With the aurora borealis teasing the horizon, the FIS Alpine Ski World Cup returns to its technical roots in Levi, Finland, this weekend. American icon Mikaela Shiffrin, the 30-year-old trailblazer from Edwards, Colorado, arrives as the undisputed queen of the slopes, gunning for her 102nd career World Cup victory in Saturday’s women’s slalom—a tally that cements her as the all-time leader, having shattered Ingemar Stenmark’s record of 86 wins back in March 2023 and hitting the unprecedented 100-mark in February of this year.
Levi’s infamous Black course, a slalom fixture since 2001, holds a special allure for Shiffrin. She’s dominated here with eight victories, each capped by the whimsical tradition of receiving a live reindeer from a local Lapland farm. Her debut win in 2013 introduced “Rudolph” to her growing “reindeer herd,” and a ninth triumph this weekend would expand the menagerie further, perhaps named under the twinkling lights of Levi’s nascent winter festivities.
This Levi stop arrives amid whispers of environmental ingenuity. A balmy autumn has pushed true winter’s onset to mid-November, per Levi Ski Resort’s commercial director Marko Mustonen. Organizers countered with “farmed snow”—recycled from last season and bolstered by snowmaking machines—to ensure race-ready conditions. “Winter’s window here is tight, from early October to now,” Mustonen shared with Reuters. Shiffrin, a vocal climate steward, lauded the approach pre-race: “It’s smart adaptation. Racing on preserved snow underscores our sport’s future.”
Shiffrin’s 2025/26 campaign kicked off strongly in Sölden, Austria, on October 25, where she grabbed fourth in giant slalom, trailing the podium by a mere 0.72 seconds in a Euro-heavy field. Now, Levi’s twists and turns suit her technical mastery perfectly. This is the second of 16 technical events before the Olympic pause for Milano Cortina 2026, where Shiffrin seeks to build on her Beijing 2022 rebound.
Beyond the gates, Shiffrin’s influence swells. The six-time overall World Cup champ (with a seventh crystal globe still in play this season) recently deepened her stake in Denver’s NWSL expansion team, Denver Summit FC, announced in May. “Rooting for the home squad with everything I’ve got,” she shared on social media, weaving her competitive ethos into broader athletic ecosystems.
Rivals lurk, though. Croatia’s Zrinka Ljutić, defender of last season’s slalom title, rides momentum from a Sölden podium. Sweden’s Sara Hector and Germany’s Lena Dürr loom large, both clocking blistering sub-50-second runs in recent drills. For Shiffrin, Levi isn’t merely a win—it’s propulsion toward U.S. races, highlighted by her Killington, Vermont, return on November 30, still echoing her gritty 2024 crash recovery.
First-run gates open at 10:00 a.m. local (3:00 a.m. ET), second at 1:00 p.m. (6:00 a.m. ET). Tune in via Peacock and NBC Sports in the U.S., or FIS global streams.
In alpine’s high-stakes ballet of speed and strategy, Shiffrin orbits at the core. Levi awaits: podium glory or another reindeer, her saga—and stable—expands relentlessly.
