course, the Audi FIS Alpine Ski World Cup returns to this Lapland gem for a festive opener that blends high-stakes racing with Santa’s whimsical touch. It’s race week in Levi, where women’s slalom action ignites on Saturday, November 15, 2025, promising to extend—or perhaps finally eclipse—one of the most unbreakable streaks in modern alpine history.
Under the midnight sun’s distant memory and the northern lights’ potential glow, the women’s field descends for the traditional “reindeer” slalom, where victors claim not just glory but a baby reindeer trophy. The event kicks off at 11:00 a.m. local time with the first run, followed by the decisive second at 2:00 p.m., culminating in an awards ceremony around 3:45 p.m. amid the finish-area festivities. Men’s slalom follows suit on Sunday, November 16, but all eyes will be on the women, where American icon Mikaela Shiffrin and Slovak powerhouse Petra Vlhova have reigned supreme for over a decade.
The duo’s dominance is nothing short of legendary: The last 13 women’s slaloms in Levi have fallen exclusively to Shiffrin or Vlhova, a streak unbroken since Slovenian Tina Maze’s 2014 triumph. Shiffrin, now 30 and chasing her 102nd career World Cup win after a 101-victory haul last season, enters as the three-time defending Levi champion. Her eighth victory here in 2024—capped by capitalizing on Vlhova’s second-run misfortune—tied their venue head-to-head at seven apiece, with Shiffrin’s flawless precision turning the icy Levi Black into her personal vault.
Vlhova, the 29-year-old Olympic slalom gold medalist from Beijing 2022, counters with equal ferocity. Fresh off a season where she notched four podiums despite injury setbacks, the Slovakian thrives on Levi’s tight gates and variable Arctic conditions, her explosive style yielding six wins in the last decade. “Levi feels like home—cold, challenging, and full of surprises,” Vlhova said in a pre-race interview this week, hinting at her intent to reclaim the reindeer. Their rivalry, marked by mutual respect and razor-thin margins, has elevated the event into a must-watch duel, with 21 combined podiums since 2015.
Yet, the 2025/26 campaign introduces fresh intrigue. Post-Olympics momentum from Milan-Cortina 2026 looms large, but closer to home, rising challengers eye disruption. Croatia’s Zrinka Ljutić, the 20-year-old who snagged two slalom globes last season by edging Swiss veteran Wendy Holdener, arrives with quiet confidence after a breakthrough year that included her first World Cup wins. “Levi is where dreams start—or break,” Ljutić noted, her aggressive line choice a potential wildcard on the 47-gate course.
Switzerland’s Camille Rast, last season’s discipline leader before her Olympic slalom gold in February 2025, adds depth to the contender pool. The 25-year-old’s technical prowess shone in Saalbach’s Worlds, where she outdueled Holdener for gold, and her third-place finish in last year’s Levi signals readiness. Albania’s teenage sensation Lara Colturi, fresh off her first podium in Gurgl, brings youthful fire, while American AJ Hurt and Norway’s Mina Fuerst complete a stacked top-15 bib draw.
Conditions appear prime following FIS’s positive snow control on November 6, with fresh powder blanketing the 622-meter vertical drop. Forecasts predict sub-zero temperatures and light winds, ideal for the high-speed tuck sections and rhythmic flats that define Levi’s allure. Off the hill, the weekend pulses with Lapland charm: Reindeer parades, Santa sightings, and an after-party at Hullu Poro Arena featuring a Black Devils-Hurriganes tribute show on Saturday night.
For Shiffrin, who skipped Killington’s giant slalom last month to focus on slalom prep, Levi represents redemption after a 2024/25 season marred by a Killington crash. “Petra and I know this hill inside out, but the young guns are closing in,” she told reporters Tuesday. Vlhova, training injury-free, echoed the sentiment: “It’s time to push harder—starting here.”
As gates drop and bibs flash under the floodlights, Levi 2025 could etch another page in Shiffrin-Vlhova lore or herald a new era. In this frozen theater of speed and strategy, the Arctic Circle waits to crown its queen. Tune in via FIS streams or Warner Bros. Discovery platforms for live coverage, and brace for slalom at its most electric.
