Stifel U.S. Alpine Ski Team athlete Mikaela Shiffrin skied onto the World Cup podium for the 137th time, taking third in the World Cup Finals slalom in Soldeu, Andorra to tie the record for most alpine skiing World Cup podiums for a woman. She also received her seventh career slalom World Cup crystal globe, marking her the most dominant slalom skier of the 2022-23 season.

“My first several slalom globes, it’s almost like I won them almost without understanding,” Shiffrin reflected after the race. “I had less pressure when I was skiing—feeling young, just trying to earn my spot to be racing on the World Cup still. Now there’s always a little more weight.  Every single race I feel the weight of having to be one of the best in the world no matter what the day is. It’s quite a privilege but somedays it’s quite heavy. But today it didn’t feel heavy, it just felt like a really good opportunity. It was the best way to finish the season in a race.”

Shiffrin’s podium ties her with Lindsey Vonn’s women’s podium record and brings Shiffrin's total podium percentage above 55%, meaning that she podiums in more than half of her World Cup starts. The only men with more World Cup podiums are retired skiers Marcel Hirscher of Austria with 138 and Ingemar Stenmark of Sweden with 155. Shiffrin already has the most alpine skiing World Cup wins in history with 87, having beat Stenmark’s record last week.

Plus, the Stifel U.S. Alpine Ski Team women won the FIS Nations Cup for slalom. The combination of slalom points earned by the slalom team helped achieve this great effort. This is the first time in history that the U.S. has gotten this title. This honor is highlighted by Shiffrin's stellar slalom performance this season as well as Paula Moltzan's top seven slalom ranking season. 

The day was tricky, with warm weather and soft snow. Shiffrin was fourth after first run, and was able to bump up a place to the podium with a fast second run. Stifel U.S. Alpine Ski Team skier Paula Moltzan was sitting in sixth after first run, but had to hike second run and dropped to 16th place. Petra Vlhova of Slovakia took the win with Leona Popovic of Croatia in second place.

On the men’s side, Tommy Ford was the leading Stifel U.S. Alpine Ski Team man, finishing in 18th place. River Radamus did not finish his first run.

"Today was more linked together from top to bottom than I've had for the second half the season. I've had runs here and there but it was good and it felt good to do that again," said Ford. 

Marco Odermatt of Switzerland won his 13th Audi FIS Alpine Ski World Cup of the season by an astonishing 2.11 seconds to tie the men’s single-season win record. He also broke Austrian Hermann Maier’s men’s record of 2,000 points from the 1999-00 season, accumulating 2,042 points so far for the season. Henrik Kristoffersen of Norway was second and Marco Schwarz of Austria was third. Odermatt also took home the GS crystal globe.

The men race slalom on Sunday, while the women race giant slalom to wrap up the season. Shiffrin will have a chance to break the World Cup podium tie in tomorrow’s GS, where she has already secured the GS crystal globe. Stream both races live on skiandsnowboard.live or Peacock, or watch the delayed women’s GS broadcast at CNBC at 3 p.m. ET. Watch the recap of today’s women’s slalom on CNBC at 3 p.m. ET.

HOW TO WATCH
all times EST

Saturday, March 18
3:00 p.m. - Women's Slalom, CNBC*

Sunday, March 19
4:00 a.m. - Women's Giant Slalom, Run 1, skiandsnowboard.live, peacocktv.com
5:30 a.m. - Men's Slalom, Run 1, skiandsnowboard.live
7:00 a.m. - Women's Giant Slalom, Run 2, skiandsnowboard.live, peacocktv.com
8:30 a.m. - Men's Slalom, Run 2, skiandsnowboard.live
3:00 p.m. - Women's Giant Slalom, CNBC*

*delayed broadcast

Ryan Cochran-Siegle secured his season best result in today’s super-G in Soldeu, Andorra. Cochran-Siegle ended in fourth place, just shy of the podium by 0.14 hundredths.  

“I definitely got lucky with my bib draw so I just tried to do my best to take advantage of that,” said Cochran-Siegle.

The top spot went to the super-G FIS overall super-G crystal globe winner, Swiss skier Marco Odermatt. Second place went to Austrian skier Marco Schwarz, and third place went to Norway’s Aleksander Aamodt Kilde.

It was sunny and very warm for the men’s race which influenced the results the later the day went on. The course workers tried to help the situation with salt, but the warm sun pierced its way through the snow. Despite the varying conditions, Cochran-Siegle is happy to end the season on a high note and work towards the future to make next season better.

“Best result of the year, but also knowing I can't hide behind the rest of the season, I want to get a lot better than how I was performing this year,” said Cochran-Siegle. “So figuring it out mentally, physically, then also just the equipment and my approach on race day.”

