Mikaela Shiffrin Prioritizes Giant Slalom Over Slalom in 16th World Cup Season

Aspen —Mikaela Shiffrin won nine of ten World Cup slalom events last season. She captured gold at the Milan Cortina Olympics. By every metric that matters in professional sports, she was dominant to the point of boredom. And yet, for her 16th season on the circuit, she is deliberately turning down the volume on her most successful event to chase a different kind of speed.

This is not a retirement tour. It is not a phase where the star player sits out to rest her legs while the team wins without her. Shiffrin is calling it an "exploration season," and she means it literally. She will prioritize training in giant slalom (GS) and super-G over her signature slalom event. She is trading the tight, technical gates of slalom for the wider, faster turns of GS and super-G.

For context, this is a massive shift in focus for a six-time overall World Cup champion. Slalom is her identity. It is the event that made her name, the one she has won more times than any other racer in history. But Shiffrin told The Associated Press that after 16 years, she felt a "real curiosity pulling me toward GS and super-G."

She is not quitting slalom. She is just delaying it. Her first slalom race this season will be in Killington, Vermont, over Thanksgiving weekend. Before that, she and her fellow racers push out of the start gate on Oct. 24 for a giant slalom competition in Soelden, Austria.

On paper, the logic seems backward. Why would a racer who just won nine out of ten slaloms choose to spend the early part of the season working on events where she is not the favorite? Shiffrin says it comes down to intention. "It’s not about caring less or working less," she wrote in an email to the AP. "It’s about recovering better, training with more intention, and racing slalom when I’m prepared for it."

She is also applying this off-script approach to her podcast, "What’s the Point." The 12-episode season kicked off Wednesday with an interview featuring Kylie Kelce. Shiffrin says she is letting the conversations flow without a rigid script, much like how her best skiing feels.

"When I’m skiing my best, it feels like a dance," she wrote. "The turns link together and I stop thinking about them... Then afterward the guest says something like, ‘That was such a fun conversation, let’s talk again soon.’ That’s my version of seeing green (signifying the fastest time) at the finish."

The rest of her podcast lineup includes figure skater Ilia Malinin, rugby player Ilona Maher, tennis great Iga Swiatek, and sportscaster Mike Tirico. The theme is what drives them toward success — a question Shiffrin admits she is still pondering herself.

For locals, the practical impact of this shift is subtle but significant for the ski industry in Vail and Beaver Creek. Shiffrin is a 31-year-old from Colorado. Her presence on the mountain draws attention, sponsorship money, and media coverage that trickles down to local businesses. By shifting her focus to GS and super-G, she is keeping herself in the race for overall World Cup points, which determines the season's top finish.

She remains a competitive force through March. She will be on the mountain, training hard, and competing in events that are not her traditional strength. She is keeping the door open for slalom, but she is forcing herself to grow in other areas first. It’s a risk that makes sense for an athlete who has already achieved everything the sport can offer in her signature event. She is chasing a different kind of green light.