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Paula Moltzan Wins First World Cup at Solden as Shiffrin Drops to Seventh

Some wins are expected. Some wins are earned over a decade, in small steps, through setbacks that would end most careers, and then arrive in a single hundredth of a second. Paula Moltzan's win at Solden belongs firmly in the second group.

On Saturday 24 October 2026, on the Rettenbach Glacier above Solden in Austria, Moltzan won the season-opening women's giant slalom, her first Alpine skiing World Cup win after more than a decade at the top level. The 32 year old American rallied from fifth place after Run 1 to win by 0.01 seconds over Albanian Lara Colturi on combined times. One hundredth of a second. That is the smallest winning margin ski racing can produce, and it is the margin that separates a first win from yet another near miss.

Moltzan summed it up herself, in words that will travel far beyond Solden. She said: "It feels like a fairytale right now, pretty unreal." For a skier who debuted on the World Cup in 2012, was dropped from the US Ski Team ten years ago, and had collected 10 second- or third-place finishes before Saturday, the word fairytale feels earned rather than borrowed. This was not a breakthrough from nowhere. It was a breakthrough a long time in the making.

The race also delivered a sharp twist at the top of the field. Mikaela Shiffrin, the fastest skier in Run 1, dropped to seventh overall after the second run. Defending Solden winner and reigning World Cup giant slalom champion Julia Scheib crashed out in Run 1, ending her title defence before it had properly begun. So the opening race of the season gave us a new winner, a fallen favourite, and a defending champion out on the first run. That is a full season of drama packed into one October Saturday, and it sets up Sunday's men's race beautifully.

For the full build up to this weekend, including the course, the schedule and the ticket details, see our Solden World Cup preview guide. This article picks up where that guide left off, with the racing itself and what it means.

How did Paula Moltzan win her first World Cup?

Moltzan won it from fifth place, which is the hardest kind of giant slalom win to pull off. She was not protecting a lead. She was chasing one, with the clock already set by the skiers ahead of her and with no room for a cautious run. After Run 1 she sat 0.59 seconds behind Shiffrin, a gap that sounds small in everyday terms but is a real deficit in giant slalom, where races are often decided by tenths and hundredths.

Her second run had to be both fast and clean, and it was. She moved up through the order as the second run unfolded, and when the final standings were settled she stood on top by 0.01 seconds over Colturi. That margin deserves a pause. In a race lasting more than two minutes across two runs, on a glacier course with wind, a grabbier surface and a tricky finish, Moltzan beat the rest of the field by one hundredth of a second. It is the kind of margin that makes you check the timing sheet twice, and it is the kind of margin that turns a good career into a winning one.

The context makes the result even better. Moltzan debuted on the World Cup in 2012. Ten years ago she was dropped from the US Ski Team, a moment that could easily have closed the door on a top level career. Instead she kept going, kept improving, and kept putting herself in position. Before Saturday she had 10 second- or third-place finishes on the World Cup. Ten times she had stood close to the top step without standing on it. Saturday was the eleventh time she put herself in the fight, and this time she finished the job.

Then there is the Olympic chapter. After winning her first Olympic medal last February, a bronze in the team combined, she changed skis, becoming the lone woman on the World Cup to sign with Van Deer. Changing equipment after an Olympic medal is a bold move for any skier, let alone one still chasing a first World Cup win. It is a move that says she believed there was still another level to find. At Solden, on the first race of the new season, that belief was rewarded.

She is also now the oldest woman to win her first World Cup. That record matters because it reframes what a ski racing career can look like. The sport loves young breakthroughs, and rightly so, but Moltzan's win is a reminder that persistence is a talent too. Fourteen years after her World Cup debut, after being dropped by her national team, after ten podium finishes without a win, she is a World Cup winner. For every fan who has followed her long road, and for every young skier wondering whether a setback means the end, that is a powerful story.

What happened in Run 1 at Solden?

Snow delayed the opener, but once the race got going, the Rettenbach Glacier delivered a proper test. The women's giant slalom course starts at 3,038 metres and finishes at 2,668 metres, a vertical drop of 370 metres, and it was prepared with 60,000 cubic metres of farmed snow after snow control was passed on 15 October. That preparation mattered, because the surface was not straightforward. Reports from the hill described a grabbier surface that rewarded skiers who kept their skis running, rather than forcing the turn.

