One week after demolishing the field in Levi by almost eight-tenths of a second, Mikaela Shiffrin is back in the start gate, bib 5 gleaming under the Austrian sun, looking every bit the unstoppable force the ski world has come to both admire and fear.
The question hanging over the Kirchenkar slope this morning isn’t if Shiffrin will be fast — it’s whether anyone on the planet is fast enough to beat her when she’s this dialed in.
Shiffrin Reloaded. That’s the only way to describe the 30-year-old American right now. After a 2024/25 season disrupted by injury and cautious comebacks, the two-time Olympic champion and six-time slalom crystal globe winner has returned with a vengeance. Her Levi performance wasn’t just a win — it was a statement: 102 World Cup victories and counting, margins that harken back to her record-shattering 2018/19 campaign, and a level of precision that left rivals shaking their heads.
Today she defends her Gurgl title on a hill she absolutely owns. Last season she won here by over a second. The Kirchenkar is steep, icy, and technical — basically Shiffrin’s playground. Early course reports say the surface is hard and fast, conditions that play perfectly into her ruthless rhythm and near-perfect edge control.
Standing in her way? A murderers’ row of slalom specialists who know this might be their best shot before the American pulls even further away:
Wendy Holdener (SUI, bib 1) desperate for a breakthrough win
Lena Dürr (GER, bib 2) always dangerous on steep pitches
Zrinka Ljutić (CRO, bib 3) the 21-year-old globe winner trying to prove Levi was no fluke
Anna Swenn-Larsson (SWE, bib 4) charging hard after a strong start to the season
And then bib 5. Silence falls. The Queen steps in.
Can anyone stop her? History says probably not. Shiffrin has won the last five slaloms she’s finished when healthy. She’s chasing Ingemar Stenmark’s all-time record of 86 discipline wins (she sits at 61 in slalom alone). Every gate she threads cleanly is another reminder that we’re watching the most dominant technical skier ever.
First run starts at 10:30 CET. Coffee is brewing across the ski world. One thing feels certain: when Mikaela Shiffrin is this locked in, second place is the only real battle left.
Buckle up. The Queen is reloaded — and Gurgl is about to find out just how unstoppable she really is. ⛷️👑
(Live on Peacock, Eurosport/Discovery+, and FIS platforms)
