From Olympic medals to Crystal Globes: the women's World Cup returns

With the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games and Federica Brignone's (ITA/Rossignol) incredible double gold medal exploits now in the rear-view mirror, the ski racing world turns its attention back to the World Cup.

With 12 women's races still to come in an action-packed month, culminating in the World Cup Finals in Lillehammer, Norway, three of the four discipline Crystal Globes and the Overall title are still in the balance.

While Brignone won't feature in the globe discussion, having participated in only two World Cup races this season while recovering from injury, other stars of women's Alpine skiing are front and centre in the chase for season titles.

They include icons Sofia Goggia (ITA/Atomic) and Mikaela Shiffrin (USA/Atomic), while emerging stars such as Emma Aicher (GER/Head) and Camille Rast (SUI/Head) are seeking their first Crystal Globes.

As the World Cup prepares to resume this Friday, here's where we stand.

Downhill: Germans in pole position to zoom past Vonn

Downhill Standings — Top 3
1️⃣ Lindsey Vonn (USA/Head) — 400
2️⃣ Emma Aicher (GER/Head) — 256
3️⃣ Kira Weidle-Winkelmann (GER/Rossignol) — 232

World Cup Downhill leader Lindsey Vonn (USA/Head) is out of action following multiple surgeries after her Olympic crash, and with four Downhill races still to come, the Crystal Globe is very much up for grabs.

With Sofia Goggia (ITA/Atomic) in fifth place in the midst of an inconsistent season, the chase for the Downhill title could come down to two Germans with vastly different profiles who joined forces for an Olympic silver medal in the Team Combined earlier this month.

Emma Aicher (GER/Head), the ultra-talented 22-year-old all-rounder, is coming off Downhill silver at Milano Cortina 2026 and top-10 finishes in all five of her World Cup Downhills this season, including a victory in St. Moritz.

Unless her gruelling four-discipline schedule wears her down late in the season, she could be in line for what would be her first Crystal Globe.

Downhill specialist Kira Weidle-Winkelmann (GER/Rossignol), 30, finished ninth in the Olympic Downhill and sixth in the Downhill leg of the Team Combined, but when Aicher skied the fastest Slalom leg of the field, the pair claimed silver.

Weidle-Winkelmann has been on the podium in two of the last three World Cup Downhills and is only 24 points adrift of her young teammate and 168 behind Vonn.

Olympic and world Downhill champion Breezy Johnson (USA/Atomic), who saves her best skiing for major championships, lies in eighth place in the standings.

Super G: Goggia hunts first Super G globe

Super G Standings — Top 3
1️⃣ Sofia Goggia (ITA/Atomic) — 280
2️⃣ Alice Robinson (NZL/Salomon) — 220
3️⃣ Lindsey Vonn (USA/Head) — 190

Four-time Downhill Crystal Globe winner Sofia Goggia (ITA/Atomic) has only finished in the top three of the Super G standings once, when she came third last season.

With four Super G contests still to come, the race is far from over, but the Italian speed queen holds a 60-point lead heading into the two Super G races in Soldeu this weekend.

While Goggia did not finish the Olympic Super G race, the 33-year-old has been a model of consistency on the World Cup tour, with podiums in three of the four races this season and a worst finish of sixth.

New Zealander Robinson lies second in the standings to bely her reputation as a Giant Slalom specialist, but she will only threaten Goggia for the Super G title if she can return to her early season form.

After recording a first and a second in Super G in December, the 24-year-old hasn't finished higher than sixth in three races since, including coming eighth at the Olympic Games.

With Vonn out of action, Romane Miradoli (FRA/Dynastar) is the only other skier within 100 points of Goggia, lying 99 points adrift of the maverick Italian.

Coming off an Olympic Super G silver medal behind Brignone, the 31-year-old Frenchwoman could make an inspired run to what would be her first Crystal Globe.

