Mikaela Shiffrin is officially back in action, and the American superstar has wasted no time making her presence felt at the Audi FIS Ski World Cup season opener in Sölden, Austria. After inspecting the giant slalom course on the Rettenbach glacier and racing the first run on Saturday, October 24, Shiffrin seized the lead with a time of 1:07.27, holding a 0.14-second advantage over Sweden’s Sara Hector and 0.37 seconds over Switzerland’s Camille Rast.
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The 31-year-old’s return comes as she embarks on what she has openly called her “exploration season.” In the lead-up to Sölden, Shiffrin revealed she is deliberately reducing her usual heavy slalom schedule to focus more training and racing time on giant slalom and super-G. “I am really excited at the opportunity to have space to focus a bit more with giant slalom and super-G,” she said. “I’m looking forward to the chance to have this space to kind of play with how I’m training, when I’m training, how I’m having recovery days as well.” She stressed it is not about doing less, but about staying curious and building longevity after 16 years on the World Cup circuit.
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Course inspection is a critical ritual in alpine racing — athletes side-slip or snowplow the full course to memorize rhythm, terrain changes, and gate offsets before the clock starts. For Shiffrin, the first inspection of the 2026/27 campaign on the famously long and steep Sölden hill offered early clues about her form. Post-run, she admitted the top section felt challenging (“a bit like training, maybe some wind”), but she was pleased overall: “The first impressions are very good. I am very satisfied with my run. The surface allows for aggressive skiing. I’ll try to ski even better.” She added she was “a bit surprised” by the speed after feeling good, a familiar reminder that solid sensations don’t always translate to the stopwatch.
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The opener was not without drama. Austrian home favorite and defending GS World Cup champion Julia Scheib crashed spectacularly on the steep section after posting a strong intermediate, exiting the race unhurt but shaking the field. With Scheib out, Shiffrin — who holds the women’s record of 22 giant slalom World Cup wins and 110 overall victories — put herself in the driver’s seat heading into the second run at 13:30 CET.
Her cautious pre-race stance (“I don’t think you should put me on your bingo card to win this race”) has already been challenged by her first-run performance. Whether this marks the start of a renewed GS charge or simply a solid step in her exploration remains to be seen, but one thing is clear: after years of slalom dominance, Olympic gold, and recovery from serious crashes, Shiffrin is back on the glacier and already setting the tone for the new season.
