The World Cup weekend in Åre, Sweden, concluded Sunday with an exciting women’s slalom that saw Mikaela Shiffrin once again prove why she remains the dominant force in the discipline. The American star captured her 109th career World Cup victory and 72nd career slalom win, finishing 0.94 seconds ahead of Germany’s Emma Aicher, while Switzerland’s Wendy Holdener rounded out the podium in third.
For Shiffrin, the victory was her eighth slalom win of the season from nine starts, equaling her own record from the 2018–19 season, shared with Janica Kostelić. Åre has long held special meaning for the American—she won her first World Cup race in Åre, tied with and then beat Ingemar Stenmark’s record for most World Cup wins in Åre, had her first race after her father’s death in Åre, and made her comeback after her Killington crash at Åre in 2024.
“Åre is one of the places where my heart feels a little bit at home.”
— Mikaela Shiffrin
Run 1
Slalom races are conducted in two runs with the combined time counting. The fastest 30 skiers from run 1 qualify for run 2. Austria’s Katharina Truppe opened the race with a smooth and aggressive run, setting the early benchmark with a time of 50.79 seconds. Starting second, Albanian-Italian rising star Lara Colturi began strongly and was briefly 0.22 seconds ahead at the first split but lost momentum in the lower section, finishing 0.47 seconds behind Truppe.
Starting in bib 3, Shiffrin—who had already secured the 2025–26 Slalom Crystal Globe—showed no signs of easing off despite holding the discipline title. With the overall Crystal Globe still undecided, she attacked the Swedish course with her trademark precision and crossed the finish 0.57 seconds ahead of Truppe, setting what would remain the fastest time of the first run.
Switzerland’s Holdener slotted into podium contention, finishing 0.70 seconds behind Shiffrin, while Team USA’s Paula Moltzan delivered a smooth run to sit just outside the top five.
All eyes then turned to Germany’s Aicher in bib 10. The 22-year-old was faster than Shiffrin in the opening section but lost time mid-course before finishing 0.51 seconds behind the American, putting her into provisional second place and igniting the Swedish crowd. Aicher, whose mother is Swedish, is still Swedish for the Swedes, despite competing for Germany, and the crowd showed their support for the dual citizen.
Further down the order, Americans AJ Hurt and Katie Hensien qualified for the second run in 18th and 24th place, respectively, while Nina O’Brien and Elisabeth Bocock missed the cut, finishing outside the top 30. Liv Moritz recorded a DNF.
Run 2
Italy’s Giulia Valleriani opened the second run, posting a combined time of 1:47.65. One of the standout early performances came from Czech veteran Martina Dubovská, who delivered the fastest second run of the day (52.57) to climb to 11th overall. Latvia’s Dzenifera Germane then surged into the lead, eventually securing a career-best sixth place—her seventh top-10 finish on the World Cup circuit.
Germane’s time in the leader’s seat lasted for another six skiers, until Moltzan eded the Latvian by just 0.02 seconds to move into the provisional lead and ultimately finish fifth overall. This continues a strong weekend for Moltzan after her giant slalom podium on Saturday. “I’m happy to find some good sections of skiing in salty spring snow with plenty of mistakes too,” Moltzan said in a post-race interview. “But happy to get another top five to complete a solid weekend in Åre.”
With only four skiers remaining, the podium battle intensified. Wendy Holdener extended her lead on Moltzan straight out of the gate and managed to hang on to her speed, crossing the finish line an impressive 0.83 seconds ahead of the American, putting the Swiss into firm podium contention with only three skiers left.
Next up was Katharina Truppe, who had a narrow lead of 0.13 seconds on her Swiss rival from run 1, and the Austrian gave back the time advantage straight on the top section. She then created momentum on the mid-section and moved ahead of Holdener again, but the Austrian lost valuable milliseconds after a minor mistake, costing her the lead and seeing her finish 0.09 seconds behind Holdener. Truppe could not believe it, yelling, “That can’t be possible” in German into the FIS camera. It was certainly a battle for the podium today.
Next up Swedish-German Aicher, who had 0.19 seconds on Holdener. Could she hang on to the lead, when Truppe had failed. Aicher, likewise, kept it thrilling, with the tine light flickering from green to red throughout the course but she managed to finish 0.06 seconds ahead of the Swiss. The 22-year-old cheered, it was a podium spot—the question was which one—but more importantly it kept her in the race for the overall season trophy.
This left only Shiffrin at the top of the race course, and once again the legendary ski racer showed why she is considered the GOAT of alpine skiing. She extended her lead of half a second on Aicher to more than a second by the mid-section, then gave back a little but still crossed the finish line nearly an entire second ahead of the German. The win marked Shiffrin’s seventh career slalom victory in Åre and eighth overall at the Swedish venue, further cementing the resort as one of her most successful stops on the World Cup circuit. “It was really challenging to ski,” Shiffrin said. “Some turns were really good and some had traps, but I felt really strong with my equipment and was pushing.”
The victory strengthened Shiffrin’s position in the overall World Cup standings, increasing her total to 1,286 points. Aicher, who competes in all four disciplines, sits 140 points behind heading into the season finale. The battle for the overall globe is certainly heating up. “Today Emma was skiing so strong,” Shiffrin acknowledged. “We’re getting a really exciting finale to the season.”
Aicher, meanwhile, remains focused on finishing her breakout season strongly and not letting the globe battle distract from that. “She [Shiffrin] is far ahead of me. I would have to put down four incredible races,” the German admitted humbly in the post-race interview. “Either way, I can be proud of this season regardless. I have had a good season in all four disciplines and I can be proud of it.” Aicher is the only ski racer on the women’s circuit that competes in all four disciplines. She would have to ski into the top five in all four disciplines to snatch the globe from Shiffrin. The 22-year-old also hinted at the possibility of Shiffrin potentially competing in downhill in order to gain additional points to secure her the overall season title. Shiffrin had announced at the start of the season that she would not compete in downhill, however, the battle for the crystal globe could make such a strategic move possible. Either way, it will certainly be a nailbiting World Cup Final, with two small crystal globes—Super-G and Downhill—still up for grabs.
The World Cup Finals will take place in Lillehammer, Norway, where the top 25 athletes in each discipline will have one final opportunity to score points. Shiffrin has already secured the slalom Crystal Globe—her 16th career globe—and will now look to capture a sixth overall title, which would tie the record set by Austrian legend Annemarie Moser‑Pröll.
