Ten crystal globes will be award end of March at Kvitfjell and Hafjell when the 2026 Alpine Ski World Cup Finals will take place for the third time since 1996 in the two resorts located west of Lillehammer. Interestingly enough, one of them had already been decided last weekend, two months before the end of the season!
Last week, USA’s Mikaela Shiffrin seized her seventh slalom race this season at Spindleruv Mlyn, in Czech Republic - a special place for her as she started her astounding career in that resort back in March 201, a few days before turning 16! With this 108th triumph on the world tour, the champion from Vail is now assured to receive a ninth slalom globe at Hafjell – a new record. “To be honest, it just feels amazing to be here—I felt like I was 15-years-old still,” Shiffrin said on Sunday, shortly after her 71st World Cup slalom triumph. “I just love skiing, and it’s the best feeling to be here.”
I wasn’t even thinking about the globe today, of course, I knew coming into this race that it could be possible, and now, I’m thinking that’s kind of crazy
“It’s been a very exciting day.” Shiffrin is also leading the overall World Cup standings with her 1,133 points, 170 more than her nearest challenger Camille Rast while Germany’s Emma Aicher, in 3rd by 449. What could be Shiffrin’s sixth overall World Cup title would equal the benchmark set by Austrian star Annemarie Moser-Proell, who dominated ski racing in the 1970’s.
The 30-year-old fiancée of Aleksander Aamodt Kilde will be aiming for a third Olympic gold medal in a few weeks at Cortina d’Ampezzo after Sochi, in Russia (slalom 2012) and PyeongChang, Korea (giant slalom in 2018) to whip away all the tough memories of the 2022 Winter Games in China where she failed to reach a single podium in all the competitions she had entered!
“The Olympics is a totally different challenge - I’ve had great Olympics, I’ve had tough Olympics, so I try to go in with an open mind and good spirit, trusting my team,” also commented Mikaela who enjoyed a great time at Cortina d’Ampezzo back at the FIS Worlds in 2021, snatching a total of four medals including one in gold (combined) at that occasion.
The defending overall champion, Italy’s Federica Brignone, a two-time winner in Super-G at Kvitfjell in recent years, has a more modest goal for the moment – just to qualify for the 2026 Finals among the top-25 racers in any World Cup standings. The 35-year-old athlete from Val d’Aosta, near the Mont-Blanc, achieved an extraordinary comeback at Kronplatz, finishing 6th in the giant slalom clinched by Austria’s new GS dominator, Julia Scheib. It was the first race for Brignone since her nasty accident last spring, when she severely broke her left leg after a bad crash.
“I only trained thirteen days in total in past weeks, so I can be really proud of myself today, it has been quite an emotional day for me, I even had a hard time to breathe during my first run, but I feel ready for the Olympics,” Federica explained afterwards with tears in her eyes. She aims now to score some big points in the coming speed events to qualify for the 2026 Finals.
