Inside head-to-head battles that shaped sensational Alpine ski season

Great rivalries define great sport, and the Audi FIS Alpine Ski World Cup 2025/26 season was fortunate enough to be overflowing with them.

Join us as take a deep dive into these thrilling clashes and reveal the numbers, the stories and the emotions behind them.

GOAT v Future GOAT?

The words Mikaela Shiffrin (USA/Atomic) chose to describe Emma Aicher (GER/Head) after finally shaking off her challenge for the women’s Overall World Cup title perfectly illustrate just what this battle means for the future of the sport.

Quite a compliment from a woman who had just secured a record-equalling sixth Big Globe. But one that seemed entirely appropriate. For while Shiffrin produced one of the all-time best-ever Slalom seasons to drive herself to the very top once more, Aicher was outstanding across the disciplines.

While Shiffrin was busy complementing relentless early season Slalom victories (five out of five pre-Christmas) with solid Giant Slalom displays (four top-six finishes in her first five races) to build a formidable seeming Big Globe lead, Aicher was starting to flex her all-round muscles.

Things however, really caught fire between the two post the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games.

First, the German took full advantage of the speed-heavy schedule to dramatically reduce the American’s advantage. Then the duo went head-to-head. Two races in Are followed by three at the World Cup Finals summing up a rivalry that may well dominate for years to come.

In Sweden, Aicher finished fourth in the penultimate GS with Shiffrin fifth, before the roles were reversed in the Slalom; Shiffrin first and Aicher second.

That, combined with Aicher continuing to swap speed and tech skis with ease, meant the young apprentice went into the final two races of the season just 45 points behind her idol.

With the pressure at boiling point, Shiffrin responded. Perhaps thankful the Slalom was first, the discipline’s greatest ever flew to a brilliant victory, with Aicher third for the fourth time in the season.

Even then though Shiffrin could not relax. Needing a top-15 finish in the GS to finally shake off her rival, the 2018 Olympic GS champ was 17^th at the halfway point. Nerves stretched Shiffrin prevailed, fighting to 11^th, while in a neat piece of symmetry Aicher ended a spot behind.

“I have to say to Emma that her skiing has been just outstanding, and today, it was just so cool to watch her,” the GOAT said of her rival on the final day of the season.

Before a fellow former all-round superstar summed up the magnitude of what Aicher is doing:

‘Unbelievable is the right word’

Remarkably, Shiffrin was not the only skier Aicher faced off with in 2025/26. Indeed, her Downhill crusade against Laura Pirovano (ITA/Head) came to arguably an even more sensational conclusion.

Both young talents had started the speed season in solid style, albeit well behind the outstanding Lindsey Vonn (USA/Head) who flew to two wins and three podium places in the opening five races.

But after Vonn’s heart-wrenching travails at the Olympic Games, Aicher and Pirovano stepped confidently into the spotlight. The German had the advantage as the Tour arrived in Val di Fassa but in just over 24 hours Pirovano turned the speed world on its head.

Victory in the opening Downhill – her first ever podium in her 125^th World Cup start – came courtesy of a 0.01-second margin over… Aicher. That cut the 22-year-old’s lead to 50 points.

By the following evening, Pirovano was ahead by 28 points after winning once more – again by 0.01 seconds.

“Unbelievable is the right word,” was Pirovano’s assessment.

The Italian, however, swiftly got used to her new reality. Knowing a first Globe would be hers if she could finish in front of Aicher at World Cup Finals, Pirovano responded in champion style to her opponent’s strong final effort. A third win in succession delivering a dream, as Aicher ended fifth.

Scheib holds off Rast… just

The third women’s head-to-head to grip skiing fans was as surprising as it was welcome. From the gun, the women’s GS Globe race seemed set to be between the fast-rising Julia Scheib (AUT/Rossignol) and the reinvigorated Alice Robinson (NZL/Salomon). But five races in Camille Rast (SUI/Head) showed she had other ideas.

The owner of just one previous career GS podium, the Slalom specialist sparked into GS life as she and Scheib went ski-to-GS ski.

First, in Semmering Scheib just held off a charging Rast to secure her third win. Then, a week later Rast flipped the script, winning for the first time ahead of the Austrian. The third fight went the way of Scheib too, but only just, as she prevailed in Kronplatz by 0.34 seconds.

Fuelled by the competitive fire, Scheib went on to grab her first Globe in Are, Rast ending second in the standings – her best GS finish by a whopping eight places.

‘Epic’ Slalom battle grabs headlines

While that rivalry was captivating for its short, sharp intensity, the men’s Slalom Globe race delivered the wildest of rides. Seven different winners in 11 races encapsulates the drama that had supporters sweating throughout.

Lucas Pinheiro Braathen (BRA/Atomic) was the first to put his hand up. A win in the Levi opener delivering history for Brazil and an early points lead. It proved to be a brief lead with the previously unheralded Paco Rassat (FRA/Head) snatching two wins and a third in the next five races.

Clement Nöel (FRA/Dynastar), Manu Feller (AUT/Atomic) and Timon Haugan (NOR/Van Deer) responded in winning style but it was Haugan’s compatriot Atle Lie McGrath (NOR/Head) who finally found consistency.

Mid-season victories in Alta Badia and Wengen were backed up with podiums in Gurgl, Adelboden and crucially Schladming. There, under the famous Austrian lights, first-run leader McGrath may not have quite been able to hold off an inspired Henrik Kristoffersen (NOR/Van Deer) but he proved he could find his best under pressure.

That proved critical when, after the disappointment of his Olympic Slalom campaign, the 25-year-old found a way to turn his first-run lead into victory in Kranjska Gora. A third win gave McGrath a 41-point lead over Pinheiro Braathen as the close friends headed for a final showdown.

Predicted to be “epic” by McGrath, it proved just that. Fifth (Pinheiro Braathen) and sixth (McGrath) after run one, the Norwegian held his nerve to triumph.

‘Lucas become the best GS skier’

So close in the Slalom race, Pinheiro Braathen went one better in the GS. And this time he got the better of one of the discipline’s greatest ever.

Two wins in the first three World Cup races, and three in the first six, suggested Marco Odermatt (SUI/Stöckli) was firmly on track for a fifth successive GS season crown. The Brazilian had other ideas, producing a charge that even the Swiss megastar could not quite handle.

Three World Cup GS second places in a row set Pinheiro Braathen up for an unforgettable Olympic Games and after claiming his first gold – 0.58 seconds ahead of silver medallist Odermatt – the 25-year-old finished his campaign off with another historic triumph.

A first GS win in Brazilian colours came in Kranjska Gora. Combined with Odi’s fifth place finish, that meant the defending champ had just a 48-point lead heading to Hafjell.

It was not enough. With all eyes on the duo, Odermatt cracked, skiing out in run one. Pinheiro Braathen still had to convert to grab the coveted crystal and he did just that, soaring to another victory.

A superb compliment to receive from a skier Pinheiro Braathen sees as the “best in the world”. Both – and the rest of those who went head-to-head for glory – will be back for much more of the same next season.