'In awe': Rast wins Sunday Slalom to end Shiffrin's streak

As Mikaela Shiffrin (USA/Atomic) piled up the Slalom victories this season, with several of her main rivals out of form or injured, the question leading into the Olympic Winter Games became: could anyone rise up and challenge her?

The answer has finally arrived, and it's Camille Rast (SUI/Head).

Rast broke Shiffrin's stranglehold on this season's Slalom campaign on Sunday in Kranjska Gora, ending an emotional week in which she also won her first World Cup Giant Slalom race on Saturday, three days after the tragic New Year's Eve fire in her home town of Crans-Montana.

Wearing a black armband for the second day in a row to commemorate the victims of the fire, Rast became the first woman to defeat Shiffrin in Slalom this season at the sixth time of asking.

Leading Shiffrin by 0.10 seconds after the first leg, Rast watched from the top of the mountain as the greatest Slalom skier in history put down an incredible second run, and then the Swiss racer somehow topped it to win by 0.14 seconds.

Rast's teammate Wendy Holdener (SUI/Head) finished third, but trailed the leading duo by nearly two seconds.

"This was amazing," Rast said. "Mikaela won five Slaloms (in a row to begin the season) and today I made it. It was really not easy but I gave everything I had."

The 26-year-old doubled her career World Cup victory tally in little more than 24 hours with her third and fourth triumphs, but even though she led after the first leg on Sunday, victory seemed unlikely after Shiffrin's scintillating second run.

As the last skier left on the mountain, Rast knew her rival had raised the bar and that she would have to produce something special to top it.

"I heard a little bit (about Shiffrin's run), I knew she skied really fast and I have to be even faster if I want to win," Rast said.

"I just focused on myself and gave my best."

With just over a month until Milano Cortina 2026, Rast has turned the narrative on its head. In the first four Slalom races of the season, Shiffrin led after the first run every time and won each of them by over a second.

In the last two races, however, Rast has led Shiffrin at the halfway point to throw down the gauntlet.

The American came from behind to edge her younger rival by 0.09 seconds last weekend in Semmering, but was ultimately unable to do so again in Slovenia's Julian Alps.

Aiming to win her 70th World Cup Slalom race and equal her career-best run with a seventh consecutive victory in the discipline dating back to last season's World Cup finals, Shiffrin fell just short.

"I pushed so hard on the second run and I was really happy because there was a small technical thing I was trying to figure out on the second run and I could feel that most of the turns," the 106-time World Cup winner said.

"I was flying down this thing. It was such a pleasure to ski and so intense."

In a rare display of emotion, the most successful Alpine ski racer of all time punched her fist in the air with delight after taking the lead over Holdener by 1.69 seconds, but could only stand back and applaud when Rast stole the show.

"I was just watching like everybody, so inspired or in awe of Camille's skiing," Shiffrin said. "Winning back-to-back is very hard to do."

Rast, the 2025 world champion, has now emerged as Shiffrin's biggest challenger in Slalom, a title that Holdener once held along with injured Olympic champion Petra Vlhova (SVK/Rossignol).

Holdener took a big step towards Olympic medal contention by reaching her 39th World Cup Slalom podium, and first in 10 races.

"My season was not that easy until now so I'm really happy to be back on the podium and make a big step to compete against those two (Rast and Shiffrin) again," the veteran Swiss racer said.

"Step by step, I'm trying to catch up."

The 32-year-old Swiss skier recorded the third best run of both legs behind Rast and Shiffrin to finish 0.14 seconds ahead of Paula Moltzan (USA/Rossignol) in fourth.

Away from the podium contenders, there was a mix of joy and disappointment down the Podkoren.

In the happy camp, Noa Szollos (ISR, Kaestle) scored Israel's first World Cup points in any Alpine skiing discipline by finishing 28th, while Lara Della Mea (ITA/Fischer, sixth) and Dzenifera Germane (LAT/Head, seventh) both celebrated career-best World Cup results.

On the other side of the coin, Zrinka Ljutic (CRO/Atomic) and Lara Colturi (ALB/Blizzard) both failed to finish the first run, which was especially frustrating for Colturi given that her coach and father Alessandro had set the course.

They will have a chance to make amends in the next Slalom race in Flachau on 13 January. And, as Rast likes to say, everyone will start from zero.

Click here for full results from Sunday's race.