The women's giant slalom in the 2026 FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup consisted of ten events, including the final. As per the initial schedule released on 12 June 2025, the season began with the traditional opener: a giant slalom on the Rettenbach ski course, located on the Rettenbach glacier in Sölden, Austria, on 25 October 2025. The next three giant slaloms took place in North America in late November and early December, including the first World Cup visit to Copper Mountain (Colorado) for the women since 1999, after which the remainder of the races were held in Europe, including a return to the slopes of Czechia's Špindlerův Mlýn on 24 January 2026 for the first time in three years. In a surprise, Austria's Julia Scheib broke through at 27 years old for her first five World Cup victories, all in this discipline, to clinch the title prior to finals
The season was interrupted for the quadrennial 2026 Winter Olympics in three regions in Italy -- Milan, the Stelvio Pass, and Cortina d'Ampezzo—during 6–22 February 2026. Except for slalom, the Alpine skiing events for women took place on the classic Olimpia delle Tofane course at Cortina d'Ampezzo. The championship in women's giant slalom was held on Sunday, 15 February, and was won by Italy's Federica Brignone, the defending discipline champion who missed virtually all of the season due to injury but was able to overcome pain to carry the flag for her country and compete in her home Olympics.
Season summary Due to an injury suffered at the end of last season, defending discipline champion Federica Brignone of Italy was considered likely to miss most of, if not all of, the 2025-26 Alpine season. With Brignone on hand for the traditional season-opening race in Sölden, Austria, 27-year-old Austrian skier Julia Scheib, who had finished third in the race last year for her first-ever World Cup individual podium, grabbed a lead of well over a second on the first run and then held on for her first-ever World Cup victory, which also represented the first victory by an Austrian woman in a World Cup giant slalom race since March 2016. In the next race, across the pond in Copper Mountain (U.S.), Scheib almost pulled off a second straight victory (and retained the overall lead in the discipline), but instead New Zealand's Alice Robinson, the first run leader, held form and became the first woman not from Europe or North America to record five World Cup race victories. Remaining in North America for two races at Tremblant (Canada) the next week, the first race saw Robinson pulling off a back-to-back victory by almost a second over Zrinka Ljutić of Croatia, who moved into third place for the season as Robinson took over the discipline lead. The next day, Scheib bounced back (after crashing the first day) to claim her second victory of the season by about half a second, although Robinson (who finished on the podium in third) narrowly retained the discipline lead. In the last giant slalom of the calendar year, though, in Semmering, Austria, Scheib won for the second time this season in front of a home crowd by edging Switzerland's Camille Rast, which enabled her to regain the discipline lead over Robinson, who failed to complete her first run.
In the first race of the new year the following week at Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, Robinson again failed to complete the first run, and Scheib and Rast again battled for the win, except this time Rast came out on top by 0.2 seconds for her first giant slalom victory; Rast, who like all members of the Swiss team wore a black armband during the race, then dedicated her victory to the victims of a New Year's Eve fire in Crans-Montana, a prominent skiing area in her home canton. The day before the next giant slalom at Kronplatz, Italy, on 20 January came another return: Brignone, who said that she had only been training on skis for 13 days after her surgery and recovery but wanted the race to see where she stood physically less than one month before the Olympic Games: "Then we arrived to this conclusion when we said, “OK, it’s maybe good for me to try’". But she did more than "try" at Kronplatz, as her sixth-place finish, the top by an Italian on the home snow, ensured her selection for the Italian Olympic team. In the race, Scheib closed from third after the first run to overtake both Rast and Sweden's Sara Hector, the first-run leader, for her fourth victory of the season and a commanding 138-point lead in the discipline standings. Just a few days later at Špindlerův Mlýn, Czechia, however, Scheib skied out and failed to finish her second run, and Hector maintained her opening-run lead to earn her first win of the season, narrowly edging the two fastest racers on the second run: Americans Paula Moltzan and Mikaela Shiffrin (who earned her first podium in giant slalom in two years; the last was the week before the first of her two serious injuries over those seasons). With only two races left in the discipline for the season (both after the Olympics), the only three people still with a chance to win the season discipline title are Scheib, Rast (89 points behind). and Hector (131 points behind); since a maximum of only 200 points remains, Shiffrin (fourth, 209 points behind) and everyone else are locked out.
At the Winter Olympics, on a relatively flat course in Cortina, the skiers finishing second through ninth were separated by less than 0.2 seconds, but Brignone, making a dream comeback, blew out the field, winning by over 0.6 seconds to improve from a silver medal in the discipline at the 2022 Olympics to a gold now, with 2022 gold medalist Hector and Norway's Thea Louise Stjernesund tying for the silver. However, because of continuing pain from her injuries, Brignone chose to end her season after just two post-Olympic events, hoping that the rest will permit her to heal fully. In the last race before finals at Åre (Sweden), Hector skied out in the first run, but at the end of that run, Rast held a narrow lead over Scheib; however, Rast skied out early in the second run, and Scheib's victory -- her fifth of the World Cup season (and her nine-year career), by .36 seconds over Moltzan -- clinched the discipline title for the season for her.
