The women's giant slalom in the 2025 FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup consisted of nine events, including the final. The discipline originally contained ten events, but two were cancelled in Canada in December and only one of them was able to be rescheduled, as discussed below. As it does every year, the season opened in Sölden, Austria on 26 October 2024. Defending champion Lara Gut-Behrami of Switzerland returned but found several challengers, including 2020 discipline champion Federica Brignone of Italy, Sweden's Sara Hector, and Alice Robinson of New Zealand. Ultimately, Brignone placed second at finals to move past Robinson for her second crystal globe in this discipline, five years after her first.
The season was interrupted for the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships 2025, this time in Saalbach, Austria during 4–16 February 2025. The championship in women's giant slalom took place on Thursday, 13 February and was dominated by Brignone, who won by almost a second over Robinson, who in turn was over a second and a half ahead of bronze medalist Paula Moltzan of the U.S.
Season summary The first giant slalom of the season, scheduled as usual on the Rettenbach glacier in Sölden, Austria in October, was won by 2024 discipline runner-up (and 2020 discipline champion) Federica Brignone, who rallied from third place after the opening run with the seventh-fastest time in the second run to overtake both of the racers ahead of her. With the victory, Brignone, who is 34, became the oldest woman ever to win a World Cup race, surpassing Elizabeth Görgl of Austria, who won her last race on the World Cup circuit in December 2014 at 33, two months before turning 34. Because this was the first race of the season, neither defending champion Lara Gut-Behrami of Switzerland nor perennial contender Petra Vlhová of Slovakia had recovered from prior-season surgeries sufficiently to be able to compete, although Gut-Behrami entered the race but did not start. Before the end of November, the third and fourth giant slaloms of the season, scheduled at Tremblant, Quebec, Canada, were cancelled due to lack of snow, pending rescheduling.
Immediately thereafter, in the second giant slalom of the year at Mikaela Shiffrin's "home" course in Killington, Vermont, United States, Shiffrin was trying for her 100th World Cup victory, having won number 99 in her last race. As in Sölden, she held the lead going into the second run. However, while still in the lead shortly after the midpoint of the course, she suffered a hard crash into the fencing, which resulted in her being stretchered off the course; the crash handed the win to Sara Hector of Sweden, who thus took over the overall lead in the discipline for the season. After the cancellations (which still had not been rescheduled as of the end of December), the next giant slalom, held after Christmas in Semmering (Austria), came down to a second-run battle between Brignone and Gut-Behrami, which was decided when Gut-Behrami hooked a gate with her arm, causing her to drop all the way to ninth and handing the victory to Brignone, who edged ahead of Hector by 4 points in the season standings.
The first giant slalom of 2025 took place in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, just after New Years Day, and Hector was able to win again and reclaim the season lead after Brignone fell during her first run, with New Zealand's Alice Robinson moving into a tie with Brignone for second. During the next week, one of the giant slaloms cancelled at Tremblant in December 2024 was awarded to Sestriere on 21 February, the day prior to the giant slalom already scheduled there. And still in Italy, Alice Robinson of New Zealand won the giant slalom held at Kronplatz, in a race where Hector, Brignone and Goggia all failed to finish, and she edged out Hector by four points for the season lead in the discipline.
At the world championships, Shiffrin (the winningest skier in women's World Cup history in the giant slalom, with 22 victories) decided that she still had not recovered mentally from the crash in Killington and chose not to defend her 2023 world championship in the discipline. In her absence, Brignone and Robinson dominated the race, with Brignone posting the fastest and Robinson (the first Alpine skiing world medalist from New Zealand) the second-fastest time in each heat,. After the worlds, in the first of two races in Sestriere, Italy, Brignone and Robinson repeated their success at worlds, with Brignone, who had been sick with the flu since worlds, prevailing by four-tenths of a second, with the rest of the field over a second behind Robinson. The next day, Brignone dominated again, winning her fourth GS of the season to move into second, just 40 points behind Robinson with only two races remaining, while a still-recovering Shiffrin missed qualifying for the second run for the first time in 12 years (since October 2012 at Sölden). Next, in Åre, Sweden, the giant slalom was once again won by Brignone for her third straight win in the discipline (fourth straight, counting worlds), with Robinson once again second, decreasing Robinson's lead to just 20 points (520 to 500) with only the finals remaining.
Finals The World Cup final in the discipline was held on Tuesday, 25 March in Sun Valley, Idaho, United States. Only the top 25 skiers in the World Cup giant slalom discipline and the winner of the Junior World Championship in the discipline (Giorgia Collomb of Italy), plus any skiers who have scored at least 500 points in the World Cup overall classification for the season, are eligible to compete in the final, and only the top 15 earn World Cup points. Only Robinson and Brignone were still in contention for the discipline's season title. Four skiers with 500+ overall points who were not otherwise eligible (Kajsa Vickhoff Lie of Norway, Katharina Liensberger of Austria, Emma Aicher of Germany, and Lauren Macuga of the United States) entered the race through points, while one eligible skier (Ricarda Haaser of Austria) missed the race due to injury, leaving a starting field of 29 (including Collomb). Robinson failed to finish the first run, so all Brignore needed to do to win the discipline championship was finish in the top 12; however, she posted the fastest time in the second run and finished second behind Gut-Behrami (who had previously won the super-G during finals) in the race, easily clinching the crystal globe.
