The men's slalom in the 2026 FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup consisted of eleven events, including the discipline final. For the second straight year, the season opened in Levi, Finland (16 November), and the entire season was held in Europe, consistent with the initial schedule released on 12 June 2025. Norway's Atle Lie McGrath triumphed in a battle that went all the way to finals, winning his first discipline championship.
The season was interrupted for the quadrennial 2026 Winter Olympics in three regions in ItalyMilan, the Stelvio Pass, and Cortina d'Ampezzoduring 6–22 February 2026. All of the Alpine skiing events for men took place on the classic Stelvio course at Bormio. The championship in men's slalom, the last men's event in Alpine skiing, was held on Monday, 16 February, and was won by Switzerland's Loïc Meillard (who placed sixth in the discipline for the season) after McGrath, who had a large lead after his first run on the deteriorating course, straddled a gate at the start of the second.
Season summary In the opening slalom of the season in Levi, 2023 discipline champion Lucas Pinheiro Braathen, who then skied for his native Norway before transferring to his mother's homeland of Brazil in 2025 after a one-year retirement, recorded the first World Cup victory ever for his new country and its one-man team. At the same time, six-time discipline champion Marcel Hirscher, who won all of those championships while skiing for Austria before transferring to the Netherlands after a six-year retirement, announced that his return to the World Cup circuit from his season-ending injury in December 2024 would not take place until January 2026. A week later, the second slalom, in Gurgl, Austria, produced a huge upset as France's Paco Rassat, who had finished a career-best sixth the week before, came from 14th place on his second run to earn his first World Cup victory in his first World Cup podium finish, which gave him the lead in both the discipline and the overall World Cup standings. After a break while the World Cup series moved to North America, slalom resumed at Val d'Isère, France, where Norway's Timon Haugan, who had failed to podium the day before in giant slalom after being in third following the first run, held off Loïc Meillard of Switzerland, the previous day's winner, to become the third different winner in the discipline this season and take over the discipline lead. Finally, in the last World Cup race before Christmas, the aptly-named Clément Noël of France held the slalom lead after the first run, but Norway's Atle Lie McGrath passed him on the second run for the victory, thus denying Noël a holiday-themed win, with McGrath's Norwegian teammate Haugan (fourth) retaining the discipline lead.
Returning from the New Year's break, the men began a series of five slaloms in five weeks with a night slalom in Madonna di Campiglio, Italy, which this time was won by Noël, who came from behind to edge Finland's Eduard Hallberg and thus trail Haugen by only three points for the discipline lead. A week later in Adelboden, Switzerland, France's Rassat claimed his second victory of the season in the slalom, edging out two Norwegians (McGrath and Henrik Kristoffersen) for the win and claiming the lead in the discipline himself by 26 points over Noël, as Haugen failed to finish the first run. In the third race, at Wengen, Switzerland, McGrath repeated his victory there from 2025, beating his good friend (with birthdays only two days apart) and former Norwegian teammate Braathen by almost half a second, which propelled him into a narrow discipline lead, now followed by Braathen, Noël, Rassat, and Haugan, with only 42 points separating the five of them. But the next week, in the slalom at Kitzbühel, Austria, the home country's Manuel Feller came from fourth after the first run to overtake leader Loïc Meillard and save Austrian honor for the weekend; meanwhile, when McGrath failed to finish his first run, Braathen, who finished fourth, took over the discipline lead. Three days later, about a week before the start of the Olympics, a night slalom under the lights at Schlamding turned into an all-Norwegian battle between McGrath and Kristoffersen, with last year's discipline champion Kristoffersen coming from behind on the second run to claim his first victory of the season, while McGrath grabbed a one-point lead over Braathen in the discipline race.
