Women's Giant Slalom Preview: Challengers chase Scheib as season begins in Sölden

A year ago this week, Julia Scheib (AUT/Rossignol) entered the season opener in Sölden as a 27-year-old with no career World Cup victories, just one individual podium, and a best title-race finish of ninth in her preferred Giant Slalom discipline.

Then, suddenly, everything changed.

The Austrian unexpectedly grabbed her her first World Cup win on home snow on the Rettenbach glacier that October weekend, and she added four more triumphs over the winter to power a surprisingly dominant Crystal Globe-winning campaign.

As Scheib and the rest of the world's best technical skiers again gather in Sölden to kick-start another year of high adrenaline and emotions on the Giant Slalom slopes, the question on everyone's lips is: Who will be this season's Julia Scheib?

'A clearer mindset': Ljutic's plan to get back to her best

In a way, Zrinka Ljutic's (CRO/Atomic) 2025/26 season was the opposite of Scheib's. The young Croatian entered the campaign as one of the hottest emerging names in the sport, but endured a difficult winter.

Following her breakout 2024/25 season, in which she won three races and the Slalom globe, Ljutic managed only one podium last year, in Giant Slalom in Tremblant.

Now, at age 22, she is ready to resume her place among the elite.

"Last season taught me a lot about patience, resilience, and trusting my own process, especially when things don’t go as planned," Ljutic said this week.

"I’ve learned that progress isn’t always linear, and that the most important thing is how you respond to the difficult moments.

"I want to take that experience into this winter with a clearer mindset, stay focused on my skiing, and continue building with confidence."

To get back to the top, Ljutic made some changes over the summer, working with a new strength and conditioning coach, and training in New Zealand for the first time for a five-week period during the Southern Hemisphere winter.

Additionally, her father, Amir, will serve as both her coach and ski technician this season, which Zrinka sees as a crucial dual role within her team.

"We know each other very well, and I believe that having him involved in both aspects will be valuable as we continue to work towards our goals," she said.

This Saturday, Ljutic will face the first test in seeing whether her new approach and hard work has paid off.

"There’s something unique about opening the season on the Rettenbach glacier, with its demanding terrain, the incredible atmosphere, and the passion of the Austrian fans," she said.

"The hill requires both precision and commitment, especially on the steep section, where finding the right rhythm is essential."

If Ljutic can locate that rhythm, both in Sölden and throughout the season, she will once again be a name to look out for.

'I want to keep building': Rast ready for the challenge ahead

A huge season beckons for Camille Rast (SUI/Head).

The 27-year-old emerged as the biggest duel technical threat on the tour last year, finishing second in both the Giant Slalom and Slalom globe races, in addition to third in the Overall standings.

This season, she will take aim at all those titles, as well as going for gold at the world championships in February in her home town of Crans-Montana.

"Last season was a great one, and I want to keep building on that," Rast said this week. "Competing in both Slalom and GS is important to me, so my focus is on finding consistency and improving in both disciplines."

Although she can glimpse those potential Crystal Globes and world championship medals sparkling on the horizon, Rast is not getting ahead of herself.

"I think it will be an interesting and competitive season," she said. "There are many strong athletes, and I prefer to focus on my own skiing rather than on who is racing or not.

"Of course, racing World Championships at home will be very special. But it’s still a long season, with many important races in both disciplines. I’ll take it step by step and focus on each race as it comes."

That starts on Saturday in Sölden, which hasn't been a happy hunting ground for Rast in the past.

Her best result in the season opener was 12th in 2024, while last year she came 15th, her only finish outside the top six in Giant Slalom during the entire World Cup season other than one DNF.

"We’ve been working on different things over the summer, including some issues related to last year’s injury," Rast said of her preparation for the season ahead.

"It’s still a work in progress, but overall the preparation has been positive. Sölden will be a good opportunity to see where I stand."

Where she stands? On the podium on Saturday, if everything goes to plan.

'Fight for the globe': Robinson takes aim again

It's hard to believe Alice Robinson (NZL/Head) is still only 24 years old, since it seems like a bygone era when she burst onto the scene in Sölden at just 17 in pre-Covid times.

"Sölden is a really special place for me," Robinson said this week. "I had my first World Cup win here seven years ago, which is pretty crazy to think about."

Since that breakout win in 2019, Robinson has gone through her fair share of ups and downs. Last season, she was in a fierce battle with Scheib for the Giant Slalom lead with two early race wins, only to fall away in the second part of the season.

"Last season was probably my most successful on paper, with some incredible moments and strong performances, but also some tough setbacks," said Robinson, who also won her first World Cup Super G race last December.

"I learned the importance of staying present, focusing on the task at hand and controlling the small details rather than getting caught up in the bigger picture."

With three straight top-five finishes in the GS season standings under her belt, and a change of equipment this year, Robinson is primed for her best season yet — if she can bring her A-game every week.