Wind affected the upper section of the course, and a bump on the lower flats unsettled several racers. In other words, this was not a race won on one section alone. Skiers had to handle the wind at the top, stay patient through the middle, and then survive a tricky finish where a single mistake could cost the time gained higher up the hill.

The first-run course was set by Norway's Kai Gronningsather. Course setting shapes a giant slalom more than casual viewers sometimes realise. The distance between gates, the rhythm of the turns, and the line through the steep sections all push skiers toward a particular way of skiing the hill. On this occasion, the set rewarded skiers who kept their skis running through the grabbier surface, linking turns cleanly instead of checking speed and restarting the rhythm.

Shiffrin did that better than anyone in Run 1. Her time of 1:07.27 put her at the top of the standings at the halfway point of the race. Sara Hector was second, 0.14 seconds behind, and Camille Rast was third, 0.37 seconds behind. Moltzan was fifth, 0.59 seconds behind Shiffrin. Those are small margins in giant slalom terms, especially on a course of this length, and they are exactly the kind of margins that make a second run worth watching. A lead of 0.14 seconds is real, but it is not comfortable. One hesitant turn on the lower flats, one gust of wind at the wrong moment, and it can disappear. As the second run proved, it can disappear completely.

The table below sets out the confirmed Run 1 positions that matter most to this story.

How did Shiffrin build her Run 1 lead, and why did she drop to seventh?

Shiffrin's own words after Run 1 told the story of a skier who felt comfortable on the pitch. She said: "It felt really nice. I was really feeling good on the pitch." She also said: "The most important thing is linking the turns because there is quite some distance." That matches what the course demanded. With distance between the turns, and a surface that grabbed at the skis, the skiers who linked their turns and kept momentum were the ones who went fast. Skiers who broke the rhythm, checked their speed, or fought the surface lost time in small amounts that added up by the finish.

There was also a nice detail from the United States team before her run. US head coach Karin Harjo sent Shiffrin a radio message that summed up the conditions: "Mikaela, the whole pitch almost to the finish is in the sun. The surface is great. You got this." Sun on the pitch, a good surface, and a skier feeling good on it: that combination produced the fastest Run 1 time of the day.

Shiffrin also spoke openly about a difficult build up. She said: "It has been a little bit challenging to get the right preparation in this last month or two months. We have been battling with the weather a little bit." A skier who has battled the weather in preparation, and then feels good on the pitch on race day, is a skier who can ski freely rather than fighting the hill. On Run 1 evidence, she did exactly that.

Then came Run 2, and the race turned. Shiffrin was only 27th fastest in Run 2, and that second run cost her the lead, the podium places she had seemed set for, and six places in the final order, dropping her to seventh overall. That is the brutal arithmetic of giant slalom. A first run lead is an advantage, not a guarantee. The second run is skied in reverse order for the top qualifiers, the light and the surface change, and the pressure shifts. The leader in Run 1 becomes the skier everyone else is chasing, and the last skier down the hill in Run 2 skis with the whole race already decided except for her own run.

It is worth putting Shiffrin's result in proper context, because seventh place for a skier of her standing still invites questions, and the answers are about the season, not just one run. Shiffrin arrives at Solden with 110 World Cup wins to her name, including 22 giant slalom wins, a women's record, and 73 slalom wins. She is an Olympic slalom champion. This season has been described as an exploration season for her, with a focus on giant slalom and Super-G. She is skipping the slaloms at Levi and Gurgl, with her first slalom of the season planned for Killington on 29 November.

Two longer facts frame the giant slalom story. She has not won a giant slalom since December 2023, and her last Super-G win came in 2022. She also won a sixth overall title last season, equalling the women's record held by Annemarie Moser-Proll from the 1970s. Her recent career has also included serious crashes, in the Cortina downhill early in 2024 and in the Killington giant slalom about ten months later. None of that changes the Solden result, but all of it explains why this season is being watched as a test of where her giant slalom skiing stands, and why a Run 1 lead followed by a drop to seventh will sting more than the seventh place alone suggests.

For Shiffrin, the honest reading of Solden is mixed. The speed is clearly there, because she was fastest in Run 1 after a disrupted preparation. The consistency across two runs is the part that needs work, and that is exactly what the next giant slalom races will test. She does not need to prove she can ski fast. She needs to prove she can do it twice on the same day, on a changing surface, with the lead on the line.

What happened to defending champion Julia Scheib?