Cochran-Siegle plans to take some time off and start his prep for the next season ahead.

Mikaela Shiffrin also raced today in the women’s super-G. Shiffrin landed in 14th place.

“I'm looking forward to the final two races this season,” said Shiffrin. “It can always be a little bit tiring at World Cup finals. But it's also kind of such a pleasure to be here racing with no pressure from the globe.”

Similar to the men, the winner of the super-G also went to the overall super-G FIS crystal globe winner, Lara Gut-Behrami. Second place went to Italian skier Federica Brignone, and third place to Norway’s Ragnhild Mowinckel.  

Shiffrin has already secured her fifth overall globe, the slalom globe and the giant slalom globe for her record-breaking season.

“I'm motivated to just finish the season strong, and I think, actually quite a few athletes are so looking forward to see how it turns out,” said Shiffrin.

Shiffrin will now look to the final tech races on March 18 and 19. She will collect her globes there too.

RESULTS

Women's super-G

Men's super-G

To cap off the final downhill race of the season, Breezy Johnson and Isabella Wright landed in the top-10, in sixth and seventh - a top result of the 2022-23 season for for the downhill duo.

“The speeds were definitely faster for me so I kind of felt like there were a couple of mistakes,” said Johnson. “But overall I am happy with my skiing today!”

Wright and Johnson ran third and fourth in the start order on the hot, spring day in Soldeu. When Wright came down the track, she was in second, Johnson bumped her down by just fourth hundredths of a second when she crossed the finish line. The two looked on to the coming racers hoping their spots would stick and they did! At the end of the day, Wright's seventh place was her best result of the season. 

“It was a very close race between third through the top 10,” said Wright. “But I am happy that I put a run today top to bottom, there were some things I can of course fix and improve on.”

This race also marks the end of the season for Johnson and Wright. A season filled with ups and downs but they ended it on a high note and look forward to what's next. 

“This has definitely been my toughest season ever,” said Johnson. “I think just coming back and dealing with new staff, just changing course conditions from what I'm used to and my recent injury was hard,” said Johnson. “I'm just happy to end the downhill season on this note,” said Wright.

The speed women will now take some deserved time off before they ramp back up to prepare for the next season.

“I just want to thank everybody who's followed along all season. It has not been the easiest season but I'm really grateful to everybody who stuck around for me and everybody else and I hope we have more to show next season,” said Johnson.

RESULTS

Women's downhill

HOW TO WATCH

Women’s super-G – 5:00 a.m. (Peacock, skiandsnowboard.live)
Men’s super-G – 6:30 a.m. (skiandsnowboard.live)

On Wednesday, March 15, in Soldeu, Andorra, Travis Ganong kicked out of the start for the last time. 

“It was a pleasure being a downhiller for the last 17 years and not many people get to do this, especially at this level,” said Ganong. “Fighting for podiums and winning races and I mean, it's just unbelievable being in this place and being a contender.”

Ganong announced his retirement from World Cup ski racing prior to the Aspen, Stifel America’s Downhill, with the intentions of making World Cup Finals his final race.

“It was a little weird being at the start knowing that I would never be there again,” said Ganong.  “I tried, and I pushed pretty good in some sections. I wasn't really willing to push 100%. But I'm happy to just have one last downhill.”

Ganong finished in 20th place and was cheered into the finish by family and friends who flew all the way across the globe to bring in the longtime racer. He was quickly doused in a bottle of champagne from his fiancé, Marie-Michèle Gagnon, as he approached the rest of his family. Many hugs, posters and love were given in the finish to show appreciation to the racer’s storied career.

“You get to the point where you've taken so much risk in your career and as a racer, and you've pulled off some amazing results and you start to balance the risk versus reward and you realize there's way more in life and then racing,” said Ganong.

Ganong may be done with racing, but his love for skiing runs deep. You will likely see Ganong in mountains all over the world participating in backcountry skiing, resort skiing, and more outdoor adventures to fill his newfound time.

“I am super excited to not be stressed out all winter long and just enjoy the mountains, the winter, get back to the roots of the passion of why I started skiing in the first place which is more around free skiing and connecting with nature and sharing moments in the mountains with friends,” said Ganong.

The winner of the final downhill of the season went to Austrian Vincent Kriechmayr, second and third went to two German skiers, Romed Baumann and Andreas Sander.  Stifel U.S. Alpine Ski Team athletes’ Ryan Cochran-Siegle and Jared Goldberg also raced and ended up in 17th and 18th position.

RESULTS

Men's downhill

HOW TO WATCH

Women’s super-G – 5:00 a.m. (Peacock, skiandsnowboard.live)
Men’s super-G – 6:30 a.m. (skiandsnowboard.live)