Women's Alpine Ski World Cup Giant Slalom in Sölden
The 2026-2027 FIS Alpine Ski World Cup officially kicks off this weekend in Sölden, Austria, with the Women's Giant Slalom.
Julia Scheib, Camille Rast, Sara Hector, Mikaela Shiffrin and Alice Robinson are the favorites to win the 2026 Giant Slalom on the Rettenbach Glacier.
Emma Aicher, who last year came within a whisker of the overall title, aims to excel across all four disciplines from the start of this season. Last winter, the 22-year-old athlete had to wait until the end of January to secure her first Top-10 finish in the Giant Slalom.
With seven World Cup podiums already under her belt in the technical disciplines, 19-year-old Lara Colturi is arguably the most promising talent of the next generation. She came seventh in Sölden last year, and her first victory may not be far away.
Petra Vlhova, and Marta Bassino are expected to make their return to racing following injury. As of 24 October, Vlhova’s last World Cup race came 1008 days ago in 2023-2024 when she suffered her knee injury in the Giant Slalom race in Jasna. Bassino’s last World Cup race prior to her leg fracture came 580 days ago in 2024-2025.
Federica Brignone and Sofia Goggia will miss the start of the World Cup winter season. It will also be the first season without Lara Gut-Behrami.
Sölden has hosted the Women's World Cup Giant Slalom race 27 times. In 2025, 66 female skiers from around the world participated in this exciting event for ski fans.
The first, in the 1993-1994 winter season, was won by then-Olympic (1992) and World Championship (1993) Giant Slalom silver medallist Anita Wachter (AUT), whose 2.63s winning margin is still the biggest in Sölden.
Lara Gut-Behrami and Tina Maze have won this event three times each at the Rettenbach Glacier. Federica Brignone is one of five skiers, including Mikaela Shiffrin, who have each won two World Cup races in Sölden.
The winner of the women's Giant Slalom race in Sölden has gone on to win the Giant Slalom Crystal Globe in 10 out of 27 seasons, including the past three seasons: Julia Scheib in 2025-2026, Federica Brignone in 2024-2025, and Lara Gut-Behrami in 2023-2024.
Women's victory ranking (by country):
Austria: 6
Germany: 5
Switzerland and Italy: 4
Slovenia: 3
Norway and USA: 3
Finland, Sweden, France, and New Zealand: 1
Women's victory ranking
3 wins: Tina Maze (SLO) 2002, 2005, 2012, and Lara Gut-Behrami (SUI) 2013, 2016, 2023.
2 wins: Viktoria Rebensburg (GER) 2010, 2017; Andrine Flemmen (NOR) 1998, 2002; Martina Ertl (GER) 2000, 2003; Mikaela Shiffrin (USA) 2014, 2021; Federica Brignone (ITA) 2015, 2024.
Last season, in front of 15,900 ski fans, Julia Scheib secured victory for the host nation in the Women's Alpine Ski World Cup opener held in Sölden. Scheib finished 0.58 seconds ahead of Paula Moltzan, while Lara Gut-Behrami completed the podium 1.11 seconds behind Scheib.
The Styrian skier laid the foundation of her victory in a fantastic first run. Scheib's lead, she finished 1.28 seconds ahead of Paula Moltzan, was the third-largest after the first run in the history of the race in Soelden. Mikaela Shiffrin was 1.42 seconds behind Swiss Lara Gut-Behrami in 2016, and Frenchwoman Carole Merle was 1.36 seconds behind Anita Wachter in 1993.
Scheib's win in Sölden last season was her first ever World Cup victory, coming 2832 days after her World Cup debut in Giant Slalom in Kronplatz in January 2018.
For eleven years, since the successes of Anna Veith and Marcel Hirscher in 2014, Austria's alpine skiers have been waiting for a home victory in Sölden.
The most successful Austrian skier in the Women’s Alpine Ski World Cup in Sölden is Kathrin Zettel, who claimed one victory in 2008-2009, along with three second-place finishes and one third-place finish.
Julia Scheib won the Giant Slalom Crystal Globe last season. She finished on the podium eight times in ten Alpine Ski World Cup Giant Slalom races during the 2025-2026 winter season, winning five of those races (Sölden, Tremblant, Semmering, Kronplatz, and Are), with two second-place finishes and a third-place finish in the final race at the Finals in Hafjell.
Her eighth podium finish in the Giant Slalom World Cup sets a new record for the most podiums by an Austrian skier in this event during a single season. Previously, Anita Wachter had set a record of seven podium finishes in 1998-1999, which Michaela Dorfmeister later equaled in 1999-2000. The overall record for the most women’s Giant Slalom podiums in a single season is held by Tina Maze, who achieved nine podiums in 2012-2013.
Julia Scheib's eight Giant Slalom podiums was twice as many as the next best last season, with three skiers on 4 each - Paula Moltzan, Alice Robinson, and Sara Hector. Scheib is the third woman this century to end a season on at least twice as many GS podiums as the next-best skier, after Anja Paerson in 2003-2004 and Tina Maze in 2012-2013.