The shock of the first run was the exit of defending champion Julia Scheib, who crashed out in Run 1 and did not finish the run. She had posted the fastest intermediate splits to that point before going out, which makes the crash even more painful. She was not struggling. She was flying, and then she was out.

The detail of the crash explains how quickly it happened. Scheib got late and low on the line, loading heavy pressure onto her ski, and when it released she was thrown into a hard highside crash, cutting short a fast opening effort. That is a racing crash in the truest sense: not a slow slide into the netting, but a sudden release at speed after a line that had gone wrong by a fraction.

That is a significant moment for the race and for the season. Scheib won the giant slalom globe last season, and she was the first Austrian woman to win a World Cup giant slalom title since Eva-Maria Brem in 2016. She arrived at Solden as the defending champion on home snow, in front of a home crowd, on a glacier where Austrian skiers are expected to shine. To lose the defending champion in Run 1 changes the shape of the race. It removes one of the skiers most likely to challenge for the win, and it opens up space further down the order for skiers who might otherwise have been fighting for the lower places.

It also underlines how unforgiving this course can be. The same wind on the upper section, the same bump on the lower flats, and the same grabbier surface that rewarded clean, linked skiing punished mistakes. In giant slalom at this level, there is very little room for error, and a crash in Run 1 ends the race immediately. There is no second chance within the same race. Scheib will have other races this season, but her Solden defence is over in the first run.

For fans, the human side of that matters as much as the sporting side. A home favourite, a defending champion, and a globe winner crashing out on the opening day is a reminder that ski racing is a sport of fine margins and real risk. Every skier in Run 2 knows that the hill has already claimed the defending champion, and that knowledge changes how the second run is skied.

Who else stood out in the United States team?

Beyond Moltzan, the United States team was well represented at Solden, and the Run 1 results show real depth. Moltzan was fifth after Run 1. AJ Hurt was 14th, Elisabeth Bocock was 17th, and Nina O'Brien was 22nd. Five United States women advanced to Run 2 in total, which is a strong team showing on an opening weekend when many nations would be happy with two or three qualifiers.

Two near misses deserve a mention too, because they show how fine the cut can be. Katie Hensien narrowly missed the top 30, and debutant Katie Rowekamp also finished just outside qualification. For a debutant, finishing just outside the second run cut on a World Cup opener is no disgrace. It is a sign of how close she already is, and how much the next races matter for building experience at this level.

For United States fans, the headline is Moltzan, but the wider picture is encouraging. Four named skiers in the top 22 after Run 1, five through to Run 2, and a debutant close behind them: that is a team with depth, not just one star. As the season moves from Solden to the North American races, that depth will matter, especially with Killington on the horizon for Shiffrin's first slalom of the season on 29 November.

What does the final result look like?

The final result is simple to state and extraordinary to think about. Moltzan won. Colturi was second, 0.01 seconds behind. Shiffrin, the Run 1 leader, finished seventh. Scheib did not finish Run 1. No other podium position is claimed here beyond those confirmed facts, because the story does not need padding. The winner, the margin, the fallen leader and the crashed defending champion tell the whole race.

The table below sets out the confirmed final positions used in this article.

What makes this result so satisfying for neutrals is that it rewards the long game. Moltzan did not win because she was the fastest skier in the morning. She won because she put together two runs that, combined, beat everyone else by the smallest possible margin. Shiffrin was fastest in Run 1. Moltzan was fastest when it counted, across both runs. That is the difference between leading a race and winning one, and it is a lesson every young skier can take from Solden.

What about Sunday's men's giant slalom?

The racing does not stop on Saturday. On Sunday 25 October, the men take to the same Rettenbach Glacier for their giant slalom, with Run 1 at 10:00 local time and Run 2 at 13:00 local time. The headline name is Marco Odermatt, the defending Solden winner, who returns chasing a sixth straight overall World Cup title. Only Marcel Hirscher has won more overall titles, with eight, which puts Odermatt's chase in historic context.

Odermatt won at Solden last season, his third Solden win, and he arrives as the man to beat on this hill. But the giant slalom globe last season went to Lucas Pinheiro Braathen, who took it from Odermatt. That detail matters, because it means Sunday is not just a race for the Solden win. It is also the first chapter of a giant slalom contest between the defending Solden winner and the defending globe winner, on the same hill, on consecutive days with the women's race.

