Mikaela Shiffrin is inevitable. The 30-year-old dominated in Gurgl, Austria to collect her second World Cup victory in eight days with a final time of 1:48.11. 

Lara Colturi of Albania finished 1.23 seconds behind Shiffrin, making it back-to-back runner-up Cup efforts for the 19-year-old.

Camille Rast (SUI), the reigning slalom world champion, secured third (+1.41). 

If you’re experiencing a strong sense of déjà vu, it’s the right feeling to have. Shiffrin and Colturi placed first and second in Levi, Finland. Even more coincidentally, the 2025 Gurgl podium was identical to the 2024 edition, with Shiffrin in first, Colturi in second, and Rast in third. For good measure, Wendy Holdener (SUI) placed fourth at both events. 

Shiffrin, professional sports’ resident record-setter, proved why the history books are better off being written in pencil rather than ink—at least, as long as she’s around. The win marked her all-time leading 66th slalom victory, 103rd overall across disciplines and 159th career podium. It also represented her third straight slalom win in World Cup competition dating back to the Sun Valley finale last season. 

“I think it’s some of the best slalom skiing I’ve ever done,” Shiffrin remarked post-race. “We’re all close. I just have quite a bit of experience about the right level to push. I think that really helps me on days like today, on the second run. I know what I’ve done wrong in the past, and I know what to do right so then it’s no pressure. I just want to ski well.”

The GOAT is off to a blazing-hot start in 2025. Her 250 Cup points are the most of any Alpine skier, man or woman. What makes her performances really stand out, though, is beyond the fact that she’s winning. It’s how she’s winning. 

Slalom race winner Mikaela Shiffrin of the United States celebrates on the podium after the 2025 FIS Ski World Cup at Sun Valley.

Christopher Creveling-Imagn Images

After her first run of the day in Gurgl, the race was close. She led Colturi by a tight margin (+0.31). Then, as was the case in Levi, the results following Run 2 were not even close to being close (+1.23). Over the course of her last two races, Shiffrin has finished a combined 2.89 seconds faster than the runner-up, which nets out to an average of +1.45. For context, no other women's or men's races this World Cup season have been decided by more than +0.58 seconds. 

If Shiffrin didn’t shine so brightly in Gurgl, Colturi would be the talk of the slopes. The teenage phenom, whose mom Daniela Ceccarelli won a gold medal in super-G at the 2022 Salt Lake City Games, impressed with another standout second-place performance — her second World Cup runner-up finish in the last week. She now ranks number two in overall Cup points for the season with 196. As 2025 progresses, keep an eye on her as an athlete that has the potential to challenge Shiffrin in any given slalom or giant slalom race.

Paula Moltzan continued to display glimpses of her own greatness, capturing fifth, her third top-5 finish in as many races this season. It’s the most consistent run of high-level skiing she’s put together in her career, and she now sits at third in the Cup standings with 175 points. Still, she believes there's room for improvement.

“I think my first run was chaotic,” Moltzan reflected. “I want to work on minimizing my mistakes with more tactics in the tricky sections. Today the snow and course sets were challenging. I was happy to find the finish line even if the skiing was a bit wild.”

As for the other Americans who competed, Nina O’Brien and AJ Hurt posted DNFs in their second runs. Annika Hunt failed to qualify for a second and Liv Moritz DNF’d her first.

World Cup action heads stateside for the first time this season, as Copper Mountain, Colorado will play host to super-G, giant slalom and slalom events throughout Thanksgiving weekend. The action will stream live on Peacock, NBC, CNBC and Outsideonline.com. See below for the full schedule.

*Delayed broadcast*