The women were blessed with a bluebird day today, November 23, setting the stage for some great racing after yesterday’s exciting men’s race, which resulted in a rather unexpected podium. While the women’s podium was less of a surprise, it wasn’t any less thrilling to watch. Mikaela Shiffrin claimed her 103rd victory in Gurgl, dominating especially the second run of the women’s Slalom in Gurgl, Austria. In a repeat from lasst year, the GOAT was joined by two rising stars: 19-year-old Lara Colturi of Albania and Switzerland’s Camille Rast, who had both claimed their first career podiums last season at Gurgl.
“I’m excited for all the amazing Slalom skiing that is happening right now,” Shiffrin stated when asked about the young competitors on her heels. “I knew the others were pushing, so I knew I had to go,” she explained of her strong skiing at Gurgl.
Run 1
Slalom races are held in two runs, with the combined time counting. The fastest 30 skiers from run 1 qualify for run 2 and earn the all-important FIS points, which are even more significant leading into the Winter Olympics. Run 1 was set by Mikaela Shiffrin’s tech coach Janne Haarala, who joined Shiffrin’s team for the 2023–24 season. Previously, Haarala was with the Norwegian women’s technical team and the Finnish team as head coach.
Wendy Holdener in bib 1 set the pace for run 1 with a time of 54.70 seconds. Germany’s Lena Dürr was calm and controlled—she is, after all, one of the most reliable skiers in Slalom—but her run lacked the aggression to beat the Swiss skier. Likewise, Croatia’s Zrinka Ljutic and Sweden’s Anna Swenn Larsson could not endanger Holdener’s lead, crossing the finish 0.72 seconds and 1.15 seconds, respectively, behind the leader.
However, Mikaela Shiffrin in bib 5 once again showed why she is considered the GOAT. The American looked cool and controlled as she wove down the Gurgl course, catapulting herself into the lead nearly half a second ahead of Holdener. Home favorite Katharina Liensberger in bib 6 unfortunately made several mistakes, the last one resulting in a DNF for the Austrian ski racer. It was a fate that also befell Switzerland’s Melanie Meillard in bib 9 and Sweden’s Cornelia Øhlund in bib 11.
Before we skip ahead too far, however, there was still one skier from the top 7: Switzerland’s Camille Rast, who put down a fierce run, tying with her teammate Holdener for second place, 0.48 seconds behind Shiffrin. The Swiss duo was promptly bumped down to third by rising star Lara Colturi, who showed that her Levi podium last week was a taste of things to come for this season, crossing the finish line 0.17 seconds ahead of the Swiss and 0.31 seconds behind Shiffrin.
Paula Moltzan was aggressively charging down the course, looking at times slightly out of control, but she managed to keep it together despite some minor mistakes, finishing in sixth place. Emma Aicher, who had claimed her first career Slalom podium last week, struggled to find her rhythm today, finishing in 10th.
Meanwhile, Shiffrin and Moltzan’s teammates Nina O’Brien and AJ Hurt qualified for run 2 in 22nd and equal-29th place. Annika Hunt finished in 37th, missing out on run 2, while Liv Moritz unfortunately recorded a DNF. From Canada, Laurence St. Germain qualified in 24th, while teammate Amelia Smart missed out on run 2, finishing in 36th place, and Ali Nullmeyer recorded a DNF.
Run 2
U.S. skier AJ Hurt opened run 2, keen to make up for her DNF from Levi last week. Hurt was making some mistakes throughout her run, increasingly losing control of her outside ski, which ultimately became her undoing, as it skidded out and caused her to miss a gate on the final home stretch, resulting in a DNF. So it was up to Switzerland’s Eliane Christen to set the time for run 2. She finished in 55.38 seconds and a combined time of 1:53.24 minutes. It meant the first FIS points for the 26-year-old Swiss skier.
A quick succession of changes for the lead followed until Canada’s Laurence St. Germain showed that she is still a force to be reckoned with. The former World Champion excelled on the course set by her coach and finished with a lead of 0.42 seconds and a combined time of 1:51.35.