Sunday also carries a clock change trap that fans need to know about, and it is worth explaining clearly because it affects viewers in different countries in different ways. Europe's clocks went back overnight from Saturday to Sunday, while the United States stays on daylight time until 1 November. That means Sunday's United States Eastern times are one hour later than Saturday's equivalent times would have been. If you watched on Saturday and assumed Sunday would follow the same pattern, you would be an hour early. Use the Sunday times in the table below, not Saturday's pattern.

For viewers in the United States, television coverage is on Peacock and NBCSN, with Run 1 at 5:00am ET and Run 2 at 8:00am ET, with commentary from Steve Schlanger with Steve Porino. In the United Kingdom, coverage is on TNT Sports on HBO Max. Those are the broadcast details confirmed for this weekend.

If you are planning to follow both days, the rhythm is straightforward. Saturday was the women's race, won by Moltzan in a fairytale finish. Sunday is the men's race, on the same schedule, with the same course and the same questions: who handles the glacier, who links the turns, and who survives the lower flats.

How can fans watch and attend on Sunday?

For fans heading to Solden, the spectator details from the official Solden guide remain useful, and they are included here only briefly, because the racing is the main focus. A day ticket bought online costs 30 EUR for an adult and 15 EUR for a youth born between 2011 and 2020, with free entry for children born in 2021 or later. At the gate, the day prices are 35 EUR and 20 EUR. A weekend ticket bought online costs 51 EUR for an adult and 26 EUR for a youth. Those prices are for the event weekend, and fans should check the official Solden channels for any last minute changes before travelling.

For fans watching from home, the key point is the clock change explained above. Sunday's Run 1 is at 14:00 PKT, 09:00 in London, 10:00 in Berlin, and 05:00 in New York. Run 2 is at 17:00 PKT, 12:00 in London, 13:00 in Berlin, and 08:00 in New York. Set an alarm based on those times, not on Saturday's times, and you will not miss the start.

Elsewhere this weekend, for fans following more than one sport, our guide to the WTA Finals 2026 guide covers the tennis side of the weekend. Solden and Indian Wells are very different events, but they share the same weekend, and the same question: who handles the pressure when the season's biggest stages arrive.

Why does this opener matter for the season?

Opening weekends matter in ski racing because they set the tone, even though no title is won in October. A strong start gives a skier confidence, World Cup points, and a platform for the races that follow. A difficult start, like Scheib's crash, does not end a season, but it does mean playing catch up from the very first race.

For Moltzan, this opener matters for a specific reason. A first win changes everything. It removes the question that follows every near miss, it proves the equipment change and the long rebuild were worth it, and it gives her a platform for the rest of the season that no second place can provide. She starts the season as a World Cup winner, not as a skier chasing one. That is a different mindset, and it is one she has earned.

For Shiffrin, this opener matters for a different reason. With a focus on giant slalom and Super-G this season, and with slaloms at Levi and Gurgl skipped before a first slalom at Killington on 29 November, the giant slalom races carry extra weight early in the season. A fastest Run 1 at Solden, after a preparation period disrupted by weather, suggests that the giant slalom speed is in good shape. A drop to seventh in Run 2 suggests that the two run consistency still needs work. Both lessons are useful, and both will shape how she approaches the next giant slalom start.

For Odermatt on Sunday, the opener matters because of the overall title chase. A sixth straight overall title would put him one step closer to Hirscher's record of eight, and it starts with races like Solden, where he has already won three times. For Pinheiro Braathen, the opener matters because he starts the season as the giant slalom globe holder, and he will want to show immediately that last season's globe was not a one off.

For Scheib, the opener matters in a different way. Crashing out at home, as defending champion, is a painful start, but the season is long, and the giant slalom globe is decided over many races, not one. Her challenge now is to reset quickly, because the next giant slalom races will come fast, and the points lost at Solden will need to be made up elsewhere.

For fans, the opener matters because it reminds us what makes this sport compelling. It is not just about speed. It is about linking turns on a grabbier surface, handling wind on the upper section, surviving a bump on the lower flats, and doing all of that twice, under pressure, with the defending champion already out and the winner decided by one hundredth of a second. That is the Solden opener in a sentence: a fairytale first win, a fallen leader, a shock exit, and a men's race on Sunday.

SOURCES: NBC Sports, FIS, Ski Racing Media, AP, TNT Sports, Solden official.