Women's Alpine Ski World Cup Slalom in Courchevel Preview

After the speed races in St. Moritz, Courchevel (France) will host a Night Slalom on December 16th in the Émile-Allais Stadium, located in Courchevel 1850 on the Loze sector. It is the 4th of 10 Slalom races scheduled on the 2025-2026 Alpine Ski World Cup calendar.

Courchevel (FRA)

December 16th Slalom / Women (Night Event) 17:00 CET 1st run 20:00 CET 2nd run

Courchevel Slalom Racecourse Facts

Start altitude: 2,015 m

Finish altitude: 1,805 m

Elevation difference: 210 m

Length: 503 m

Maximum gradient: 44%

Average gradient: 37%

Built from scratch in 1946, Courchevel is a French Alps ski resort with four different areas: Courchevel 1300 (Le Praz), Courchevel 1550, Courchevel 1650 (Moriond), and Courchevel 1850. The Courchevel Valley also includes the town of La Tania, built as competitors' accommodation for the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville.

Courchevel is part of the Les 3 Vallées, the world’s largest ski area with 7 interconnected resorts (Courchevel, Méribel, Brides-les-Bains, Les Menuires, Saint-Martin-de-Belleville, Val Thorens, and Orelle) and 600 kilometers of ski runs.

The area originally consisted of three valleys: Saint-Bon, Allues, and Belleville in the Tarentaise, Savoie. The skiing area has since been extended into a 'fourth' valley, the Maurienne Valley.

Within the Tarentaise Valley, you find the biggest concentration of world-class ski resorts in the world. The most well-known of them are the Paradiski (Les Arcs, La Plagne) and the Espace Killy (Val d'Isère and Tignes).

Courchevel and the Région Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes have a long tradition of competitive skiing and hosting major international events. It is from this region that 70% of the athletes who are members of the French Alpine Skiing Team and the main competition clubs, as well as champion trainers, come.

In January 1979, Courchevel hosted its first World Cup event, a Giant Slalom won by Ingemar Stenmark.

The 2023 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships were held in Courchevel-Méribel. For the occasion, a new, very technical, and challenging Downhill course, L'Éclipse, was designed by Bruno Tuaire, director of Courchevel Sports Club, and Hannes Trinkl (FIS).

Six Women’s Slalom World Cup races have been held at Courchevel since the first on December 21, 2010.

Austrian Marlies Schild is the only skier to have won more than one Slalom race in Courchevel, with three victories in 2010, 2011, and 2013. Mikaela Shiffrin (2018), Petra Vlhova (2023), and Zrinka Ljutic (2025) won the other three.

Mikaela Shiffrin has won the first three Slalom events of the season. Shiffrin secured another dominant victory in the last women's Slalom event at the Alpine Ski World Cup in Copper Mountain. She claimed her 104th World Cup victory, her 67th in Slalom, after setting the best time in the first run and second-best in the decisive run. Only 23-year-old French skier Caitlin McFarlane was faster than Shiffrin in the second run. Shiffrin finished 1.57 seconds ahead of Lena Dürr and 1.85 seconds ahead of Lara Colturi.

It's the third time she has won at least the opening three Slalom races of the season, having won the first three races in 2019-2020, the first five in 2018-2019, and the first four in 2016-2017. The 30-year-old US ski ace has now achieved 92 podium finishes in 121 Slalom races.

The first Slalom race won this season by Mikaela Shiffrin was the USA’s 200th women’s Slalom podium. Her third win this season was the USA’s 100th women’s Slalom win.

Lara Colturi claimed her third Slalom podium of the season in Copper Mountain. The daughter of 2002 Olympic Super-G champion Daniela Ceccarelli is the only skier who has come close to Shiffrin. In Gurgl, she secured her fifth Alpine Ski World Cup podium finish and achieved her first back-to-back podiums after finishing second to Shiffrin in Levi. The 19-year-old is still looking for her first and Albania’s first Alpine Ski World Cup win in any men’s or women’s event.

Last season, Zrinka Ljutic secured her third victory of the season in the Alpine Ski World Cup at Courchevel, having previously won at Semmering and Kranjska Gora. Sara Hector took second place, trailing the Croatian by 1.26 seconds. Lena Dürr came in third, 1.28 seconds behind Ljutic.

US ski star Mikaela Shiffrin made her comeback in Courchevel, finishing in tenth place.