Introducing Mikaela Shiffrin’s Favorite Race Venues

Mikaela Shiffrin has raced on many of the most famous mountains in the world during her career, so when she’s asked to name a favorite, there is a long list to choose from. In a recent installment of “Get to Know Mikaela Shiffrin,” a Q&A series presented by her helmet safety sponsor Mips, Shiffrin was asked what her favorite place to compete is, and what makes it special.

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“We get the chance to compete in so many beautiful places, but a few that are special to me are the Dolomites, St. Moritz, Andorra, and Killington,” Shiffrin said.

It’s a short but interesting list. Three of the four have hosted some of the biggest stages in her career — an Olympics, a World Championships, a World Cup Finals contender — while the fourth is something more personal: the mountain closest to where she actually grew up skiing. Some are tech venues — Shiffrin’s biggest strength — while others are speed venues. Her list is clearly not influenced by the number of victories but rather the spectacular locations they represent.

Here’s what makes each one special, and when Shiffrin will be back racing at each this coming season.

The Dolomites (Cortina d’Ampezzo & Kronplatz, Italy)

Few backdrops in ski racing rival the Dolomites, with the jagged, pale limestone spires that give the region its name towering over the region. One of the many resorts in the Dolomites is Cortina d’Ampezzo — one of the most storied resorts in the sport. Known to many in ski racing as Lindsey Vonn’s living room, as the American ski racer won 12 races here, it was recently home to the biggest race of all: the Milano-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics. Shiffrin famously won gold in the women’s slalom on the Olimpia delle Tofane course, showing that it might be Vonn’s living room, but it’s clearly Shiffrin’s backyard.

On the regular World Cup tour, Cortina is a speed venue, hosting downhill and super-G. Shiffrin first raced there in January 2018, finishing third in the downhill. She picked up her first Cortina win the following year, a super-G in January 2019. Cortina has also hosted the full slate of disciplines twice during Shiffrin’s career under special circumstances — the 2021 World Championships (where she won alpine combined gold, giant slalom silver, and super-G and slalom bronze) and the 2026 Olympics, which held all four disciplines.

Cortina returns to the World Cup calendar for 2026-27 with two downhill races and one super-G race from January 15-17, 2027.

Following the speed events, Shiffrin will attend the giant slalom at Kronplatz, also in the Dolomites, two days later on January 19, 2027. 

Kronplatz was home to Shiffrin’s most significant World Cup milestone: her 83rd career victory, a giant slalom win on January 24, 2023, that broke Lindsey Vonn’s all-time women’s record of 82 wins — arriving just days after she’d competed in Cortina’s speed events that same week. Shiffrin has won three World Cup events at Kronplatz.

St. Moritz, Switzerland

St. Moritz is alpine skiing royalty — a glamorous resort in Switzerland’s Engadin Valley that has hosted Olympic Winter Games twice and, more recently, the 2017 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships, where Shiffrin claimed World Championship gold. High-altitude, sun-drenched, and steeped in over a century of ski racing history, St. Moritz has a reputation as one of the sport’s most prestigious and demanding venues. The race course looks down on Lake St. Moritz and offers expansive views down the Engadin Valley.

St. Moritz is another speed venue on the tour, hosting downhill and super-G (occasionally paired with a parallel giant slalom). Shiffrin’s documented wins at the Corviglia course span both disciplines: a super-G in December 2018 (her first win at the venue), another super-G in December 2022 (her fifth career super-G win overall), and downhill victories in December 2023 and December 2024. St. Moritz has been a particularly strong venue for her in the super-G discipline specifically.

Shiffrin will race at St. Moritz during the December 18-20, 2026 World Cup weekend.

Andorra (Soldeu)

Tucked into the Pyrenees between France and Spain, tiny Andorra punches well above its weight in ski racing. Soldeu has become an increasingly important fixture on the World Cup calendar, regularly hosting the season-ending World Cup Finals — a serious accomplishment for a country with a population smaller than many single ski towns elsewhere on the tour.

Soldeu is a technical venue, centered on giant slalom and slalom. Shiffrin’s first win there came at the 2019 World Cup Finals, a giant slalom that sealed her overall season title. She returned to the top step again at the 2023 World Cup Finals, a giant slalom victory that broke Vreni Schneider’s all-time women’s record for World Cup giant slalom wins.

For 2026-27, Soldeu returns to the women’s calendar in the technical-event slot, replacing longtime host Åre, Sweden. Shiffrin will race there on March 6-7, 2027.

Killington, Vermont

Killington is the outlier on this list, not for its scale or prestige, but for what it means to Shiffrin personally. She grew up training nearby at Burke Mountain Academy in Vermont, making Killington something close to a home race. The Vermont crowds, famous for their size and volume, turn the “Killington Cup” weekend into one of the loudest, most emotionally charged stops on the entire circuit.

Killington hosts giant slalom and slalom each year, and Shiffrin’s history there is remarkable: the World Cup event launched at Killington in 2016, and she won the very first race ever held there, the slalom, on November 27 of that year. She’s since gone on to win six of the seven Killington slaloms she’s started, though the giant slalom has been trickier — she’s finished on the giant slalom podium there multiple times without yet taking the win. Killington is also where Shiffrin impaled herself mid-race in 2024 — a setback for the season but clearly not a setback for the place Killington holds in her heart.

Killington returns to the calendar for 2026-27 after a year off the schedule (the venue sat out last season for chairlift and snowmaking upgrades), hosting giant slalom and slalom over Thanksgiving weekend, November 28-29, 2026.

It is telling, in a way, that Shiffrin’s list of “special” locations is not a list of those that held the most victories for her. The 31-year-old has won Levi, Finland, and Åre, Sweden, nine and eight times, respectively, however, neither of those record-holding slalom venues made the list. Instead, it appears the stunning race courses themselves are more important than the spot on the podium for Shiffrin. It shows just how passionate the American ski racer is about skiing — it is not the results that matter but the joy she feels in skiing. The stunning beauty of the Dolomites, the vistas in St. Moritz, or the expanse of the Pyrenees clearly don’t fail to impress a seasoned ski racer like her. Neither does the heart and soul of the home crowd, whom, Shiffrin has acknowledged in the past, she can hear all the way from the starting gate.

“I could hear you from the start. That was the most unbelievable thing I’ve ever experienced, so thank you.”

— Mikaela Shiffrin in Killington 2018

For the 2026-27 season, those races should definitely be on your watch list if you’re a Shiffrin fan.