The first run at the Winter Olympics started in a light snowfall, which quickly turned into a blizzard with low visibility, allowing McGrath, the first skier, to build a lead of 0.59 over Meillard, the second skier, who built another 0.35 over the next-best skier, Fabio Gstrein of Austria, with only seven skiers within two seconds of McGrath's lead and 11 of the top 30 and 49 out of 96 total failing to finish the run; however, McGrath straddled a gate and skied out early in the (clear) second run, allowing Meillard to complete his set of Olympic medals at these games with a gold medal (to join his silver from the team combined and his bronze from the giant slalom). Gstrein, who matched Meillard for the best second-run time, won the silver for the first medal for the Austrian men's Alpine skiing team first individual medal of the games, and Kristoffersen, who posted the third-best second-run time, took the bronze for his second career Olympic medal. Back on the World Cup circuit at Kranjska Gora (Slovenia), the situation was reversed: Meillard skied out on the first run, while McGrath barely managed to hold on to his first-run lead for a victory on the melting mountainside (with temperatures in the 50s), edging his teammate Kristoffersen by .01 seconds and his childhood friend Braathen by .04 seconds, thus giving McGrath a 41-point lead over Braathen heading into the finals.
Finals The World Cup finals in the discipline are scheduled to take place on Wednesday, 25 March 2026 on the Olympialøypa course at Hafjell, near Lillehammer, Norway. Only the top 25 skiers in the World Cup downhill discipline and the winner of the 2026 FIS Junior World Championships in the discipline (Giuliano Fux of Switzerland), plus any skiers who have scored at least 500 points in the World Cup overall classification for the season, will be eligible to compete in the final, and only the top 15 will earn World Cup points. One 500-plus point skier (Marco Schwarz of Austria, discipline champion in 2021) registered, as well as 24 of the 25 qualified competitors (all except the injured Manuel Feller of Austria) and Fux, so the field was set at 26. By the final event at finals, the home country's lack of success during these finals had become a storyline but was decisively ended by the slalom results; first, Norway's Haugan, who had defeated Meillard at Val d'Isère in December, did it again at finals for his second win of the season, giving the fans a home race winner. Then, the overall season-long battle between Norway's McGrath, his close friend (and former Norwegian) Braathen (41 points behind), and France's Noël (77 points behind), which would have been over had McGrath placed no worse then third at finals, instead accelerated when McGrath had a poor second run, creating an opening for Braathen, who failed to take advantage of it by skiing out early in his own second run, while Noël, who then needed a victory to have a shot, instead struggled near the end of his second run, thus allowing McGrath (who ended up eighth) to claim the title, giving the fans a home crystal globe winner as well.
