'A good birthday present': Aicher wins first World Cup Slalom

With the Queen of Slalom away, the all-rounder came to play.

Multi-discipline star Emma Aicher (GER/Head) won her first World Cup Slalom race in Levi, Finland, on Saturday, taking advantage of Mikaela Shiffrin's (USA/Atomic) voluntarily absence to fire the first shot in the race for the Slalom Crystal Globe.

A day after her 23rd birthday, Aicher became the first skier other than Shiffrin or Petra Vlhova (SVK/Rossignol) to win in Levi in 12 years.

After leading by 0.36 seconds after the first run, Aicher used her trademark calm demeanour to overcome any nerves and triumph over Lara Colturi (ALB/Head, +0.43s) and Katharina Truppe (AUT/Völkl, +0.50s).

"It's definitely a good birthday present," said the understated Aicher, whose previous five World Cup wins all came in speed races. "I managed two solid runs, with no big mistakes — maybe I could have done some parts better."

Not many. With bib No.1, Aicher skied a polished first run that no one could top, and was unfazed by being the last skier on the mountain for the second run.

"It was pretty nice to be last, to be honest," she said. "It was quite and peaceful. We all want to be at the top as the last one, so it's part of it."

Aicher skied another smooth leg to take the victory — and the reindeer that comes with it — and become the latest skier to deny Colturi her first World Cup win.

The 19-year-old Italian-Albanian reached her ninth World Cup podium and finished runner-up for the second race in a row to start the season after her Giant Slalom podium in Sölden.

Skiing with bib No.2 in the first run, Colturi was aggressive but not quite as smooth as Aicher. She still finished comfortably in second place after the first run, and then took the provisional lead with one skier left in the second run, only to fall just short.

"It's a pretty good start, so for sure I'll take it," she said. "I know I can push a lot more, but it's fine like this — it's just the first (Slalom) race of the season."

Instead of expressing frustration at being so close again to a maiden victory, Colturi instead heaped praise on the woman who defeated her.

"She's an amazing girl, I've been spending a lot of time with her," Colturi said of Aicher. "I don't know how she can manage four disciplines and she's really good at all four, so it's really unbelievable how she can be at the top in four disciplines."

While Colturi and Aicher are piling up the podiums at a young age, 30-year-old Truppe had only managed six individual top-three finishes before Saturday, with her first coming in Levi in 2019.

However, a blistering second run that led the field by over three-tenths of a second propelled her from fifth after the first run to a place on the podium.

"I'm really happy, seven years after I did my first podium," Truppe said.

As for what prompted that second-run outburst, the Austrian said: "I was thinking in the start, 'Let's go, you have nothing to lose, it's the first race.'"

Away from the podium, there was also plenty of action.

In her first World Cup Slalom race since January 2024 after a long injury battle, six-time Levi champion Vlhova skied two excellent top sections but struggled on the steep pitch in both runs and finished 16th.

That was better than Sölden winner Paula Moltzan (USA/Van Deer) could manage. Riding high after her maiden World Cup victory, Moltzan was pitched into the air and out of the course coming off a roller just after the first intermediate split in the first run to record a DNF.

There was better news for less heralded skiers. Australian Madison Hoffman (AUS/Rossignol), whose only previous point-scoring race at World Cup level was 25th in Levi three years ago, finished a remarkable eighth from bib No.57.

Just ahead of her, the French pairing of Marion Chevrier (FRA/Atomic, 6th) and Marie Lamure (FRA/Rossignol, 7th) also produced career-best results.

Among the more established skiers ahead of that surprising trio, Zrinka Ljutic (CRO/Atomic), the 2025 Slalom Crystal Globe winner who dropped all the way down to 23rd in the standings last year, finished fourth to signal that she may be back to somewhere near her best.

But Ljutic and all the others are now chasing Aicher. While the Overall title always looked well within the German's sights as the season began, the Slalom Globe is now a distinct possibility as well in what is shaping up as an intriguing title race with defending champion Shiffrin focusing mostly on other disciplines.

And with Slalom back on tap next Saturday in Gurgl, Austria, we won't have to wait long for an encore.

Click here for full results from Saturday's race.