On Saturday, Killington will host the second Alpine Ski World Cup Giant Slalom of the 2024-2025 season. The six previous World Cup giant slalom events at Killington have been won by five different women: Tessa Worley (2016), Viktoria Regensburg (2017), Federica Brignone (2018), Marta Bassino (2019) and Lara Gut-Behrami (2022 and 2023).
Last season, Lara Gut-Behrami won the second Giant Slalom of the season in Killington. The Swiss skier climbed to the top of the podium after placing third in the first run and celebrated her 39th World Cup victory ahead of Alice Robinson (+0.62) and local favorite Mikaela Shiffrin (+0,81). She became the first Swiss woman to win back-to-back World Cup Giant Slalom races since Sonja Nef did it in 2001. It was her second win in Vermont. In 2022, Gut-Behrami won the first Women's World Cup Giant Slalom race of the season in Killington on a course shortened because of gusting winds at the planned start line. It was her first Giant Slalom win in six years and the first time a Swiss woman landed on the podium in the Killington Giant Slalom.
Lara Gut-Behrami competed in eleven Giant Slalom World Cup events last season, and finished on the podium in seven, including four wins (Sölden, Killington, Kronplatz, and Soldeu).
In the 2023-2024 winter season, Lara Gut-Behrami won the Giant Slalom and Overall Crystal Globes. It was her first Giant Slalom title. She became the first woman representing Switzerland to win the Giant Slalom Crystal Globe since Sonja Nef in 2001-2002.
Lara Gut-Behrami has won nine Giant Slalom World Cup races. If she adds 10 to her 22 Super-G and 13 Downhill victories, she will become the first woman to complete the Alpine 'triple-double' - double-digit (10+) Alpine Ski World Cup victories in three disciplines. Hermann Maier (24 SG, 15 DH, 14 GS) and Pirmin Zurbriggen (11 combined, 10 DH, 10 SG) are the only men to have achieved this.
Gut-Behrami, the winner of the 2023 edition of the Rettenbach Glacier, did not start in the Sölden race. The 33-year-old skier from Ticino announced her decision not to start in the opening race of the Alpine Ski World Cup after the piste inspection carried out in the morning.
Federica Brignone won the opening race of the Alpine Ski World Cup in Soelden on 26 October.
In front of 15,800 spectators on a spectacular race day, Brignone clinched her 28th Alpine Ski World Cup triumph, marking the 13th Giant Slalom win of her career. The only Italian to have won more than 28 World Cup events is ski legend Alberto Tomba (50).
The Italian skier finished with a lead of 0.17 seconds over Alice Robinson, while Julia Scheib completed the podium 1.08 seconds behind Brignone. At the age of 34 years, three months, and twelve days, Brignone replaced Elisabeth Görgl as the oldest World Cup winner.
Brignone has won the last three Giant Slalom World Cup races in Sölden, Saalbach, and Are. Her win at the World Cup Finals in Saalbach was her fourth victory in Giant Slalom in the 2023-2024 winter season.
Six wins and 13 podiums across three disciplines speaks about the consistency of the Italian racer last season.
Back in 2020, Federica Brignone Grabs the Overall, Giant Slalom, and Alpine Combined Globes. Brignone can be proud to be the first Italian woman to conquer the Overall Globe. Brignone joined the Italian-Overall club composed of Piero Gros, Gustav Thoeni, and Alberto Tomba on the Men's field.
Federica Brignone finished second in the Giant Slalom in Beijing 2022, earning her second Olympic medal after winning Bronze in the same discipline at Pyeongchang 2018.
Federica Brignone claimed the silver medal in Giant Salom at the 2011 Championships in Garmisch-Partenkirchen and the 2023 Championships in Courchevel-Meribel.
In 2018, Federica Brignone skied a smashing second run to claim her first victory of the season in Killington. A year later she finished in second place behind teammate Marta Bassino.
Alice Robinson finished in second place in the Alpine Ski World Cup Women’s race opener, her second podium in Soelden. On 26 October 2019, won the women's World Cup Giant Slalom event in Soelden at age 17. She became the youngest winner of a World Cup event since Mikaela Shiffrin, who was also 17 years old when she won her first World Cup event in Åre in December 2012. Robinson has finished on the podium 11 times.
Last season Robinson finished in second place in Killington. She was happy to be again on the podium after a difficult couple of seasons. Until Killington, the 22-year-old has failed to reach the podium in two-and-a-half years.
Austrian skier Julia Scheib secured in Soelden her maiden individual Alpine Ski World Cup podium finish. Before this achievement, her top performances included placing fifth in Saalbach in March 2024 and Lienz in December 2023.
The Austrian set the second-best time in the second run to catapult herself from 14th to third place. Scheib achieved the first Giant Slalom podium for Austria since Katharina Liensberger finished in third place in Lienz on December 28, 2019.
Last season was the first time Mikaela Shiffrin failed to finish in the top three of the Giant Slalom rankings. She was in the Top-3 in each of the previous seven World Cup seasons, including victories in 2018-2019, and 2022-2023.
22 of her impressive 99 World Cup victories come in Giant Slalom. With seven Giant Slalom victories in the 2022-2023 winter season, Mikaela Shiffrin surpassed Vreni Schneider's record of 20 wins. On March 10, 2023, Shiffrin equaled Schneider's record in Åre, only to break it nine days later in Soldeu.
Mikaela Shiffrin is just one win away from her 100th Alpine Ski World Cup triumph. She has stepped on the podium 154 times. If she finishes in the top three on Saturday, she will equal the Alpine Ski World Cup record of 155 set by Ingemar Stenmark in Aspen in 1989.
In Soelden, Mikaela Shiffrin finished in 5th position and failed to finish on the podium after setting the best time in the first run. Shiffrin has won just one of her last eight World Cup Giant Slalom races, dating back to the start of last season on 28 December in Lienz, Austria.
Shiffrin has been on the podium at Killington three times in the Giant Slalom but has never been a winner. Last season, after finishing in fifth position in the first run, she managed to finish on the podium despite making two small errors in the mid-section of her second run.
The 29-year-old US skier has won only one World Cup Giant Slalom on home snow: at Palisades Tahoe on 10 March 2017. The ski resort was then known as Squaw Valley.
Shiffrin (6) and Gut-Behrami (2) are the only women with multiple Alpine Ski World Cup wins at the Killington ski resort.
Sara Hector claimed 17 World Cup podiums in the Giant Slalom, including five wins in Courchevel, Kranjska Gora, and Kronplatz in the 2021-2022 winter season, and Jasna in 2024. In 2022, an inner ligament injury deprived her of becoming the second Swedish winner of the Women's Giant Slalom Crystal Globe, after Anja Pärson (2002-2003, 2003-2004, 2005-2006). Hector won the Olympic Giant Slalom gold in Beijing.
In 2019, talented Marta Bassino put two clean and fast runs together to win the first World Cup race of her career in Killington on a course shortened because of gusting winds at the planned start line.
Bassino won the Giant Slalom Crystal Globe in 2021. However, her performance in the Giant Slalom during the most recent season leaves her off the podium, raising questions about her chances in Killington.
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