Standings Venue#SkierTotal Atle Lie McGrathDNF260DNF21003280100DNF180DNF2100325842 Clément Noël8022DNF28010032293260DNF24045520310026DNF2455050805050DNF160DNF25114 Henrik Kristoffersen202260916606026100③80505035 Timon Haugan45501005040DNF1452940④DNF11004996 Loïc Meillard18DNF2806024DNF25080DNF2①DNF1803927 Paco Rassat40100DNF14060100DNF218DNF2DNF12903878 Eduard Hallberg60DNF222328040DNF145DNF2DNF1DNF1603399 Tanguy Nef1045DNF1362632DNF13629⑥264028010 Manuel Feller244DNF124DNF2452410026DNF1DNS24711 Linus Straßer1632DNQ1418DNF22460DNF1⑨452923812 Michael Matt29DNQ1622221336DNQDNQ⑧503622413 Armand MarchantDNQ80964026640DNF2⑤DNF2DNF120714 Fabio Gstrein26151620DNF1DNQ112445②222220115 Victor Muffat-Jeandet113613151122181315DNS142619416 Eirik Hystad Solberg148DNQDNQ451126632⑦321619017 Steven Amiez321629122936DNF1DNF1DNQ⑱DNQ2017418 Alex VinatzerDNF1125026DNF11420DNF136DNF13016119 Tommaso SalaDNQ5361812DNQ51024DNF152413920 Daniel Yule924105DNF25132214⑮81612621 Laurie Taylor50DNQ2213DNF29DNQDNQDNQDNF1DNF11811222 Albert Popov829128DNF224DNF1913DNF13010623 Oscar Andreas SandvikDNQ134529DNF1DNQ8DNF1DNF1DNSDNF109524 Dominik RaschnerDNQ40DNF1DNQDNF118DNF1DNF2DNF2DNS3609425 Samuel Kolega15DNF114111310DNQDNQ18DNF11309426 Dave Ryding366DNF216DNQ20DNF111DNF2⑰DNSNE8927 Marco Schwarz121032DSQ2DNQ15DNSDNF2DNQ⑩2008928 Joshua SturmDNQDNQDNF111DNF1DNF1151222DNS18NE 7829 Hans Grahl-MadsenDNF1DNS40DNQDNF2DNQ148DNF1DNS10NE 7230 Fabian Ax SwartzDNF1DNF2DSQ1DNF1DNQ891416⑭24NE 7131 Matthias ItenDNF1DNS264DNF1DNQ40DNF1DNF1⑪DNF1NE 7032 Filip Zubčić 13DSQ1DNQDNQDNSDNF1365DNQ⑬6NE 6033 Johannes Strolz778DSQ114DNF1316DNF2DNSDNF1NE 5534 Benjamin RitchieDNF2DNQDNF1DNF1DNF2DSQ1DNQ1620DNS13NE4835 Billy Major4147DNQDNQ12DNQ7DNQ⑯DNF1NE 4436 Auguste AulnetteDNS24DNQDNF1DNQDNS1DNQDNF1DNS16NE 4037DNQDNF16DNQDNF116DNQDNF111DNS7NE 4038 Sam Maes61111DNF1DNF2DNQ10DNQDNF1DNF1DNQNE 3839 Antoine AzzolinDNQDNF1DNQDNQ15DNQDNF1DNF2DNF1DNS15NE 3040 Tobias Kastlunger22DNQDNF2DNQDNQ4DNQDNQDNQDSQ1DNQNE 2641 Hugo DesgrippesDNQDNS22DNQDNQDNF1DNF1DNQDNQDNSDNQNE 2241 Simon RuelandDNQ22DNQDNF1DNQDNQDNQDNF1DNF1DNSDNQNE 2243 Kristoffer JakobsenDNQDNF1DNF1DNQDNF2DNF1DNF120DNF1DNF1DNF1NE 2043 Joaquim SalarichDNQDNQDNF1DNF120DNF1DNQDNF1DNQ⑲DNQNE 2045 Adrian PertlDNQDNQDNS1DNSDNQ18DNF1DNF2DNSDNQNE 1846 Sebastian HolzmannDNQDNF1DNF17DNF1DNQ7DNQDNQDNSDNQNE 1447 Jett SeymourDNQDNQDNF12DNF1DNQDNQDSQ1DNQDNS11NE 1348 Istok RodešDNQDNF1DNQDNQDNQDNF112DNQDNF2DNF1DNQNE 1248 Luke WintersDNQDNF1DNF1DNSDNQDNQDNS12DNSDNF1NE 1250 Yohei Koyama39DNQDNF1DNSNE1250 Jesper PohjolainenDNQDNQDNF13DNQDNQDNF1DNQDNQDNF19NE 1252 Theodor BrækkenDNQDNQDNF1DNQDNF1DNF1DNSDNQ10DNSDNQNE1052 Matteo CaninsDNF1DNQDNQDNQ10DNQDNQDNQDNF1DNSDNQNE1054 Marc RochatDNQDNQDNF1DNQDNF27DNF1DNF1DNQDNSDNQNE 755 Shiro AiharaDNSDNQDNF1DNQDNF16DNQDNQDNQ⑳DNQNE656 Cooper Puckett5DNSDNF1DNQDNSDNF1DNF1DNQDNSDNF1NE 557 Juan del CampoDNQDNF1DNQDNF1DNQDNF1DNQ4DNF1DNSDNF1NE 457 Tommaso SaccardiDNF1DNSDNQDNF1DNF1DNQDNF2DNQDNF1⑫4NE457 Gustav WisstingDNQDNSDNF1DNS4DNQDNQDNSDNSNE460 Corrado BarberaDNQDNSDNQ3DNQDNF1DNQDNSDNQNE3References
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 2026 Alpine Skiing World Cup – Men's summary rankings 2026 Alpine Skiing World Cup – Men's overall 2026 Alpine Skiing World Cup – Men's downhill 2026 Alpine Skiing World Cup – Men's super-G 2026 Alpine Skiing World Cup – Men's giant slalom World Cup scoring system
References
External links Alpine skiing at FIS website