Levi slalom 14–15 November: Shiffrin skips it after 17 straight starts
Skiers on the slopes of Levi ski resort in Kittilä, Finland, in March 2003, not the World Cup course. Photo: Janne Karaste via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0
The Alpine World Cup slalom season opens in Levi, Finland, on Saturday 14 November 2026 with the women's race and continues on Sunday 15 November with the men. Mikaela Shiffrin is not at the start. She has started all 17 World Cup slaloms in Levi since November 2012 and won nine of them. This season she races fewer slaloms and begins at Killington on 28–29 November.
In short
- Women's slalom on Saturday 14 November, men's slalom on Sunday 15 November, both on the Levi Black course.
- Shiffrin skips Levi and Gurgl and plans to start her slalom season at Killington, Vermont.
- The last 14 Levi slaloms were all won by Shiffrin or Petra Vlhova; Vlhova returns after almost 34 months without a World Cup slalom.
- Three top-10 slalom racers of last season changed ski brand for 2026-27: Paula Moltzan, Lara Colturi and Henrik Kristoffersen.
- Lucas Pinheiro Braathen defends his 2025 win; Manuel Feller does not start after back surgery.
The weekend in Levi
The FIS programme, last updated on 10 November, gives two runs per race on Levi Black. Levi passed its snow control on 5 November, SnowBrains reported.
| Day | Race | Run 1 | Run 2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Saturday 14 November | Women's slalom | 11:00 (10:00 CET) | 14:00 (13:00 CET) |
| Sunday 15 November | Men's slalom | 11:00 (10:00 CET) | 14:00 (13:00 CET) |
Times are Finnish local time. The bib draw for the women is on Friday 13 November at 19:00 at Zero Point, and the draw for the men on Saturday 14 November at 19:00. Details are on the FIS event page and on levi.fi.
Why Shiffrin is not there
Shiffrin announced the change in a video on Tuesday 6 October. She calls 2026-27 an "exploration season", with more time for giant slalom and super-G. "I'm not trying to do less because I care less," she said, as Ski Racing Media reported. "I'm trying to do something different because I still care so much."
In an FIS feature of 4 November she explained the gap in her calendar: "Racing fewer Slaloms will give me time back." After the giant slalom in Sölden on 24 October, where she finished seventh, she has a five-week break before Killington. She stands on 99 slalom podiums, so a podium at Killington would make her the first skier with 100 in a single discipline, according to the FIS.
Her Levi record shows what the race loses. The FIS athlete database lists 17 Levi slalom starts since 10 November 2012, with nine wins, including the races of 2024 and 2025. She also won last season's slalom World Cup with 980 points. The Swiss news agency Keystone-SDA quoted her in an analysis published by blue News: "I accept that I may never win the overall World Cup again."
Who can win the women's race
The FIS stat sheet for the race says that every Levi slalom since 2016-17, 14 races in total, went to Shiffrin or Vlhova. Any winner other than Vlhova would be a first-time winner in Levi. The last other woman to win there was Tina Maze in 2014-15.
Vlhova has six Levi wins, but she last raced a World Cup slalom almost 34 months ago. Her only slalom of last season was 20th place at the Milano Cortina Olympics. The FIS names Camille Rast, Olympic slalom silver medallist in 2026, as the favourite. Wendy Holdener has 41 slalom podiums and has been second in Levi three times. Paula Moltzan won her first World Cup race in the Sölden giant slalom on 24 October, at her 149th start.
The men: Pinheiro Braathen defends
On Sunday 16 November 2025, Lucas Pinheiro Braathen won in Levi for Brazil's first World Cup victory, 0.31 seconds ahead of Clement Noel. Eduard Hallberg was third, the first Finnish man on a home World Cup podium. According to the FIS, no man has won Levi twice in a row.
Atle Lie McGrath won last season's slalom World Cup with 584 points. Henrik Kristoffersen can equal Marcel Hirscher's three Levi wins. Manuel Feller does not start after back surgery, and Alexander Steen Olsen returns after 599 days without a race.
Three top-10 slalom racers on new skis
The FIS result lists name the ski brand of every racer. A comparison of the 2025-26 finals in Lillehammer with the Sölden results of October 2026 shows three brand changes in last season's slalom top 10:
| Racer | 2025-26 slalom rank | Ski 2025-26 | Ski 2026-27 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paula Moltzan (USA) | 5th, women | Rossignol | Van Deer |
| Lara Colturi (ALB) | 7th, women | Blizzard | Head |
| Henrik Kristoffersen (NOR) | 4th, men | Van Deer | Head |
Head was already the most common brand in the women's slalom top 10 of 2025-26, with six of ten racers. Shiffrin stays on Atomic, Pinheiro Braathen on Atomic, Noel on Dynastar and Hallberg on Fischer.
What this means for your skis
A World Cup slalom ski is a race tool with FIS-rule dimensions, built for racers. The consumer versions from the same brands use the same short radius of about 12–13 m, but they are easier to bend at normal speeds. They suit good skiers who like short turns on hard, groomed snow.
| Ski | Waist | Radius (length) |
|---|---|---|
| Head Worldcup Rebels e-SL | 68 mm | 12.0 m (160 cm) |
| Atomic Redster S9i | 68 mm | 12.5 m (165 cm) |
| Völkl Racetiger SL | 67 mm | 12.6 m (165 cm) |
| Rossignol Hero Elite ST Ti | 68 mm | 13 m (167 cm) |
The figures are the makers' own; we compare them, we do not ski the race models. To find a slalom or carving ski for your level, use the Pick-a-Ski ski finder.
