2025-26 EOS Overall and GS predictions; Soelden Top-10

Mikaela Shiffrin or Lara Gut-Behrami will win the 2025-26 Overall title.

I give LG-B the edge. For the past three seasons, her combined GS , SG, DH EOS standings averages are 2025 4^th; 2024 1^st (1.3); 2023 3d. I think she’ll retain that three-discipline consistency. Only Shiffrin can challenge her, and that’s if Mikaela dominates SL, goes top-2/3 GS, and has significant SG points finishes. (Shiffrin has said she won’t run DH this year, and SG will be sporadic.) Lara is a Titan, beginning her final season. She wants to gaze from atop Olympus one more time.

PRE-Soelden: These EOS GS title contenders will, I believe, also finish T10 in the first race. Not the boldest prediction for Rettenbach Glacier’s race; I think the prime calibers are still sharply bored. I’m sure you won’t read this until after the race—I want to offer anticipation for the record.

Alice Robinson will take the 2025-26 Giant Slalom title. She broke big last season: seven podiums in nine starts, EOS second from Fede by sixty points. Alice’s massive talent boomed at 2021’s final race at Lenzerheide, where she gained a second on Her Highness on the big pitch for a 01.28 second lead, and Mikaela made up just a second the rest of the way. Still one of the greatest GS performances I’ve seen. (Steve Porino called the race, and said “I’m on my knees in worship” over Robinson laying it out.) Alice Robinson will secure tenure in this discipline.

But Lara G-B will give her a run for her money. A DNF may make the title difference.

Mikaela Shiffrin will EOS podium GS. Her quasar’s accretion disk should regain 10(4) Kelvin by Cortina.

Sara Hector, a joyful gutsy pro, had an exemplary 2025. Three mediocre finishes and a DNF cost her. She should have another strong season.

Thea Louise Stjernesund finished every race Top-10, with a 3d and 3x4th. SHE is GS’s X-factor for 2025, IMO.

Lara Colturi is also poised to break big. She too finished each race last season, with 2xpodium and 5xT10.

Paula Moltzan’s gonna be there, EOS Top-5 if she finishes each race; higher if another top contender falters. She flashes brilliance, with a 3d and 4xT6. A fan fav!

Julia Scheib has GS talent to burn. Seems a bit nervous. A 3d and 5xT9 last season; 2xDNF and a DNS cost her, as they always do. With Thea Louise, I pick her to have a big year.

Michelle Gisin is one of my very favs. She's not competing at Soelden, and is focusing upon Speed this year, giving up Slalom. But if she does run some GS, which I saw she will, then I pick her T10. So there.

    If Sofia Goggia regains/improves her decent Giant Slalom chops, she’ll have the best shot at an Overall title she’s ever had. Of course, that assumes the grim proviso that Shiffrin and Gut-Behrami miss races due to injury…which won’t happen; they’ll both be safe this season. Mikaela experienced a weird, serious injury to complement her career’s extraordinary ups and downs,  so that’s out of the way. Lara’s recent contretemps have been illness—eg. flu—and so is basically up to chance. Both of the top two rarely crash. Mikaela has a lower-back issue, which she seems to be keeping in check.

    Federica Brignone’s heart-breaking misfortune makes Goggia the clear third Overall points contender. (The odds are painfully stacked against Fede regaining elite form. Indeed, I think she’ll retire by end of 2025 calendar year, if not right after autumn training concludes and it’s clear her poor leg cannot sufficiently recover.)

Michelle Gisin dropping Slalom, along with her difficult 2024-25 season in general, confirms her below Goggia in the Overall picture.

    It’s pretty clear that contesting at least three disciplines for the entire schedule is required to claim the big globe. Petra Vlhova was 2019 EOS Overall 2^nd running Tech only—2x2nd. In the past fifteen years, the best EOS Overall rankings contesting two disciplines are 6^th: Marlies Schild Tech 2011; Mikaela Shiffrin Tech 2014; 5^th: Frida Hansdotter Tech 2016; 4^th: Shiffrin Tech 2015 and 2021; Corinne Suter Speed 2020 (2x1st!).

