Industry News
Mikaela Shiffrin has made her intentions clear for the upcoming 2025–26 ski season and the Olympic year. The American alpine star reaffirmed her decision to skip Downhill racing, telling SnowBrains at the Atomic’s annual Media Day on October 9, “No Downhill.”
“I have Super-G open,” the 30-year-old added, hinting at a more selective but focused competition calendar.
The decision follows a challenging run of injuries and recovery periods that have shaped the past two seasons for the most successful World Cup skier in history. While Shiffrin has long proven her dominance in technical disciplines like Slalom and Giant Slalom, she has won a five Super-G and four Downhill races in her career. Her calculated approach this year reflects a balance between caution and ambition, especially with the 2026 Winter Olympics in Cortina d’Ampezzo on the horizon, and is a repeat from last season, where she also excluded Downhill from her events calendar.
Shiffrin told SnowBrains she hopes to compete in several Super-G races early in the season, a discipline she has always enjoyed. “I love Super-G,” she said. “So I would like to give it a go early in the season.” The first Super-G of the 2025–26 campaign is set for December 14 in St. Moritz, Switzerland, so could be an option that fits that timeframe. “I have been training a little bit of Super-G and I need some more training sessions in order to race,” she explained. “But I love Super-G, so I would like to give it a go early in the season and then we make a decision if it’s worth to keep trying before the Olympics or whether we push that until after the Olympics.”
Her hesitation is understandable. In January 2024, Shiffrin crashed on the Trofana di Olympia Downhill course in Cortina, Italy, overstretching a tendon in her knee and forcing a 44-day break in the middle of the World Cup season. The following season, Shiffrin suffered a serious crash during a Giant Slalom run at Killington, Vermont, that punctured her abdomen, sidelining her for another 60 days. While the latter was a crash in Giant Slalom, the accident affected Shiffrin’s mindset strongly. Shiffrin has spoken candidly about her struggles with PTSD following the Killington crash. In a personal essay for The Players’ Tribune, she revealed that she continues to work through the trauma. “For me, sharing and talking and relating to other people and about my experience has been so helpful,” she shared today at the press conference.
Yet for all the setbacks, Shiffrin’s love for the sport remains undiminished. “I have a vision of my perfect day and it’s on the mountain, training with my teammates or with competitors,” she said in Salzburg, smiling as she described the rhythm and focus that continue to drive her.
Her training over the summer reflected that same dedication. After three on-snow camps and intensive strength sessions, Shiffrin said she feels physically stronger than in past season. “I am not ready, but I am excited,” she admitted with characteristic humility, glancing ahead to the World Cup season opener in Sölden, Austria, on October 25.
Shiffrin is not willing to put odds on the 2026 Winter Games being her last Olympics. However, she acknowledges the limits of a long competitive career. “I don’t see myself competing until I am 40,” she said when we asked her if Lindsey Vonn’s return put pressure on her own career path. “I think everyone brings their own individual passion to the sport,” and while she has plenty of admiration for Vonn’s comeback, she does not see such a lengthy career in her future. Her current passion for the ski racing however remains strong, “We get to do this!” she exclaimed with abundant joy.
Irrespective of how long Shiffrin will stay in ski racing, she has certainly re-written history with 101 World Cup victories—everything else from here is just a bonus!
