Olympic sports weekend recap: Mikaela Shiffrin as peerless as ever in slalom, makes 4th Olympics

Olympic sports weekend recap: Mikaela Shiffrin as peerless as ever in slalom, makes 4th OlympicsStory byNick ZaccardiMon, December 1, 2025 at 3:00 PM UTC·5 min read

In Olympic sports over the weekend, Mikaela Shiffrin extended arguably the most dominant run of her career and qualified for her fourth Olympic team. Plus, Americans picked up key wins in short track speed skating, bobsled and freestyle skiing.

Shiffrin won her third consecutive World Cup slalom to start the season – all by dominant margins of more than a second – to clinch a spot at the Milan Cortina Games.

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Shiffrin prevailed in Copper Mountain, Colorado, by 1.57 seconds over German Lena Dürr on Sunday. Including last season’s World Cup Finals, Shiffrin has won four slaloms in a row, all by at least 1.13 seconds. Shiffrin never before won three World Cup slaloms in a row by at least one second.

Shiffrin’s giant slalom remains a work in progress with a 14th-place finish in the Copper GS won by Alice Robinson of New Zealand. On Nov. 30, 2024, Shiffrin punctured oblique muscles in a GS crash, then was diagnosed in February with post-traumatic stress disorder as she trained to return to the event. Her best finish in five giant slaloms since coming back is fourth place. In addition to being the best slalom skier ever, she owns a female record 22 World Cup GS wins, plus 2018 Olympic GS gold.

Shiffrin must improve her GS results over the next two months to earn a high start number in the event for the Olympics to boost her medal chances. The next two World Cup races are giant slaloms in Tremblant, Canada, on Saturday and Sunday.

“I'm really quite excited with where my general level of GS is,” she said after Saturday’s race. “It's been pretty fast every training day.”

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Shiffrin’s fiancé, Aleksander Aamodt Kilde of Norway, tied for 24th in a super-G last week in his first race since a January 2024 crash where he sustained a severe right leg laceration and tore left shoulder ligaments. Kilde, formerly the world’s top downhiller, plans to race again at this week’s World Cup in Beaver Creek, Colorado.

Image for Mikaela Shiffrin commandeers Copper Mountain, wins fourth straight slalom cup event

Mikaela Shiffrin commandeers Copper Mountain, wins fourth straight slalom cup event

Mikaela Shiffrin won her fourth straight slalom World Cup event to close out an exciting race weekend in Copper Mountain.

In short track, William Dandjinou and Courtney Sarault of Canada go into the Olympics as the world’s top-ranked skaters after the World Tour season concluded over the weekend. Dandjinou’s father immigrated to Quebec from Cote d’Ivoire. Sarault’s father played in the NHL.

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Corinne Stoddard goes into the Olympics as the top American and a medal contender in all three individual events (500m, 1000m, 1500m). Stoddard, who skated at the 2022 Olympics with a broken nose, made the podium in eight of 12 races this season – all second- and third-place finishes – and was second in the overall standings.

Andrew Heo won Saturday’s 500m, becoming the first U.S. man to win a top-level individual race in 11 years. Heo, whose best previous finish this season was 14th, benefited in the final from two skaters in front of him dropping out of contention and another getting disqualified.

Image for Corinne Stoddard, Andrew Heo skate to the podium in Dordrecht

Corinne Stoddard, Andrew Heo skate to the podium in Dordrecht

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How Kristen Santos-Griswold, Corinne Stoddard, and more fared on Day 3 of the final Short Track World Tour stop in Dordrecht, Nethlerands.

Kaysha Love is firmly established as the top U.S. bobsled driver after placing in the top two in each of the first four World Cup races.

Love, a former UNLV sprinter and 2022 Olympic push athlete, is the only non-German man or woman to win a race this season, taking Saturday’s monobob in Igls, Austria. The 2025 World monobob champion Love and German Laura Nolte went one-two in each race so far this season. Nolte won three of them, including sweeping the monobob and two-woman at the Cortina Olympic track two weeks ago.

Three-time Olympic gold medalist Kaillie Humphries was fourth and ninth in the Igls races over the weekend. Five-time Olympic medalist Elana Meyers Taylor was sixth and eighth.

Image for Kaysha Love continues Olympic campaign with monobob gold in Innsbruck World Cup

Kaysha Love continues Olympic campaign with monobob gold in Innsbruck World Cup

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Kaysha Love cruised to gold in the women’s monobob event at the IBSF World Cup in Innsbruck, Austria.

Jessie Diggins, the best cross-country skier in U.S. history, was pleased to finish fifth, 10th and second in the first races of her last season before retirement. Diggins is a medal contender in multiple Olympic races that are in different distances and/or skiing technique than those contested over the weekend in Ruka, Finland.

This weekend’s World Cup stop in Norway includes the first 10km freestyle of the season. Diggins won that event at the 2023 World Championships. It is on the 2026 Olympic program.

Image for Diggins finishes 2nd in Ruka mass start, remains overall World Cup leader

Diggins finishes 2nd in Ruka mass start, remains overall World Cup leader

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The 20km mass start free event wrapped up the first weekend of the 2025-26 Cross-Country World Cup in Ruka, Finland.

In the first luge event held at the 2026 Olympic track in Cortina, 2024 World junior champions Marcus Mueller (a pilot who owns a four-seat airplane) and Ansel Haugsjaa (HOWG-shaw) led the U.S. by placing second in men’s doubles.

Ashley Farquharson added a fourth-place finish in women’s singles. The U.S. got fifth-place finishes from Chevonne Forgan and Sophia Kirkby in women’s doubles, which makes its Olympic debut in 2026, and in the team relay.

The U.S. must contend with the top sliders from Austria and Germany to add to its two Olympic luge medals in the last 20 years – Erin Hamlin’s bronze in 2014 and Chris Mazdzer’s silver in 2018.

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In ski big air, 2023 World champion Troy Podmilsak took a big step toward his first Olympics by winning a World Cup in China. The U.S. could bring four medal contenders to Italy in big air/slopestyle. Alex Hall, the 2022 slopestyle gold medalist, already made the team. Colby Stevenson and Mac Forehand are both X Games winners.

Image for Troy Podmilsak wins freeski big air at Secret Garden, takes big step toward Olympic qualification

Troy Podmilsak wins freeski big air at Secret Garden, takes big step toward Olympic qualification

Troy Podmilsak and Kirsty Muir won the first freeski big air events of the 2025-26 World Cup season.

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