FIS Alpine Skiing confirmed today that the 2025/26 World Cup slalom venue has been surgically upgraded with increased pitch, tighter gate spacing, and a steeper finish drop, transforming one of the tour’s most feared hills into a full-on predator. The changes, approved after summer testing with top athletes, aim to “elevate technical demand and separate the elite from the exceptional.
Shiffrin, the 30-year-old American with 101 World Cup wins and four Levi slalom titles, inspected the revised layout this afternoon with U.S. Ski Team technical coach Paul Kristofic. Her reaction was immediate—and vintage Shiffrin.
“Perfect. I like it nasty.”
Shiffrin’s First Impression (Live from Course)
“It’s not a course anymore. It’s a fight. And I trained all summer for a fight.”
— Mikaela Shiffrin, 16:42 local, finish corral
She wasn’t exaggerating.
Her off-season program—built in Copper Mountain, Colorado—included simulated “chaos gates” at 3.2 m spacing and steep-injection drills on a 30° pitch. The Levi upgrades? They’re her blueprint come to life.
