Flachau Alpine Ski World Cup Night Slalom Race Preview

Raúl Revuelta
6 days ago
3 min read

Flachau Night Slalom Race. Picture: Doris Wild / Audi FIS Ski World Cup Flachau

Every year in mid-January, the best Women's Slalom racers meet for the Alpine Ski World Cup Night Slalom at the Hermann Maier racecourse in Flachau. Next Tuesday, January 13th, 2026, the spectacle will be back to the Austrian ski town.

On January 10th, 2010, a night race was held for the first time under the floodlights in Flachau. Marlies Schild won the race and was crowned the first "Snow Space Salzburg Princess".

Flachau is a village in the district of St. Johann im Pongau in the Austrian state of Salzburg.

Flachau is part of the Ski Amadé ski domain, a network of 28 ski areas and towns that stretches from the south-east of Salzburg to the upper Styrian Ennstal, creating one of the largest ski areas in Europe. With only one lift pass, you can ski on 760 kilometers of slopes served by 270 modern lifts, spread out throughout the top five ski regions of Salzburger Sportwelt, Schladming-Dachstein (including the Dachstein Glacier at 2,700 m), Gastein, Hochkönig, and Grossarltal.

Flachau (AUT)

January 13th Slalom / Women (Night Event) 17:45 CET 1st run 20:45 CET 2nd run

The piste is on the eastern slope of the Grießenkar and ends on the outskirts of Flachau. The first Alpine Ski World Cup race took place on December 22, 1993; a Super-G won by Slovenian Katja Koren. The first Men's World Cup race, a Giant Slalom, took place on January 3, 1996, and was won by Swiss Urs Kälin.

Flachau has hosted 18 Women’s Alpine Ski World Cup Slalom races. Janica Kostelic won the first in January 2001. Kostelic won again in March 2002, three weeks after winning Olympic Slalom gold in Salt Lake City.

In honor of the Flachau-born skier Hermann Maier, the Grießenkar slope was renamed the Hermann Maier World Cup slope on January 3, 2004.

Racecourse facts:

Start Elevation: 1145 m
Finish Elevation: 960 m
Vertical Drop: 185 m
Course Length: 530 m

Flachau Alpine Ski World Cup Night Slalom Race Preview — Flachau 2025 Podium. Picture: GEPA Pictures / HEAD Ski

Last season, in front of 11,700 fans, Camille Rast was crowned "Princess of Snow Space Salzburg" for the first time. Rast finished ahead of Wendy Holdener (+0.16) and Sara Hector (+0.38).

In 2024, Mikaela Shiffrin won the Night Slalom in Flachau. The US ski ace finished ahead of Petra Vlhova (+0.27) and Sara Hector (+1.11). She has won five times the Night Slalom in Flachau: 2013, 2014, 2018, 2021, and 2024.

Shiffrin recorded a DNF in her first race at Flachau in 2011, but since then has been on the podium in each of the ten subsequent races.

Mikaela Shiffrin. Flachau Night Slalom 2024 — Flachau 2024 Podium. Picture: Audi FIS Ski World Cup Flachau

Salzburg's Marlies Schild (Raich) is the only Austrian skier to have won in Flachau. She won in 2010 and 2011.

The last Austrian woman skier to achieve a podium finish in a World Cup Slalom in Flachau was Katharina Liensberger, who placed second behind Mikaela Shiffrin in January 2021.

Mikaela Shiffrin, Petra Vlhova, Marlies Schlid, Frida Hansdotter, Veronika Velez Zuzulová, Maria Höfl-Riesch. These are the names of the skiers who won on the Hermann Maier FIS World Cup course and were crowned Snow Space Salzburg Princess.

Flachau Women's Slalom Winners

2025 Camille Rast (SUI)

2024 Mikaela Shiffrin (USA)

2023 Petra Vlhova (SVK)

2021 Mikaela Shiffrin (USA)

2020 Petra Vlhova (SVK)

2019 Petra Vlhova (SVK)

2018 Mikaela Shiffrin (USA)

2017 Frida Hansdotter (SWE)

2016 Veronika Velez Zuzulova (SVK)

2015 Frida Hansdotter (SWE)

2014 Mikaela Shiffrin (USA)