Nina O’Brien, like her teammate, was keen to make up for her Levi DNF but suffered the same fate. She came over the hump of the top section that leads into the steep section at too steep an angle, which led her to lose grip and caused her to skid out. It was a mistake that Mina Fuerst Holtmann also made, but unlike O’Brien, the Norwegian managed to regain control and not miss a gate.
Nevertheless, skier after skier failed to endanger St. Germain’s lead. It took 12 skiers before she was finally unseated by the sixth and last Austrian woman to start: Katharina Truppe. Truppe had finished run 1 in 12th place and had more than a second lead on St. Germain. The question was whether she could hang on to enough of this massive time advantage when so many before her had struggled. But she managed where others had struggled, finishing more than a second ahead of St. Germain with a time of 1:50.16 minutes.
Things were certainly starting to get more interesting, with the fastest 11 women still to go. Italy’s Lara Della Mea could not shake up the rankings, finishing more than two seconds behind Truppe, and neither could Germany’s Emma Aicher, who finished 0.71 seconds behind the Austrian. While it wasn’t a podium, it was still a top-10 finish for the 22-year-old German, who is one of very few athletes to compete across all four Alpine disciplines. Next up was seasoned Slalom skier Anna Swenn Larsson, who is the oldest Slalom winner in World Cup history. However, today was not her day, finishing 0.05 seconds behind Aicher.
All eyes were on last season’s Slalom Crystal Globe winner, Zrinka Ljutic, who was keen to ski back onto the podium after a somewhat disappointing sixth place in Levi. Unfortunately, the Croatian straddled a Slalom pole and her run ended with a DNF. Now we were down to the last seven skiers. Sara Hector, who finished last season in second place behind Ljutic, had a good rhythm on the top section but was bleeding pace, unable to attack sufficiently on the bottom section, skiing across the finish 0.19 seconds behind Truppe.
Paula Moltzan was next—and Moltzan is known to put down incredible second runs—and the American did not disappoint. Pushing from top to bottom, Moltzan swiftly made her way down the course, battling but keeping mistakes under control with her cat-like agility, snatching the lead from Truppe by 0.31 seconds. Germany’s Lena Dürr, meanwhile, typically has the opposite problem, where her second run will cost her the lead, which also happened today. The German skied controlled and with little risk, but it was not enough to unseat Moltzan, and she finished behind the American as well as the Austrian.
Wendy Holdener was the fourth-last skier, and the seasoned Swiss racer smoothly made her way down the rutted Gurgl course. She pushed on each gate, keen to maintain her lead, and succeeded, unseating Moltzan by 0.15 seconds. She had tied for third on run 1 with teammate Camille Rast, so with Rast still to go, there was definitely one Swiss skier on the podium and the Swiss crowd was cheering. Rast, who had her breakout season last year, did not disappoint her fans, managing to find speed on each turn and skiing into the lead by 0.18 seconds, finishing with a combined time of 1:49.52 minutes. It was a guaranteed podium for the Swiss but possibly a double Swiss podium with only two skiers left to go.
Second-last skier was Albania’s Lara Colturi. The young Italian-Albanian talent had a 0.17-second lead from run 1 on Rast—not much, so nothing to rest on. Colturi gave back some time on the top section, looking less energetic than Rast, but managed to improve on the mid-section again. Where she really excelled was the flat bottom section, where the 19-year-old squeezed out a time advantage of 0.18 seconds on Rast, catapulting herself onto the podium again after claiming second last week in Levi.
Last up was Mikaela Shiffrin, who had a 0.31-second lead from run 1 on Colturi. Shiffrin attacked the course right out of the gates, squeezing out another two-hundredths of a second on the top alone. She swiftly moved into the steep middle section, where she gained even more momentum, extending the lead to nearly a second. Carrying her speed from the steep section into the flat finish, the American extended her lead to claim victory by an incredible 1.23 seconds—an almost superhuman feat.
It marks the American ski racer’s 103rd World Cup victory in front of 7,300 spectators at Gurgl, extending her record as the most successful Alpine skier in World Cup history. Her margin of victory and technical consistency confirm that, even in a season filled with high expectations and strong challengers, she remains a force to be reckoned with.
The women’s World Cup will next head to Copper Mountain, Colorado, for Thanksgiving, where Shiffrin and her rivals will continue building toward the Milano–Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games.