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 giant slalom discipline and the winner of the 2026 FIS Junior World Championships in the discipline (Anna Trocker of Italy), 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. Two 500-plus point skiers (Laura Pirovano of Italy and Kira Weidle-Winkelmann of Germany) have entered, joining 24 of the 25 eligible competitors (all but the injured Maryna Gąsienica-Daniel of Poland) and Trocker, so the final field was set at 27. With Scheib already having clinched the discipline title, the real drama focused on the battle for the overall title in the season's final race between Schiffrin, who entered with an 85-point lead, and Germany's Emma Aicher, who needed to win and have Shiffrin not place in the top 15 to snatch the title. After the first run, this upset looked possible, as Aicher was narrowly behind in third and Shiffrin was only 17th; however, Shiffrin's much better second run put her easily into the top 15 long before Aicher's second run, in which she fell back all the way to twelfth place, just behind Shiffrin, who won her sixth overall title. In the remainder of the race, Canada's Valérie Grenier held the lead after both runs and thus won her third World Cup title ever, with the second and third spots on the discipline's podium respectively going to Rast (sixth in the race) and Hector (fourth).
Standings Venue #SkierTotal Julia Scheib10080DNF110010080100DNF2⑤100607202 Camille Rast16455050801008050⑫DNF2405113 Sara Hector2950DNF180605060100②DNF1504794 Mikaela Shiffrin5018405040455060⑪4524 4225 Alice Robinson3210010060DNF1DNF120DNQ⑧60364086 Paula Moltzan80DNF22040DNF2603280⑮800 3927 Valérie Grenier 242060DNF1502929DNF1⑬DNF1100 3128 Thea Louise Stjernesund4560DNF2322916366②3216 2729 Zrinka Ljutić26368036209DNQDNF2⑰402026710 Nina O'Brien402426DNF2DNF132DNF245⑳163221511 Lara Della MeaDNF14292936262636④100 19612 Lara Colturi3622816DNF2401122⑯360 1911314161815453645DNF2⑦DNS18914 Mina Fürst Holtmann1032151413DNF1DNF1DNF1⑥2080 18415 Britt Richardson1115162224222429㉖DNF20 16316 Lena Dürr184010262613109⑨50 15717 Stephanie Brunner862411DNF1101415DNF22245 15518 Emma Aicher3DNQ22DNQ12DNQDNS26⑲5022 13519 Sofia GoggiaDNF11432243224DNF1DNS⑩DNF2012620 Vanessa Kasper25DNQ129DNQ1824㉓1526 11121 Asja Zenere1429DNQ20DNQDNQ16DNF1⑭26010522 AJ Hurt20DNS106DNF132DNF1290 9723 Estelle AlphandDNQ1136DNQDNF113125㉗DNF118 9524 Nina Astner7813DNQ22DNQ1520⑱DNF108525 Wendy Holdener113147168DNQ11DNS120 8226 Clara Direz6345DNF214DNF1DNF2DNQDNF16NE7427 Sue PillerDNQDNQ113DNQ11440㉔4NE73 Katharina Liensberger 42671818DNSNE7329 Lara Gut-Behrami60DNSNE60DNQDNQ910DNQ20DNQ10㉕11NE6031 Elisabeth Bocock12DNF1DNF1DNF1DNF11822DNF1DNSDNF1NE5232 Franziska Gritsch DNQ136DNQ6DNQ13DNQDNS9NE4733 Hilma LövblomDNF1DNQDNF113DNF1DNQ8DNF2DNS24NE4534 Federica BrignoneDNS40DNS①DNSNE4035 Ilaria GhisalbertiDNQDNQ54DNQ3DNQ13DNS13NE3836 Cassidy GrayDNQDNF14DNQDNF115DNF118DNF1DNQNE3737 Ricarda HaaserDNS117512DNSDNSNE 3538 Anna TrockerDNSDNQDNF1DNQDNQDNSDNS323239 Kajsa Vickhoff Lie15DNF1DNS15DNSDNF2DNS 3040 Fabiana DorigoDNQDNQDNF18DNF1DNQ614DNSDNF1NE2841 Hanna Aronsson ElfmanDNQ10DNSDNQDNF1DNQ16㉑DNQNE2642 Ana Bucik JoganDNQ7DNF1592DNQDNQDNF2DNSNE 2343 Katie Hensien22DNSDNF1DNF1DNSDNF1NE2244 Doriane EscanéDNF1DNQDNQDNF1DNQ14DNQ7㉒DNQNE21 Erika Pykalainen9DNQ12DNF1DNF1DNF1DNQDNQDNSDNSNE2146 Dania AllenbachDNS49DNQDNS7NE2047 Sophie NybergDNS18NE1848 Stefanie GrobDNQDNSDNQDNQDNQDNS14NE1449 Lisa HörhagerDNF193DNQDNSDNF2DNSNE12 Alice PazzagliaDNS417DNSDNQNE1251 Victoria OlivierDNQDNQDNQ9DNQDNSNE952 Laura PirovanoDNS80 8 Giorgia CollombDNQDNQDNQDNQDNF2DNQDNF18DNSDNSNE 854 Jana FritzDNS7DNQDNSNE 7 Simone WildDNSDNQ2DNQDNQ5DNQDNF1DNSDNQNE756 Viktoria BürglerDNQDNQDNF16DNF1DNF1DNSNE 657 Neja Dvornik5DNSNE5 Justine LamontagneDNF1DNF1DNQDNF15DNQDNQDNF1㉘DNSNE559 Camille CeruttiDNF12DNQDNQDNF1DNSDNF2DNQNE2References
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 – Women's summary rankings 2026 Alpine Skiing World Cup – Women's overall 2026 Alpine Skiing World Cup – Women's downhill 2026 Alpine Skiing World Cup – Women's super-G 2026 Alpine Skiing World Cup – Women's slalom World Cup scoring system
References
External links Alpine skiing at FIS website