Goggia targets home Olympics as women’s speed season begins

The women’s speed season finally gets underway this weekend in St. Moritz, Switzerland – with a Downhill on Friday and a Super G on Saturday.

 For the planet’s fastest female racers, the FIS World Cup will serve as a tantalising build-up to the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games in February.

The season will also conclude with new Crystal Globe winners in both disciplines, due to two major absences from the start line this winter.

Lara Gut-Behrami (SUI/ Head), who won her sixth Super G globe last term, will miss the entire season. She was aiming to retire in 2025/26 from the top step of a podium, but knee injury has scuppered those plans. 

Reigning Downhill champion Federica Brignone (ITA/ Rossignol), meanwhile, is battling to make it back from serious injury in time for her home Olympic Games.

Who will step into the void this winter?

Still-improving Goggia to fight on several fronts
In Gut-Behrami and Brignone’s absence, Sofia Goggia (ITA/ Atomic) will have a great shot at World Cup glory – and Olympic medals on home snow, too. 

Four-time Downhill champion Goggia finished third in the Downhill, Super G and Overall standings last season. As usual, she left everything she had on the slope and was brilliant to watch.

Goggia has form at the Games: she won Downhill gold at PyeongChang 2018, Downhill silver at Beijing 2022, and would dearly love to add to that tally when Cortina takes centre stage.

“My goal is to return to my highest level, race with consistency, and be competitive every weekend in speed,” she said. “I want to fight for wins when the conditions are right, but above all I want a solid, healthy season that allows me to express my skiing at its best.” 

The 33-year-old is always looking for marginal gains. “I want to improve the efficiency of my skiing, being fast without forcing too much,” she said. “I’m working on cleaner lines, better aerodynamics, and maintaining stability in the key sections where races are often decided.

“I trained a lot in giant slalom because I believe that GS technique is fundamental for speed as well. I’ve worked on consistency, trying to combine instinct and technique so that one reinforces the other.”

“This pre-season has been about rebuilding with patience and intention. I feel more aware of what my body and mind need. There’s a sense of clarity in my work. It’s more mature, more focused on long-term balance.”

Goggia aims for a quick start this weekend. “St. Moritz is a place I love,” she said. “It’s challenging and technical. The first speed event comes a bit late, but I’ve already broken the ice with the GS races. It’s a track where you need to attack with clarity and where experience truly matters. There are no strong visual references, so it’s not an easy slope, but I know it well.”

Hütter and company in hot pursuit
Conny Hütter (AUT/ Head) will have her eye on recapturing the Downhill crown. She was champion two seasons ago, and came close to defending it last term, only to be denied by Brignone. She’s Austria’s big hope, too, with compatriot Stephanie Venier (AUT) unexpectedly retiring in the off-season.

“Two seasons ago the globe was amazing, an unexpected thing,” she said. “Last year, with the last race cancelled, I was sad, but that’s life, that’s skiing and Sofia earned it.

“I did everything this summer to be on the top level. We will see, but I hope. Pre-season, my last camp was really good. Then we had some time off, and now I’m really looking forward to it [starting].”

Lauren Macuga (USA/ Rossignol), who had a breakout year in 24-25, finishing fourth in Downhill, is also out for the year with an ACL – meaning three of last winter’s top five are out of action.

Looking to move up the rankings will be the likes of Laura Pirovano (ITA/ Head), Kajsa Vickhoff-Lie (NOR/ Head), Breezy Johnson (USA/ Atomic), Ester Ledecka (CZE/ Kaestle) and Emma Aicher (GER/ Head).

Johnson can bring the confidence of being crowned World Champion in Saalbach back in February, as well as getting the Team Combined gold. It was part of a dazzling performance from the USA’s women’s team overall but Johnson isn’t letting it go to her head.

“I try not to think about being world champion too much,” she said. “I usually just use it when I am questioning myself like 'when you ski your best, you can be the best in the world, trust yourself execute your plan.' I try to focus on the process.

“I have been working on smooth skiing. ⁠I am focusing on the Olympics, but I also really want to win the downhill title, and improve my Super G. ⁠I really was overwhelmed by hearing my national anthem [at the World Championships] and it would be amazing to have that again.”

Legends and youngsters look to make mark
Also looking to boost Team USA is one of their biggest legends, Lindsey Vonn (USA/ Head). Vonn capped her incredible comeback with a record-breaking result in March. At the World Cup finals, aged 40, she claimed silver, becoming the oldest female skier to record a World Cup podium.

The eight-time Downhill and five-time Super G World Cup champion is the greatest female speed skier ever – she has more World Cup Downhill wins (43) than all the other starters in St. Moritz combined.

Can she add to that legacy? She feels ready. “My preparation was really good this summer,” said Vonn. “I’m physically in possibly the best shape I’ve ever been in. My goal was to be a lot stronger. I was thinner than I would have liked, I was able to gain 12 pounds this summer.

“It was the most disciplined I’ve ever been with my diet. I put everything I had into being as prepared as I could be. I’ve checked all the boxes, physically, equipment, coaches. I couldn’t be in a better position, because I can ski as fast as my mind wants to ski.

“Last year was up and down. I was able to take my confidence from Sun Valley, and that momentum carried me through. We brought on Aksel [Lund Svindal] this summer, he’s been amazing. It’s like being coached by my best friend, who also happens to be a badass ski racer.”

Another US legend, Mikaela Shiffrin (USA/ Atomic), could also be skiing some speed this season – she has won five career Super Gs, including one in St. Moritz in 2022. Shiffrin hasn’t lined up in a speed race since the Super G in Val d’Isere in 2023.

Ledecka continues to defy logic as a snowboard and ski contender. She had a very consistent Downhill season, and grabbed third place in the World Championships.

A repeat of her PyeongChang 2018 gold-medal winning heroics in skiing, however, is not on the cards: she can’t double up with snowboard at Milano Cortina 2026, and has chosen to pursue a third consecutive gold in parallel giant slalom.

Suter leads the Swiss charge. After recovering from injury, the reigning Olympic Downhill champion will be laser-focused on timing her return to perfectly to try and retain the biggest prize of all.

And what about Aicher? The remarkable German all-rounder is a genuine threat in all four disciplines. She won both Downhill and Super G World Cups late last season, and has also podiumed in Slalom. Continue her upward momentum, and something truly special could be on the horizon.

 It all starts in St. Moritz.