Weekend Olympic Sports Recap: Mikaela Shiffrin Extends Slalom Streak, Tour de Ski and Speed Skating Updates

This past weekend offered a dramatic showcase across several Olympic sports, with American skiing star Mikaela Shiffrin leading the headlines after a remarkable performance in Semmering, Austria.

Shiffrin rallies to slalom triumph

Shiffrin overcame a challenging first run to claim her sixth consecutive World Cup slalom victory, a streak dating back to last season, while also extending her career record with her 106th World Cup win. After the first run, Shiffrin was in fourth place, trailing Switzerland’s Camille Rast by 0.54 seconds. She then delivered the fastest second run of the day, overtaking Rast by a slim margin of nine-hundredths of a second to secure the win.

The course conditions were treacherous, with warm weather turning the piste into a precarious landscape of ruts and soft snow. Nearly half the field failed to finish, as 39 of the 79 starters did not complete the first run. Shiffrin herself highlighted the safety concerns post-race, remarking that the deteriorating course posed a risk to competitors and impacted the overall fairness of the event.

This win marks only the third time in Shiffrin’s 69 career World Cup slalom victories that she has come from outside the top three after the first run. It is also her largest deficit overcome to win a slalom since 2022, excluding cases where the first-run leader did not finish.

With this victory, Shiffrin is now one shy of tying the longest slalom win streak of her career, having won seven consecutive slaloms both in 2016 and 2018–19. Her next opportunity to match that streak comes this Sunday, with the World Cup tour moving to Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, where a giant slalom is scheduled for Saturday, followed by a slalom.

In addition to her slalom performance, Shiffrin placed sixth in the giant slalom in Semmering on Saturday. She has described her giant slalom as a “work in progress” this season, with results of fourth, 14th, sixth, tied for fourth, and sixth in her five events so far. Shiffrin’s challenges in GS have been compounded by past injuries, including punctured oblique muscles from a crash in November 2024 that sidelined her for two months, and later dealing with post-traumatic stress while training for her return. Austrian skier Julia Scheib took the giant slalom win on Saturday, marking her third victory in five GS events this season.

Shiffrin’s weekend triumph in Semmering underscores her resilience and ability to excel under pressure, maintaining a perfect record in slalom events for the 2025–26 season and solidifying her status as a dominant force in alpine skiing.

Tour de Ski update: Jessie Diggins leads

In cross-country skiing, American star Jessie Diggins continues to dominate the Tour de Ski, a multi-stage competition similar to the Tour de France, composed of a series of World Cup races. After two of the six stages, Diggins holds the overall lead following a fourth-place finish in Sunday’s sprint and a third-place finish in Monday’s 10-kilometer race.

Diggins is the only North American skier, male or female, to have previously won the Tour de Ski, achieving victories in 2020–21 and 2023–24. The Olympic medalist, who has won gold, silver, and bronze at the Winter Games, announced that the current season will be her final competitive campaign. Diggins also leads the overall World Cup standings after 10 races, reflecting her consistency and excellence throughout the winter circuit.

The Tour de Ski will resume Wednesday and run through Sunday, with additional stages set to test both endurance and speed across varied courses. Monday’s 10-kilometer individual interval start classic races in Toblach, Italy, were held under clear skies and sunny conditions, providing a contrasting challenge to the sprint format used earlier.

Olympic speed skating trials: Jutta Leerdam shines

In speed skating, Dutch star Jutta Leerdam emerged as a focal point of attention during the first three days of the Netherlands’ Olympic trials. The 2022 Olympic 1000m silver medalist had a setback on Friday, falling during the 1000m and failing to finish. Nevertheless, she bounced back on Sunday, securing second place in the 500m — a result likely sufficient to earn her a spot on the Olympic team in that distance, and potentially in the 1000m as well.

Leerdam’s final place in the team is not yet guaranteed. Like the U.S. trials in swimming, Dutch selection rules allow for athletes who perform strongly in multiple events to secure Olympic berths without exceeding the roster limit, which is capped at nine skaters per gender. Multi-event skaters, such as Femke Kok (winner of both 500m and 1000m) and Joy Beune (world champion in 1500m and 3000m), create flexibility in team selection that could work in Leerdam’s favor.

If she qualifies for the 500m, Leerdam’s path to racing in her primary 1000m event at the Milan Olympics becomes more feasible. With three entries allowed per nation, the Netherlands might not select the third-place finisher from trials, Naomi Verkerk, in the 1000m, given roster limitations and her lack of top finishes in other events. In addition, selection discretion allows officials to replace a top-three finisher with another skater if justified by overall performance — an avenue that could benefit Leerdam, who has won two of the four World Cup 1000m races this season.

Alpine skiing: Marco Schwarz resurges

Austrian skier Marco Schwarz claimed victory in the lone men’s alpine World Cup race of the weekend, Saturday’s super-G in Livigno, Italy, which will host freestyle skiing and snowboarding during the Milan Cortina Olympics. At 30, Schwarz is experiencing a career resurgence following a series of setbacks, including a serious knee injury sustained during a downhill crash at the Bormio Olympic venue in 2026 and unrelated back surgery in the summer of 2024.

Schwarz also won a giant slalom on December 21 and now ranks second in the overall World Cup standings, trailing Swiss superstar Marco Odermatt. Odermatt, who finished fourth in Saturday’s super-G, remains the top-ranked skier in the discipline this season and enters the Olympics as a favorite in downhill, super-G, and giant slalom.

Top American performers in Livigno included 2022 Olympic silver medalist Ryan Cochran-Siegle and Olympian River Radamus, who finished 13th and 14th, respectively, highlighting the depth and competitiveness of the international field.

Summary

Overall, the weekend demonstrated the wide range of storylines shaping the lead-up to the 2026 Winter Olympics. Mikaela Shiffrin continues to dominate in slalom despite challenging course conditions, extending her career win record and maintaining her perfect streak this season. Jessie Diggins asserts her dominance in cross-country skiing, while Jutta Leerdam recovers from an early setback to strengthen her case for Olympic selection in speed skating. Meanwhile, Marco Schwarz continues his comeback in alpine skiing, emphasizing the depth of talent expected at Milan Cortina.

The next week of competitions, including additional World Cup alpine races and the continuation of the Tour de Ski, will further shape the narrative leading into February’s Winter Games, as athletes from across the globe refine their form and stake their claim for Olympic success.