Shiffrin Wins Flachau Night Slalom for 107th Career Victory, Leads U.S. 1-2 Finish
Mikaela Shiffrin reasserted her dominance under the floodlights Tuesday night, winning the iconic Flachau slalom for her sixth victory of the season and 107th career World Cup triumph, while teammate Paula Moltzan earned second place in an impressive American sweep of the podium's top two spots.
Shiffrin's winning time of 1:50.52 gave her a 0.41-second margin over Moltzan, with Austria's Katharina Truppe delighting the packed home crowd by claiming third, 0.65 seconds behind the American star.
The victory marked Shiffrin's 70th career slalom win and her fifth at Flachau, coming just nine days after Switzerland's Camille Rast had snapped her six-race winning streak in Kranjska Gora. Racing as the final competitor of the night on the demanding Hermann Maier course, Shiffrin delivered a statement performance that reminded the field why she remains the undisputed queen of the discipline.
"It's always a challenge every time, this hill is super hard and really rewarding to ski well," Shiffrin said. "And it's amazing to share this with Paula. Podiums with teammates is the best thing in the world."
Shiffrin had established control in the first run with a time of 56.22 seconds, building a narrow lead of less than two-tenths of a second over Moltzan. Rather than playing it safe, she attacked in the second run to secure the win on a course known for its unforgiving icy surface and technical demands.
The result comes at a crucial moment in the Olympic season. With Milan Cortina just over three weeks away and the qualification period ending January 18, Tuesday's race represented the penultimate slalom opportunity for athletes to solidify their positions on national teams and fine-tune their form before the Games.
For Moltzan, the runner-up finish capped a remarkable turnaround after she ended 2025 with back-to-back DNFs that included a crash and back injury. The Minneapolis native has now collected two podium finishes in the last 10 days, displaying the resilience and fearlessness essential for Olympic competition.
"I've skied with Mikaela since I was 13," Moltzan said. "So her winning is nothing new, but it doesn't mean I don't want to beat her. We talk about it all the time and it's going to happen at some point, but I'll keep fighting until I get there."
The American 1-2 finish marked the second time in four days that two U.S. women stood together on a World Cup podium. On Saturday, Lindsey Vonn claimed victory in a downhill at Altenmarkt-Zauchensee with Jacqueline Wiles finishing third, showcasing the remarkable depth of the American women's program heading into the Olympics.
Truppe's third-place finish brought roars from the Austrian fans who filled the venue for the annual night race, one of alpine skiing's signature events. Her first podium of the season demonstrated the home-course advantage of competing under lights before a passionate crowd at the venue named after Austrian legend Hermann Maier.
The race also highlighted the growing strength of competition in women's slalom this season. Seven different athletes from four countries have already earned podium finishes across the discipline, with Rast emerging as Shiffrin's most serious challenger after defeating the American in Kranjska Gora and collecting victories earlier in the season.
Shiffrin now leads the slalom standings with 580 points, well ahead of Rast's 362, while also maintaining her advantage in the overall World Cup rankings with 823 points to Rast's 703. The Swiss world champion has closed the gap in recent weeks, setting up what could be a compelling showdown when the two meet again at the Olympics in Cortina d'Ampezzo on February 18.
Shiffrin acknowledged the elevated level of competition following her victory. "It's been a big push. And there's such high level of slalom skiing. I mean, it was really cool to be part of that today," she said, before adding her excitement about Truppe's podium: "That's a really, really cool podium, really awesome."
The women's Alpine circuit now heads to Italy, with a downhill and super-G scheduled for Tarvisio this weekend before a giant slalom in Kronplatz on January 21. One final slalom remains before the Olympics, scheduled for January 25 in Špindlerův Mlýn, Czech Republic, giving Shiffrin and her rivals one last opportunity to test their form before the Games begin February 6.
With American women dominating across multiple disciplines—Vonn in downhill, Shiffrin in slalom and technical events—Team USA appears poised to make a major impact in Milan Cortina, led by athletes who are skiing at the peak of their powers at precisely the right moment.
