American skiing superstar Mikaela Shiffrin continued her dominant start to the 2025-26 Alpine Ski World Cup season by winning the women’s slalom in Gurgl, Austria, on Sunday, November 23, 2025. The two-time Olympic champion finished 1.23 seconds ahead of 16-year-old Italian prodigy Lara Colturi, who took second place.
Speaking after the race, Shiffrin admitted the win required maximum effort against an increasingly competitive field.
“I had to push so hard today,” Shiffrin said. “The others are skiing fast, so there’s no choice — you have to go all out. It felt completely different from the first run; the second run was much more manageable with the sunshine and great snow conditions. It was a really nice surprise.”
The victory marks Shiffrin’s second consecutive slalom win to open the season, following her triumph the previous weekend in Levi, Finland. The 30-year-old is showing no signs of slowing down after a challenging 2024-25 campaign that included a serious crash and subsequent surgery.
Shiffrin will now head home to the United States for the first time this season, with the World Cup tour moving to Copper Mountain, Colorado, next weekend — where she’ll finally get to sleep in her own bed.
Looking further ahead, Shiffrin also shared thoughtful comments about the upcoming 2026 Winter Olympics in Milano Cortina. Despite her status as one of the most decorated alpine skiers in history, she emphasized that she only wants to represent Team USA if she earns her place outright.
“We have an incredible U.S. team with multiple medal contenders,” she told NBC. “I never want to take a spot I haven’t deserved. If the time comes and someone else is skiing better, I’m completely okay stepping aside.”
With two wins already in the bag and her trademark humility intact, Mikaela Shiffrin remains the clear benchmark in women’s slalom as the season builds toward the Olympics.
