SEMMERING, Austria — As the calendar turns toward the final days of 2025, Mikaela Shiffrin isn’t just celebrating the holidays; she is celebrating a return to form that has the alpine world on notice. With the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics now just months away, the American superstar arrives at the Austrian resort of Semmering this weekend carrying a “perfect” mantle and a record-extending legacy.
Shiffrin’s start to the 2025-26 Olympic season has been nothing short of historic. In her signature discipline of slalom, she has gone four-for-four, sweeping every World Cup event held so far this winter. Her most recent masterclass under the lights in Courchevel, France, brought her career total to a staggering 105 World Cup victories, 68 of which have come in slalom alone.
Finding Speed in the Shadows of Pressure
Despite the lopsided margins of victory—she is winning by an average of 1.50 seconds over the field—Shiffrin maintains that the dominance looks much easier from the sofa than it feels in the starting gate.
“The world, when they’re watching, thinks there’s no pressure because I have a big lead or I did it the race before,” Shiffrin noted during her Christmas preparations. “But every single time I stand in the start, it’s a new situation. I’ve found a way so far to dig deep to find that quality skiing, but it’s not straightforward. It takes so much effort.”
This weekend, she returns to a mountain that has been kind to her. Shiffrin has claimed seven victories in Semmering throughout her career, twice sweeping three races in three days (2016 and 2022). This year’s schedule is slightly abbreviated, featuring a Giant Slalom on Saturday, Dec. 27, followed by her specialty, the Slalom, on Sunday, Dec. 28.
The Road Back to the “GS” Podium
While the slalom has been a victory lap, the Giant Slalom (GS) remains a work in progress. Despite holding a record 22 World Cup GS wins, Shiffrin has not stood on a podium in the discipline since a traumatic crash at Killington, Vermont, in late 2024. That incident, which resulted in a puncture wound and severe oblique muscle trauma, sidelined her for months and left a lasting impact on her confidence in high-speed technical turns.
However, the tide is turning. Shiffrin has secured two fourth-place finishes in GS this season, including a resilient performance in Tremblant, Quebec. “It’s just going to keep taking time,” she said. “I want to just keep improving or maybe get repetition from the slalom level.”
Olympic Aspirations and a Speed Comeback
Beyond the technical events, Shiffrin is quietly laying the groundwork for a heavy Olympic schedule in Cortina. She recently tested the waters in Super-G at St. Moritz—her first speed event since a terrifying downhill crash in Cortina nearly two years ago. Although she missed the final gate, she was on a podium pace for much of the run.
Her goal is to potentially add Super-G to a Milan Cortina program that could already include the Slalom, Giant Slalom, and the new team combined event. The latter offers a tantalizing prospect: a “Dream Team” pairing with Lindsey Vonn, the 41-year-old legend whose recent World Cup comeback has added a jolt of electricity to the U.S. Ski Team.
As 2025 draws to a close, Shiffrin is no longer just chasing records; she is chasing the feeling of being “limitless” on the mountain once again. If her performance this Sunday in the Semmering slalom is any indication, the rest of the world is still playing catch-up.