Nothing in life is certain except for death, taxes and Mikaela Shiffrin (USA) winning World Cup slalom races. 

Shiffrin commandeered Copper Mountain, clocking in with a cumulative time of 1:48.75 and dismantling the field yet again to secure her fourth straight slalom victory (fifth out of her last six) dating back to the 2024-25 campaign. 

Lena Duerr (GER) claimed second place (+1.57), her 18th career podium. 

Lara Colturi (ALB) secured third (+1.85), continuing her hot start to the season. It was her third top-three slalom finish in as many races.

Shiffrin now is a perfect three-for-three in the discipline to open 2025-26, and what makes the sparkling record even more spectacular — or scary, depending on the perspective — is how she’s defeating her opponents. She’s carving them up like a Thanksgiving turkey. 

In Gurgl, Levi and at Copper Mountain, her margins of victory were 1.66, 1.23 and 1.57 seconds, respectively, which averages out to 1.49. Basically, she’s been one-and-a-half seconds better than the next best skier. For context, at Copper, 1.57 seconds separated the winner from the runner-up. 1.57 seconds also separated the runner-up from the 11th-place finisher. 

For Shiffrin, it was her record 104th career World Cup conquest and 12th on home snow. She ranks first in slalom Cup points (300) and overall Cup points (368) on the season. 

The limit to impressive Shiffrin stats does not exist, however, the Outside broadcast did share a pretty jaw-dropping figure. Apparently, the GOAT is now responsible for two-thirds (67) of the United States’ world-leading 100 slalom Cup victories.

Shortly after the Copper Mountain festivities concluded, Team USA announced that Shiffrin would collect more than just FIS Cup points for her performance. She also officially qualified for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan Cortina, her fourth career Games. She is a three-time medalist, which includes two golds, the first coming when she was 18 years and 345 days old. The feat made her the youngest slalom Olympic champ in the history of Alpine skiing. 

Following her crash in the giant slalom, Paula Moltzan (USA) bounced back in a major way, claiming eighth in the slalom and ripping off the fourth strongest Run 2 of the pack. The 31-year-old has proven to be a dominant second run racer this season, placing second (Soelden), second (Levi), fourth (Gurgl) and fourth (Copper) in the events she’s finished. She’s currently fifth on the slalom Cup points leaderboard.

Nina O’Brien (USA), the birthday girl, finished 26th, while Annika Hunt (USA), Kjersti Moritz (USA), Elisabeth Bocock (USA) and Liv Moritz (USA) failed to qualify for the second run.

With 2025-26's inaugural double race weekend in the books, World Cup action will resume Friday, as the men compete in the first downhill event of the season in Beaver Creek, Colorado.