Alpine skiing giants Lindsey Vonn and Mikaela Shiffrin are poised to take big steps in their journeys to the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics as the World Cup heads to St. Moritz.

All eyes will be on Vonn, who will be making her long-awaited season debut in her second season since coming out of retirement. She plans to hold nothing back in her opening weekend, taking on all three races in St. Moritz (two downhill and one super-G) in her bid to regain her place at the top of the podium. Her last victory in St. Moritz was back in a 2015 super-G race.

Coming out of retirement has yielded mixed results thus far for Vonn. While she had a slow start to the 2024-25 season, she seemed to have found her form in the spring, capping off the season with a super-G podium in Sun Valley. Now, Vonn will look for a hot start in St. Moritz to set her up for success going into Milan Cortina as she attempts to become the oldest Alpine skiing Olympic medalist in history. She already holds the record as the oldest woman ever to land on a World Cup podium.

Joining Vonn will be Shiffrin, who has had an electric start to the 2025-26 season. The U.S. star barely missed a beat from the end of last season, putting on a clinic in the technical events. In seven races, Shiffrin has scored three victories, including a sweep of all three slalom races, and six finishes in the top six. 

It has been a textbook start for Shiffrin, and one she meticulously planned out.  She announced earlier this year that she planned to spend the beginning of the season focusing on the technical events, which always have been her strongest, as she prepares for the Olympic Games.

However, Shiffrin is ready to branch out. She is planning to ski in the super-G race, her first speed race since January 2024, and her first in the discipline since December 2023. It is the first speed weekend of the World Cup season for the women and is a big step for Shiffrin to take going into the Olympic Games.

For both athletes, the weekend will prove a pivotal, must-see step in establishing what events they will run in Milan Cortina, and how well they expect to race. Competition in St. Moritz will kick off with the first downhill race, starting at 4:15 a.m. ET on December 12.