World Cup Season Opener at Sölden, Austria, Receives Green Light from FIS

The International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS) has given the green light for the World Cup Season Opener at Sölden, Austria, next week. In a procedure known as ‘snow control,’ officials from FIS, as well as the Local Organizing Committee (LOC), inspected the snow depth and preparation of the racing slope on the Rettenbach Gletscher on Thursday, October 16. Snow control is an inspection of the conditions on a World Cup race course prior to a race to ensure the course is prepared according to FIS standards and is safe for World Cup athletes to compete on.

For more than 30 years, Sölden has been hosting the FIS Alpine World Cup Season Opener with two Giant Slalom events on the resort’s glacier ski area. Each year, a women’s and a men’s event are held on the Saturday and Sunday of the last weekend in October. This year’s events are scheduled for October 25 and 26, with the women’s event on Saturday and the men’s on Sunday. The LOC is expecting to see about 140 athletes, as well as 30,000 ski racing fans, attending on that weekend.

Among the female athletes in attendance, we can expect to see ski racing superstars such as USA’s Mikaela Shiffrin, New Zealand’s Alice Robinson, and Switzerland’s Lara Gut-Behrami. Shiffrin has podiumed at Sölden a total of six times, including victories in 2014 and 2021. Robinson won her first-ever World Cup race in Sölden, becoming the youngest winner of a World Cup since Shiffrin, and placed second last year. Meanwhile, Gut-Behrami has won a total of three times on the Rettenbach glacier, tying her with Tina Maze for the most victories at the Season Opener since the event started in 1993.

• Related: 17-Year-Old Beats a Stunned Mikaela Shiffrin in First World Cup Race of the Season

Sadly missing from the big opener will be Slovakian skier Petra Vlhova and Italian skier Federica Brignone, who are both still recovering from injury. Vlhova—Shiffrin’s biggest competitor in Slalom—has been on the podium at the opener three times. Brignone has podiumed five times at Sölden, including two victories: her first-ever World Cup victory in 2015 and again in 2023. The two skiers will be sorely missed by fans and competitors alike. Also missing will be Alexander Steen Olsen (24), last season’s Sölden GS winner. The athlete continues to experience issues with his knee. After testing it in Sölden over the weekend, he is returning to Oslo for further evaluation and treatment, according to an FIS social media post.

• Related: Historic All-Norwegian Podium at Men’s Giant Slalom in Sölden, Austria

On the men’s side, we can look forward to seeing the due of Henrik Kristoffersen and Alte Lie McGrath, who made up two thirds of an all Norwegian podium last year (the other was Alexander Steen Olsen), Marco Odermatt from Switzerland, who has won twice at Sölden, and Brazilian Lucas Braathen, who has won the race in 2020 at just 20 years of age, marking his first-ever career victory.

• Related: Norwegian Ski Racer Aleksander Aamodt Kilde Confirms Beaver Creek, CO, as First Race Following his Lauberhorn Crash

Abstaining from the Season Opener on the men’s side we have Aleksander Aamodt Kilde, who is coming back from a 20-month hiatus following his crash at the Lauberhorn, as well as—in all likelihood—Marcel Hirscher, who tore his ACL and has just returned to on-snow training last month. While Hirscher’s team has not made an official statement about his comeback to competitive skiing, it would be a surprise to see the Dutch-Austrian ski racer competing again so soon. The 36-year-old comeback skier, however, does have 17 wildcard entries available for the 2025-26 season. The six-time Crystal Globe winner came back from retirement in the 2024-25 season thanks to the newly introduced wildcard system.

• Related: Marcel Hirscher Returns to Snow 9 Months After ACL Tear

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