With a total of 720 points, Julia Scheib also set a new Austrian women's Giant Slalom points record. Camille Rast finished in second place with 511 points, while Sara Hector was third with 479. Scheib's 209-point advantage over Camille Rast (SUI/Head) was the fifth-highest winning margin for a women's GS Globe, and the largest ever by an Austrian woman.
The 28-year-old Austrian skier secured the Giant Slalom World Cup title in Åre with her fifth victory of the season. She is the second Austrian woman to win five Giant Slalom races in a single season, following Annemarie Moser-Proell, who achieved this feat in the 1974-1975 season. Only Vreni Schneider (6 in 1988-1989), Sonja Nef (6 in 2000-2001), and Mikaela Shiffrin (7 in 2022-2023, among women) have won more than five Giant Slalom races in a single season.
After making her World Cup debut in this discipline in January 2018, Scheib took over seven years to secure her first victory, but only 140 days to achieve her fifth win.
Scheib claimed Austria's first Giant Slalom Crystal Globe in ten years. She is the ninth Austrian woman to win a Giant Slalom title. Eva-Maria Brem was the last Austrian skier to win the title in the 2015-2016 winter season. Her previous best Giant Slalom rank was 9th in 2024-2025.
Camille Rast's second place in both the Giant Slalom and Slalom standings last season saw her finish third in the Overall Standings, marking her best-ever season in all three categories. Rast’s first and, to date, only win in 62 Giant Slalom starts came last season in Kranjska Gora, which made her the 20th Swiss woman to reach double-digit Alpine Ski World Cup podiums across all disciplines.
Sara Hector finished third in the Giant Slalom standings last season for the third year in a row. She finished second in the 2021-2022 winter season, making her the only woman to make the top 3 of the Giant Slalom Globe standings in four of the past five seasons. In 2022, an inner ligament injury deprived her of becoming the second Swedish winner of the Women's Giant Slalom Crystal Globe, after Anja Pärson (2002-2003, 2003-2004, 2005-2006).
Hector, who won her first World Cup GS race in 2014, secured her 8th career Giant Slalom win with a single victory last season in Spindleruv Mlyn, making her last season’s oldest women's GS race winner at age 33.
Sara Hector's four Giant Slalom podiums last season brought her career tally to 25 podiums in the discipline, which is the second-highest for Swedish women behind Anja Paerson on 28. Hector’s Olympic GS silver medal at Milano Cortina 2026 made her the first Swedish woman (and second Swede after Ingemar Stenmark) to win two Olympic Giant Slalom medals. Hector won the Olympic Giant Slalom gold in Beijing.
Hector's best result in her 12 participations in Sölden was 4th place in 2023. The Swedish ski team, led by Sara Hector, hopes to end a 21-year podium drought on the Rettenbachferner glacier. The last podium in Sölden dates back to 2005, when Anja Pärson finished in third place.
Mikaela Shiffrin finished fourth in the Giant Slalom standings and won the Slalom Globe to secure her sixth Overall Crystal Globe, equaling Annemarie Moser-Proell for the most Overall titles among women. Shiffrin claimed one podium, third in Spindleruv Mlyn, her first Giant Slalom podium finish in almost two years.
Shiffrin has the most Giant Slalom podiums in Sölden (6), with Federica Brignone, Lara Gut-Behrami and Kathrin Zettel on 5 each. Shiffrin and Tessa Worley (FRA) have the most Top-10 Giant Slalom finishes in Sölden (11), meaning a Top-10 finish for Shiffrin this weekend will see her surpass Worley.
Mikaela Shiffrin is a two-time Giant Slalom Crystal Globe winner (2022-2023, and 2018-2019) and has the most women’s World Cup Giant Slalom wins (22), with Federica Brignone (17) the only other active skier with more than 10. As of Saturday 24 October, Shiffrin’s last GS win came 1031 days ago in Lienz in 2023-2024
This winter, the superstar plans to reduce her appearances in the Slalom discipline and focus on Giant Slalom and Super-G.
Alice Robinson finished fifth in the Giant Slalom standings and was the only skier besides Julia Scheib to win more than one Giant Slalom race last season, with victories in Copper Mountain and Tremblant. Over the past three seasons, Robinson has made more Giant Slalom podiums (16) than any other woman, followed by Federica Brignone (13) and Sara Hector (12).
Robinson's win in Copper Mountain at age 23 made her the youngest women’s race winner last season, a record she now owns in four of the past seven seasons she competed (2025-2026, 2024-2025, 2020-2021 and 2019-2020). On October 26, 2019, Alice Robinson won the women's World Cup Giant Slalom event in Sölden at age 17. She became the youngest winner of a World Cup event since Mikaela Shiffrin, who was also 17 years old when she won her first World Cup event (in 2012-2013) in Åre in December 2012.
With seven World Cup victories (6 in GS and 1 in Super-G), Alice Robinson is the most successful female Alpine Ski World Cup racer from a nation outside Europe or North America.
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