After a four-week hiatus, Lindsey Vonn (USA), Breezy Johnson (USA) and more of Alpine skiing’s top speed racers are back for a pair of World Cup events at the Zauchensee ski resort in Austria.

The action begins Saturday bright and early with a downhill at 5:30 a.m. ET and concludes Sunday with a super-G at 6:00 a.m. ET. Both events will stream live on Peacock and air on NBC Sports Network.

With Winter Olympic qualification up for grabs and Vonn looking like the 2010 gold medal winning version of herself, these are the storylines and athletes to keep an eye on this weekend.

Will any other Americans qualify for the Games?

Following the downhill and super-G in Zauchensee, the women will have one final opportunity to compete in speed events before the Olympic qualification period for Alpine skiing concludes (on Jan. 18). That means, results in the four upcoming races especially are crucial. 

Winning a World Cup event is the most important criteria that the U.S. Ski & Snowboard considers when filling roster spots. Mikaela Shiffrin was the first American skier to punch her ticket to the Games, which happened after her Copper Mountain triumph in late November. By that point, she already had three Cup victories on the season under her belt.

Vonn qualified in December thanks to a stellar start to the 2025-26 campaign with a victory and several podiums. Although she hasn’t won a race, Paula Moltzan was selected to join Team USA, largely due to two podium finishes (the most recent came last weekend), the second highest tier of qualification criteria.

If an American — like Johnson, Jacqueline Wiles or Isabella Wright — accomplishes either of the two feats this weekend, well, it's not difficult to predict what’ll come next.

Will Breezy’s back hold up?

On December 13, just hours after the season’s second World Cup downhill, Johnson, the reigning downhill and team combined world champion, revealed she had hurt her back lifting two months prior. 

“It felt at times like my back had given up on the Olympic dream I have fought so hard for over the last years,” she posted on Instagram. “I am still worried that my back will at any given moment tell me like a snobbish teenager in a movie, ‘it’s not my dream, it’s yours’ and simply refuse to allow me to ski.”

She went on to say the pain she experienced was the “worst of my life.” 

Coming from someone who’s broken her leg and torn her ACL multiple times, the statement was concerning. One of those ACL tears happened just weeks before the 2022 Olympic Games, forcing her to miss them altogether — which is plenty of reason for her to experience nightmarish feelings of deja vu. 

Still, Johnson has performed well this season. In four races, she’s placed 4th and 7th in two of them (better finishes than any other American speed racer not named Vonn), and has had about a month of rest and recovery since her last event in Val d’lsere.  

Zauchensee is not make or break for Johnson, but it certainly will be an important test, both physically and emotionally.

Is Vonn the best skier in the world right now?

To answer a loaded (albeit, self-posed) question like this one, we’ve got to address the elephant in the starting gate. By the time Vonn retired in 2018, the torch unofficially had been passed to Shiffrin as the standard bearer of the sport. 

Shiffrin is on an absolute heater, even for her standards. She’s won five out of six slalom events this season and last weekend had a six-slalom winning streak finally snapped, placing a “measly” second at Kranjska Gora. 

The 30-year-old also is the all-time leader in World Cup victories with 106 (a likely unbreakable record that only will become more unbreakable) and is the youngest Olympic gold medalist in slalom history. She holds the record nearly for every major Alpine skiing stat despite the pressure that came with being a teenage phenom, much like LeBron James.

However.

If we’re talking right now, right now, Vonn’s “eliter” than elite skiing is undeniable. In five contests this Cup campaign, her “worst” finish is fourth. Additionally, she has a win, a runner-up and two thirds. That’s an 80% podium rate. No one else is close to that clip.

Of course, the output of the 41-year-old, who’s transcended sport and made a legendary comeback (much like Michael Jordan), is a smaller sample size than Shiffrin’s. The latter has raced 13 times and won more than Vonn’s even competed in (5). 

Regardless of who’s been “better,” two of the best ever to put on a pair of skis represent the United States. It’s an unprecedented time in American skiing, a fleeting time too. It’s worth enjoying while we have it.

Who are the non-American skiers to watch out for?

Alice Robinson (NZL) - On her podcast, Shiffrin deemed Robinson “one of the best GS skiers of all time.” Game recognizes game. The Kiwi went gangbusters through her first eight races of the season, winning three times and finding the podium in two others. That said, she struggled in her recent giant slaloms, posting a pair of DNFs. In Zauchensee, the discipline leader in super-G points will have the opportunity to find her groove again.

Sofia Goggia (ITA) - In an Olympic year where the Alpine injury bug is out and buzzing, Italy — the host country for the 2026 Winter Games — has perhaps been bitten the most. Federica Brignone (ITA), arguably the best Italian woman skier ever, is questionable for the Olympics due to a fractured tibia, fibula and torn ACL she sustained last April. Marta Bassino (ITA) broke her left leg in training a couple months ago and will not be competing in Milan Cortina. That leaves the ski poles in the very competent hands of Goggia, who currently ranks 2nd in super-G points, 4th in downhill and 5th overall. Her super-G victory in Val d’lsere put her atop the podium flanked by Vonn and Robinson, and she very well could find herself in a similar position this weekend.

Cornelia Huetter (AUT) - Austria currently leads the men and women’s Nation’s Cup, and Huetter has played a significant role in the country’s success. Sure, Marco Schwarz (AUT) and Julia Scheib (AUT) are the bigger names, but Huetter is throwing down Olympic-worthy runs, highlighted by her World Cup victory in Val d’lsere. With another statement performance in Zauchensee, the high-altitude mountain village in her home country, the 2024 downhill Crystal Globe winner would solidify herself as a serious Winter Games medal contender.