This weekend sees the start of the 2024/2025 Alpine Skiing World Cup in Austria, where record-breaking athlete Mikaela Shiffrin will look to add to her legendary status, while Marcel Hirscher returns after a five-year absence to compete under a different flag.
wintersportsnews: The 2024/2025 Alpine Ski World Cup promises to be an exciting season of adrenaline-filled, high-level competition. From the glaciers of Sölden to the mountains of Sun Valley, the world’s best skiers will gather in iconic locations to showcase their skills in a variety of disciplines.
The 2024/2025 Alpine Skiing World Cup season will kick off in Sölden on 26 October, when skiers will begin competition in the Austrian resort in Tyrol.
Over five months, the world’s top ski resorts will host numerous events, culminating in Sun Valley, Idaho (USA), which will host competitions from 22 to 27 March 2025.
One of the main attractions will be Mikaela Shiffrin. The American starts the new season with her sights set on another milestone: becoming the first woman to reach 100 victories on the circuit.The 29-year-old ended an injury-plagued season in 2024 with 97 World Cup victories, having already surpassed the previous record of 86 set by Sweden’s legendary Ingemar Stenmark, who set his record in the Alpine World Cup in 1989 and was surpassed by Shiffrin in 2023.
“I feel like I’m not done with what I want to give and get from this sport,” Shiffrinsaid in an interview with Eurosport last week.
“If I’m in good shape, and if it happens, I see it as a great opportunity to add to all the stories that are happening in skiing right now.
There’s so much to be excited about and so many stories in this sport, even beyond my own,” said the three-time Olympic medallist (gold at Sochi 2014, gold and silver at Pyeongchang 2018).
Although she will be one of the main attractions of the World Cup, she will not be alone. Another legend of the slopes, Marcel Hirscher, will return to the snow five years after his retirement.
The Austrian, who turned 35 in March this year, retires in 2019 with 67 World Cup victories, having won Olympic gold in both the slalom and the combined at the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Games, as well as seven world titles.
His collection of eight consecutive crystal globes for the overall World Cup title from 2012 to 2019 remains a record. He is fourth all-time in career victories behind Shiffrin, Stenmark and Lindsey Vonn.
What makes his participation unique is that Hirscher will not be wearing the red and white of his native Austria, but rather the orange of his mother’s homeland, the Netherlands, for a season.
“This weekend will be marked by a historic event, as Marcel Hirscher will make his debut under the Dutch flag,” the Dutch Ski Federation said in a statement on Tuesday.
His bittersweet decision was greeted with disappointment in Austria but with celebration in the Netherlands, a flat country better known for ice skating than skiing.
“I thought it would be fun to compete again and it was a great pleasure,” he told AFP this summer. “Then I thought, why not ski for the Netherlands for a year?” he added.
Since retiring, Hirscher, who enjoys rock star status among Austrian ski fans, has embraced the “peace and quiet” of the Netherlands. He has set up his own ski company, Van Deer, with the support of long-time sponsor Red Bull.
“Aiming for a place in the top 15 wouldn’t be realistic at the moment,” Hirscher told Austrian television earlier this month.
If the protagonist himself is to be believed, Hirscher is unlikely to pose a threat to Marco Odermatt of Switzerland, last season’s overall winner.
Lara Gut-Behrami took the women’s crystal globe in Saalbach, the Austrian resort that will host the 2025 World Championships in February, to complete a Swiss double.
Shiffrin’s main rival in the technical events, Petra Vlhová, will be absent from Sölden as the Slovak admitted she is unsure when she will return to the slopes following knee surgery. “I want to come back at full strength,” said Vlhová.
“It has been a difficult road but my knee is in good shape now. I have no pain or limitations, but I need to feel 100% on my skis. I won’t race just to finish, I need to regain all my strength. I am determined to get back to my best, although I don’t know how long it will take,” she concluded.