Standings VenueWC R# #SkierTotal Federica Brignone100DNF2xx100DNF1DNF2①10010010080 5802 Alice Robinson80DNF1xx6060100②806080DNF15203 Sara Hector16100xx80100DNF2⑥45202660 4474 Thea Louise Stjernesund4050xx263640④60295050 3815 Lara Colturi1529xx248050⑦36406045 3796 Lara Gut-BehramiDNS20xx294080⑤DNF1 8029100 3787 Paula Moltzan2445xx45DNQ60③403240DNF12868 Zrinka Ljutić1380xx322245⑧502211DNF1 2759 Julia Scheib60DNF1xx4050DNF1DNF2294536DNS 26010 Camille Rast2260xx143229⑪292632DNF224411 Nina O'Brien 3640xx162426⑲32DNF22422 22012 Valérie Grenier DNS29xx50DNQ32⑭18DNF245DNF117413 Neja DvornikDNQ36xx153215㉑511104016414 AJ HurtDNSxx42620⑬2236123215215 Wendy Holdener622xx101316㉕1114153614316 Mina Fürst Holtmann29DNF1xx12DNQ11⑰7242024 12717 Sofia GoggiaDNSxxDNS45DNF1DNF12050DSQ2DNF2 11518624xx20DNQ13⑮1012820 11319 Estelle Alphand816xx615DNQ⑳1310132911020 Stephanie Brunner18DNF1xxDNF11418⑱1418DNF22610821 Britt Richardson144xx8DNF136⑩24DNF216DSQ1 10222 Katie Hensien5020xx3410㉒10DNF1DNF1DSQ1 9723 Ricarda HaaserDNF232xx221812DNS 8424 Ana Bucik Jogan1014xx20106㉔157DNQ08225 Lena Dürr26DNQxx969⑨DNS16907526 Marta Bassino 20DNQxx36DNQDNS1DNF113DNF2DSQ1NE 6927 Kajsa Vickhoff LieDNSxx131624⑯DNF19DNSDNF16228 Lisa NybergDNQDNQxxDNQ20DNQ㉙DNQ1522NE 5729 Katharina Liensberger 32DNF1xxDNQDNQDNS⑫166DNQDSQ1 5430 Mikaela Shiffrin45DNF2xxDNS6DNQDNF1NE 5131 Asja Zenere 1113xxDNQ97DNS8DNQDNF1NE4832 Lara Della MeaDNS5xxDNQ1224DNS2DNQDNQDNF1NE4133 Elisabeth BocockDNS8xxDNF1DNF1DNSDNF2818NE3434 Giorgia CollombDNQ12xxDNQDNQDNQDNSDNQDNF1DNS183035 Ilaria GhisalbertiDNQ10xx088DNSDNQDNQDNQNE 26DNSxxDNQ11DNQDNF1DNQDNF115NE 2637 Clara Direz12DNF2xx5DNQ3DNF25DNF1DNF1NE25 Franziska Gritsch 4DNQxx2DNQ14DNSDNQDNQ5NE 2539 Michelle Gisin 97xxDNS5DNQ㉖DNSNE20 Vanessa KasperDNSDNF1xxDNQDNQ4DNS313DNQNE 2041 Emma AicherDNQ12xxDNF27DNQ㉓DNQDNSDNQDNF219 Simone Wild39xx7DNQDNQDNSNE 1943 Lauren MacugaDNS161644 Clarisse BrècheDNS15xxDNQDNQDNQDNF1DNSNE 1545 Kristin LysdahlDNQ7xxDNF1DNSDNQDNQ7NE1446 Cassidy GrayDNF2DNQxx11DNQDNQDNF1DNF1DNQDNF2NE1147 Fabiana Dorigo7DNQxxDNQDNQDNF1㉛DNF1DNQDNQNE7 Roberta MelesiDNQDNQxxDNQ3DNQDNSDNF1DNS4NE749 Hilma LövblomDNQDNF1xxDNQDNQDNF1DNSDNQDNQ6NE650 Magdalena LuczakDNSDNF1xxDNQDNQ5㉗DNSNE 5 Doriane EscanéDNSDNQDNSDNQ5DNQNE552 Victoria OlivierDNSxxDNQ2DNQDNSNE253 Francesca Baruzzi FarriolDNQDNQxxDNQ1DNQDNF2DNQDNQDNQNE 1References
Legend
DNQ = Did not qualify for run 2 DNF1 = Did not finish run 1 DSQ1 = Disqualified run 1 DNF2 = Did not finish run 2 DSQ2 = Disqualified run 2 DNS2 = Did not start run 2
R# = Rescheduled (make-up) race
See also 2025 Alpine Skiing World Cup – Women's summary rankings 2025 Alpine Skiing World Cup – Women's overall 2025 Alpine Skiing World Cup – Women's downhill 2025 Alpine Skiing World Cup – Women's super-G 2025 Alpine Skiing World Cup – Women's slalom World Cup scoring system
References
External links Alpine skiing at FIS website