Giant Slalom: Scheib in box seat for first Crystal Globe

Giant Slalom Standings — Top 3
1️⃣ Julia Scheib (AUT/Rossignol) — 560
2️⃣ Camille Rast (SUI/Head) — 471
3️⃣ Sara Hector (SWE/Head) — 429

With only two Giant Slalom races left, Julia Scheib (AUT/Rossignol) holds an 89-point lead and can clinch the Crystal Globe with a victory in the next GS race, in Are, Sweden, on 15 March.

Scheib is coming off a fifth-place finish at the Olympic Games, but in World Cup races this season, she has four victories and has finished in the top two in all six of the races she has completed (with two DNFs).

The 27-year-old, whose first World Cup win came in this season's opening GS race in Sölden, has never finished higher than ninth in the race for the Crystal Globe.

Should Scheib falter, Camille Rast (SUI/Head) will be ready to pounce. Second in the Giant Slalom, Slalom and Overall standings, Rast was on a run of seven straight top-5 finishes in Giant Slalom before falling to 12th at the Olympic Games.

Hector, the Milano Cortina 2026 silver medallist and Beijing 2022 gold medallist in this discipline, is the only other skier with a mathematical chance to catch Scheib, but she faces a 131-point deficit with a maximum of 200 points on offer.

The veteran Swede sits third in the standings, the same position she has finished in each of the last two seasons.

Slalom: Victory lap for Shiffrin with globe secure

Slalom Standings — Top 3
1️⃣ Mikaela Shiffrin (USA/Atomic) — 780
2️⃣ Camille Rast (SUI/Head) — 492
3️⃣ Wendy Holdener (SUI/Head) — 358

Having scored 780 of a possible 800 points — seven victories and a second from eight World Cup Slalom races — Mikaela Shiffrin (USA/Atomic) has already wrapped up the Crystal Globe.

With two races remaining, the newly re-crowned Olympic Slalom champion could equal or surpass her personal record of eight World Cup Slalom victories in a single season, set in 2018/19.

After a slow start to the Slalom campaign, Rast has emerged as Shiffrin's biggest rival since mid-December, with five podiums in her last six Slalom races, including Olympic silver in Cortina.

After finishing third in the Slalom standings a year ago, the 2025 world champion looks set to improve by one spot this season, with her veteran teammate Wendy Holdener (SUI/Head) 134 points behind Rast in third.

If Holdener can fend off the chasing pack, she will record her sixth top-3 finish in the Slalom season standings.

Overall: Shiffrin chases sixth big globe to equal Moser-Pröll

Overall Standings — Top 3
1️⃣ Mikaela Shiffrin (USA/Atomic) — 1133
2️⃣ Camille Rast (SUI/Head) — 963
3️⃣ Emma Aicher (GER/Head) — 684

With the Slalom globe in hand and an Olympic gold medal in her pocket, Shiffrin's attention now turns to securing a sixth Overall title to equal Annemarie Moser-Pröll's (AUT) women's record, a goal Shiffrin has spoken about in the past.

With a 170-point lead over Rast, the 30-year-old American is poised to win her first big globe since 2023, despite the post-Olympic speed-heavy schedule.

While Rast faces an uphill battle to overtake Shiffrin given she only skis the technical disciplines, Aicher could make a late charge to close the 449-point deficit, with 600 points on offer in triple speed races over the next two weekends.

The German young gun is in the top eight in three of the four discipline standings, but will need to pile up victories quickly if she is take the race for the Crystal Globe all the way to the World Cup Finals in Lillehammer.

If Aicher is unable to do so, and if Rast can't make inroads with only four technical races remaining, the outcome will be a familiar one: another globe, and another record, for Mikaela Shiffrin.

The Audi FIS Women's World Cup Tour resumes at 11:00 CET on Friday, 27 February with a Downhill race in Soldeu, Andorra. The season continues until the last race at the World Cup Finals in Lillehammer, Norway, on 25 March.