"I know that to be right up there, I need to be executing every run, and that’s the goal," she said. "It’s about being consistent across different slopes and conditions, and really bringing my GS back to its best.

"I know I have the speed, so it’s about putting all the pieces together throughout the season and giving myself the best opportunity to fight for the globe."

That all begins in Sölden, a hill the young veteran knows well, having registered two podiums and four other top-12 finishes already at the Austrian resort.

"There’s something special about the atmosphere, the energy and the anticipation around the season kicking off," she said. "There’s always so much excitement, and it’s a really cool time to be part of the sport.

"The hill itself is also a great challenge. That long, sustained pitch is probably one of the toughest on the women’s circuit.

"I think the race is a lot about having the confidence to commit, especially in the first race of the season. It rewards technically sound skiing and good tactics, which is what makes it so fun to ski and to watch."

'Speed in GS even where fear exists': Shiffrin changes it up

The most successful World Cup ski racer of all-time, Mikaela Shiffrin (USA/Atomic), hopes a new approach this season will complete her long journey back to the top of a Giant Slalom podium.

Remarkably, Shiffrin sometimes flies under the radar as a Giant Slalom skier, given her incredible Slalom dominance that has yielded an unfathomable 73 World Cup wins on the short skis alone.

Yet her 22 World Cup wins in Giant Slalom is also more than any other women's racer, plus she won the Olympic GS title in 2018.

However, it's been far from smooth sailing in recent years for Shiffrin in Giant Slalom. Following the puncture wound she suffered in a GS race in Killington in November 2024, she spoke openly about her resulting PTSD and difficulty in coming back to the discipline.

She hasn't won a World Cup Giant Slalom race since December 2023, but fought hard last season for one podium and seven other top-six finishes.

"Last season was crazy because I started the season thinking I might get kicked out of the top 30 and that might be sort of the beginning of the end of GS for me," the American said on her podcast, What's the Point with Mikaela Shiffrin, this month.

"And then having the goal of actually working back into the top seven (the top-seeded group of athletes for start order), having that actually happen and seeing that I have speed in GS even where fear exists."

This season, Shiffrin will limit her Slalom races to focus almost exclusively on Giant Slalom and Super G, tackling her fear head-on.

"I can have a relationship with that fear," the 110-time World Cup winner said on her podcast. "It's just the last two years, I've learned so, so much about mentality and psychology and fear.

"And I'm sure that's going to be an ongoing thing, but it gives me so much excitement to explore what that means with GS and with Super G."

Far from being almost washed up in Giant Slalom as she once thought, the 31-year-old is now left with a feeling that, with Sölden just days away, might instill some fear into some of her rivals, too.

"I really wonder where I can take GS skiing," Shiffrin said.

Other challengers line up but Scheib is still the woman to beat

Possibly still underrated despite her stellar 2026 campaign, Scheib can become the first woman to win back-to-back Giant Slalom Crystal Globes since compatriot Anna Veith (née Fenninger, AUT) in 2014 and 2015.

This year, however, the defending World Cup champion will have a target on her back from the moment she puts on the red bib on Saturday.

Beyond Ljutic, Rast, Robinson and Shiffrin, a combination of veterans and young stars will all fancy their chances for a shot at the Giant Slalom Crystal Globe.

Among them, experienced Swede Sara Hector (SWE/Head), the 2022 Olympic Giant Slalom champion, has finished third in the GS season standings in each of the last three seasons and has shown no signs of slowing down at age 34.

She finished in the top four in seven of the 10 World Cup giant slalom races last year and also grabbed a joint silver at Milano Cortina 2026 with Thea Louise Stjernesund (NOR/Rossignol), who also figures to contend again this year.

The winner of that Olympic race, the brilliant Federica Brignone (ITA/Rossignol), will miss Sölden while rehabilitating from surgery she underwent in August after her remarkable double gold performance on home snow in February.

However, the reigning Olympic and world Giant Slalom champion will undoubtedly be a factor in the globe race once the winter gets going, even at 36 years old.

A skier just over half Brignone's age, 19-year-old Lara Colturi (ALB/Head), is perhaps the most promising talent of the next generation. With seven World Cup podiums already in the technical disciplines, her first victory can't be far away.

Colturi came seventh in Sölden last year and has improved every time she has returned to the Rettenbach glacier in her young career, making her a name to watch on Saturday and throughout the year.

All in all, the women's Giant Slalom field could hardly be better placed to deliver a fabulous season opener as the launching pad into an unpredictable globe chase.

"GS is extremely competitive at the moment, with a great mix of experienced veterans and young guns coming through," Robinson said.

"It’s going to be a really exciting season."

The 2027 Audi FIS World Cup season begins on Saturday with the women's Giant Slalom race in Sölden, Austria, at 10:00/13:00 CET.