Mikaela Shiffrin secured a spot on the podium at a World Cup giant slalom event after a two-year hiatus on Saturday in Spindleruv Mlyn, Czechia. She claimed the third position in the final GS event before the upcoming Milan Cortina Olympics. The race was dominated by defending Olympic champion Sara Hector, who maintained her lead from the first run to secure her first victory since January 2025.
Expressing her joy in a post-race interview, the Swedish champion acknowledged the tough competition and the satisfaction of finishing first. Shiffrin, the 2018 Olympic GS gold medalist, closely followed Hector by 0.23 seconds, sharing the podium with her American teammate Paula Moltzan, who trailed by 0.18 seconds.
Canada’s Britt Richardson achieved a commendable top-10 finish, crossing the finish line in ninth place, clocking 3.19 seconds behind Hector’s winning time. Shiffrin, known for her record-breaking 22 World Cup GS wins, had not secured a top-three finish in the discipline for 11 events since her second-place finish in Slovakia in January 2024.
After a series of setbacks, including a crash in the downhill event at the Olympic course and injuries, Shiffrin faced a challenging road back to competition. This season, she managed three fourth-place finishes before making a triumphant return to the podium just three weeks before the upcoming Olympic race in Cortina d’Ampezzo.
Moltzan, in pursuit of her first career win, achieved her third podium finish of the season, leading a strong performance by the U.S. team, with Nina O’Brien finishing fifth and AJ Hurt in eighth place. In the initial run, Hector narrowly beat Switzerland’s Camille Rast by 0.02 seconds, with Austria’s Julia Scheib, the GS rankings leader, securing the third spot, 0.26 seconds behind.
The absence of overall World Cup champion Federica Brignone and her Italian teammate Sofia Goggia was notable in the Czechia event, as they prepare for upcoming speed races in Switzerland before their home Olympics. The event in Czechia will be followed by a slalom race on the same hill scheduled for Sunday.