   These four young three-discipline racers are integral to the Overall title competition—and after Shiffrin retires, they will fight it out for Top Dog for the following five years or so, IMO.

In order of age: Kajsa Lie (27); Alice Robinson (24 this December); Lauren Macuga (23); Emma Aicher (22 this November). Aicher runs all four events; the others Speed and GS. I’ll have a dedicated article on this quartet. For here, we’ll note that Alice finished 2024-25 7^th Overall, on 700 points. Robinson, with HH and LG-B the best GS racer since Vicky Rebensburg, should EOS podium the discipline for a decade. The other three finished Overall top-20, within a 22-point spread. Vickhoff and Macuga are elite Speed talents, with Kajsa top-20 GS results when she finishes; Lauren hasn’t yet run a GS schedule, but will this season.

For informed fans, Aicher will be the most closely-scrutinized WAWC racer this season—even more than Lindsay Vonn, I think—because at twenty-one, she was 2024-25 EOS Overall 15^th; DH 9th; SG 15^th; SL 17^th. GS 41^st room for major improvement. Her broad talent and revealed potential are, for her age especially, very rare.

    Marta Bassino, one of WAWC’s supreme talents, was EOS Overall 22^nd last season—after EOS Overall T10 the five previous years. Her best finish was SG 4^th on the season’s final weekend, with just EOS 7xT10s all disciplines. She switched equipment for 2025-26, and is getting used to Head gear this off-season. Marta’s reticent in public, so I certainly won’t speculate about her lapse. Turning thirty in February, I so hope she regains top form. 26 July 2023 Feature post explains my high regard.  ALERT: Marta fell during training 22 October, fracturing her left tibial plateau. Dannazione!! She's likely out for the season

    Valerie Grenier (29 this October) and Ricarda Haaser (just turned 33) are 2024-25 three-discipline athletes recovering from recent injuries. Grenier, an excellent GS competitor, hurt her leg badly at Cortina in January 2024. Last season’s EOS GS 12^th was very encouraging, while EOS Speed results in the 30s in her career third 3-discipline campaign show she was game and gunning for it. A personable, kind spirit, Valerie’s a really good egg. WAWC will benefit from another gutsy comeback season.

Haaser—solid GS vet, Speed journeywoman—blew out her ACL in last season’s Worlds’ SG. Per OSV/Ski Austria roster, she’s on the A-Team/2^nd rank below National/equipe squad. Her season will depend upon an arduous rehab’s success. I wish her well. Athletes’ tenacity at (repeated) injury recovery is perhaps what I most admire about them, since I really doubt I’d be able to do it.

A fragment for final thought:

    Regarding EOS Overall ranking predictions, you basically have three exclusive categories of competitors: those who specialize in Technical disciplines (Slalom and Giant Slalom) or in Speed disciplines (Super G and Downhill); those who consistently run three or four disciplines. (A few athletes compete in just one event, but they are very rare.) Multi-discipline racers have an obvious advantage in compiling points. They also, however, are at greater risk of injury and of exhaustion.

    For what it’s worth, here are the EOS Overall top-15 finishers for the past four years, listed by “categories” per above. MD=multi-discipline; ET= exclusive Tech; ES=exclusive Speed

MD is 3 disciplines, except when noted “(all 4).”

    2025: 1-3 MD; 4-6 ET; 7 MD; 8 ET; 9 ES; 10-13 ET; 14 MD; 15 MD (all 4)

    2024: 1 MD; 2-3 MD (all 4); 4 ET; 5 ES; 6 ET; 7 MD; 8 MD (all 4); 9 MD; 10 ES; 11-12 MD; 13 ET; 14 MD; 15 ES

    2023: 1 MD (all 4); 2-3 MD; 4 MD (all 4); 5 ES; 6-8 MD; 9 ES; 10 ET; 11 ES; 12 MD; 13 MD (all 4); 14 ES; 15 ET

    2022: 1-3 MD (all 4); 4 MD; 5 MD (all 4); 6-7 MD; 8 GS&SG; 9 MD; 10-11 MD; 12-13 MD; 14 MD (all 4); 15 MD. (NOTE: 7&15 included Parallel Slalom for 3 discs total; 10-11 included PS for 4 discs total)