Alice Robinson (NZL) won the giant slalom World Cup event at Copper Mountain in convincing fashion and became the most successful non-European, non-American Alpine ski racer of all time.

Julia Scheib (AUT) turned in another strong performance in her second start of the 2025-26 campaign with a runner-up finish (+0.96). It was her fourth career podium and second in two races. 

Thea Louise Stjernesund (NOR) rounded out the top three (+1.08) with a pair of impressive runs.

Defending Olympic gold medalist Sarah Hector (SWE) broke through for her best outing of the season, securing fourth (+1.17).

Mikaela Shiffrin (USA), who came into the weekend scalding hot thanks to a dominant stretch of back-to-back slalom victories in Levi and Gurgl (within a span of eight days), cooled off significantly, taking 14th place. While she slipped to sixth in giant slalom Cup points, Shiffrin — who grew up in Vail, Colorado, 20 minutes away from Copper Mountain — maintains a commanding lead in overall Cup points with 268.

Her teammate Nina O’Brien (USA) nabbed 11th, the best result for an American on the day. The top-15 finish was a nice bounceback performance for the 28-year-old who DNF’d her previous two races.

Paula Moltzan (USA) crashed in her second run. Fortunately, no injuries have been reported. Through three races of the 2025-26 season, Moltzan was in the midst of her strongest, most consistent skiing. The DNF stopped her momentum in its tracks, but she’ll have the opportunity to gain it back during the slalom.

Alice Robinson of New Zealand celebrates after winning the women's giant slalom World Cup race at Copper Mountain

Michael Madrid-Imagn Images

For Robinson, Copper Mountain was her fifth career World Cup victory and 18th podium. The Kiwi left no doubt from the moment she flew out of the starting gate, posting the fastest time in Run 1 and then doing the same in Run 2.  

A former teenage prodigy, Robinson burst onto the scene as a 16-year-old, representing her country at the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics and winning her first World Cup at age 17. The early success carried into 2020 and 2021, as she finished fifth and eighth, respectively, in Cup points in the giant slalom, but it also brought with it intense pressure. 

“I think I put a lot of expectations on myself to be, you know, just winning everything,” she told Olympics.com earlier this year. “I was just so nervous all the time and anxious.”

The anxiety, combined with a challenging bout with COVID-19, caused her to struggle in 2022 and 2023. Support from a new coaching team and a revamped focus lifted her out of the rut and propelled her back to top form. Since the start of 2024, she’s put together 13 podium finishes between World Cup and world championship competition. Despite the recent achievements she admits to still experiencing low moments.

“I was really not feeling that confident coming into this race, so I'm really proud of myself that I just trusted my instinct,” she said. “I honestly felt pretty gutted about Soelden [where she finished eighth], and I think in the past, I'd always let prior poor performances affect my next performance. So I really wanted to prove to myself today that, OK, Soelden wasn't great, but you can pick yourself up and ski well.”

She was able to do just that.

Tune into the final day of World Cup action at Copper Mountain on Sunday as Mikaela Shiffrin attempts to extend her slalom winning streak to four. Run 1 begins at 12:00 p.m. ET and streams on Outsideonline.com, while Run 2 is set for 3:00 p.m. and simulcasts on Peacock and CNBC.

*Delayed broadcast*