In-Prime and Poised. Time to DO IT!
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- 9 min read
Every post-season begins a transition—star racers peaked or fading; young guns with impressive results or tagged with great potential. Here we’ll look at top-notch mature talent in the realm between solid records and Discipline title contention.
28 to 32 is often considered “prime years” for ski racers, at least as I’ve seen it described as a working definition for athletes whose experience and fitness are balanced, where goals/achievement potential match physical capability/competitive savvy.
I’ve picked folks who aren’t recovering from recent leg/knee injury (ie. post-circa February 2025), at least as reported in web searches/racing sources. This is probably a shitty prerequisite, but insofar as my evaluations are based on gut instinct as much as by objective results, trying to divine performance by those on the mend makes speculation even more nebulous.
Two racers each Discipline, from varied countries/National teams. I omit a few racers in/near their prime who haven't won titles, but whose consistent excellence ranks them, IMO, above folks whose potential has still to be realized. Eg. Wendy Holdener SL, Sara Hector GS, Elena Curtoni SG. I'll cite Mirjam Puchner DH for her excellent EOS DH 2x5th and 7th from 2022-24. She started last season 3d and 5th, then fell off. Mirjam's a tough pro with 178 WAWC starts. I'm pulling for her to rebound big-time.
Basically, IMO the racers below have the chops to build momentum in November and carry through to March. I’m focusing upon proven Discipline(s) potential, with at least one career victory or three podiums, or one EOS T10. Someone can break through from the blue; I’m relying upon evidence. 28-32 years old, with slight leeway for the aged.
SLALOM
Katharina Truppe. 31 in January 2027. With 197 WAWC Tech starts since season 2016, Truppe is what I guess you could so far call, in an admirable way, a “journeywoman”—dedicated, persistent; no major injuries, with EOS SL 4xT10 and a GS 10th. Her 4th place in 2026’s Slalom ranking, however, cuts her out to leave “competitive” behind and join the front rank for EOS podium. (After 79 GS starts she’s focused upon SL for the past two seasons, and I presume for the duration.)
Though Katharina’s sole SL victory was in March 2025, and last season had a single podium (3d at Flachau in January), her complete 2026 Slalom record was outstanding: 3d, 4x4th, 2x5th, 6th, 7th, 16th. NO DNFs!! About 50 points behind Holdener, and 50 ahead of Moltzan, Truppe was a solid 4th. Besting Colturi, Swenn Larsson, and Duerr shows true excellence. Most important, she consistently finishes! Katharina must keep that up and snag a few podiums to repeat SL T4 next season. I imagine she’s stoked, and will drive to keep pace with Liensberger as Austria’s top Slalom racer.
Katharina Truppe
Paula Moltzan (Slalom and Giant Slalom). 33 in March 2027. Paula engaged WAWC SL in 2019 and GS 2021 after competing NCAA at University of Vermont. She endured several upper-body injuries—shoulder, wrist—while scoring EOS SL 7th (2023) and 2025 GS 7th. Then Paula put it together! 2026 EOS SL 5th and GS 6th. Overall 6th, with Rast the only higher purely two-discipline competitor. (Though Shiffrin scored just 8 SG points.)
A stellar SL card—2nd, 2x4th, 4x5th, 8th—suffered 2xDNFs, both on 2nd runs, when she was in 5th and 7th place after the first. Holding position for 81 points would have placed her 4th EOS. GS 3x2nd and a 3d to complement 2xT10s, but 2xDNFs, also on 2nd runs while sitting 6th and 16th, potentially cost 55 pts and EOS 4th.
It’s academic and tiresome to repeat, I know, but DNFs are a racer’s bane. Paula skis hard, though—her offs are usually due to cornering overdrive, not to mistakes. 148 WAWC starts—no victories yet, but 10xpodiums and GS bronze at 2025 Worlds, and good health, has her trajectory angled for a “later-Prime” flourish. Moltzan’s Tech T5 for a couple more seasons, I think. A “racer’s racer”—lays it out every run, always appreciative of her competitors’ efforts. And she’s a really good egg. Thoughtful, optimistic; serious when required, supreme joie de vivre.
Paula Moltzan
GIANT SLALOM
Valerie Grenier. 30 in October 2026. Coming back from a nasty SG crash January 2024 at Cortina (ACL/MCL and meniscus; fractured humerus), this intrepid racer with 153 WAWC starts over about ten seasons—mostly GS and SG, with occasional DH last few years---has talent to burn. EOS GS 7th this season, with 6th (2024) and 7th (2023), Valerie’s poised for GS T5 with a clean campaign. From ten GS starts this season, 1st, 3d, and 4th were her T10s; 11th, 2x13th, and especially 3xDNF1s took her out of the top ranking running.
A 3-discipline player—Speed and Giant Slalom—for the past three seasons, Valerie’s GS is by far her most engaged and successful event. Given a severely broken right leg in 2019 as well as 2024’s accident, I’d reckon she may consider GS specialization, though again these people’s competitive instincts, as well as National Team needs, usually dwarf caution. And I must say, her 3d place at Cortina DH two days before her SG crash was extremely impressive. Her first WAWC DH start/activity in at least two years, and she shares third place with Christina Ager and Sofia Goggia.
Now healthy, Valerie should be able to at least reclaim 2024 GS form—1st, consecutive 4th – 8th; 11th before Cortina crash. She finished this GS season with a win at the Lillehammer finals, going 1st and 3d to dust the field by 0.43.
An ebullient, tenacious soul, I so wish Valerie Grenier a safe and prosperous 2026-27!! If anyone deserves a total breakthrough season, she does.
Valerie Grenier
Thea Stjernesund. 30 in November 2026. 139 WAWC starts. Divided evenly between SL and GS; GS results much better. Stjernesund’s knocked on Giant Slalom’s door for three consecutive years—EOS 7th, 4th, 8th since 2024.
2025’s 4th place epitomizes a threshold discipline record: 3d, 3x4th, 2x6th, 7th, 9th, 10th. NO DNFs! 60 pts from 3d, and just 2 clear of 5th and 3 from 6th, Thea muscled a fine season IMO the most fiercely competitive discipline. 2026 was regressive—3d, 5th, 7th, 2x8th, 9th her T10s in the full season’s 10 starts, with 2x15th, 25th, and a DNF. But she can definitely run with the heavy GS hitters. I wonder if specializing in GS for her later career is a possibility, though a lean national team—just three A/Equipe members announced so far, I believe—requires her to go full Tech. And as a competitor, she’d probably nail me in the shin with a ski-booted foot for suggesting she drop Slalom.
Olympic GS silver was a tasty treat, for sure, and solidifies her visibility/reputation as a most capable WAWC racer.
Thea Stjernesund
SUPER G
Ester Ledecka. 32 in March 2027. 117 WAWC starts, split evenly DH and SG. When I first began following WAWC, Ledecka immediately stood out for her off-the-charts athleticism and immense Speed skill…even more so for her Speed potential. 2018 Olympic SG was WAWC Elite firing on all cylinders, with only Vonn and Goggia making major mistakes (AFAICT); Ester’s triumph starting 27th hooked me: flamboyant snow-boarder going for broke, winning by 0.01 despite an error two gates from finish, then bewildered at the finish. Kept on goggles for post-race interview because hadn’t put on make-up. I’ve consistently picked her EOS Speed T4; no-sweat podium with a focused and consistent season. That hasn’t happened.
First off, Ester’s DH and SG seasons are weirdly inconsistent. Over her past four seasons DH/SG rankings are 3/22, 23/6, 8/16, 14/5. (2022 and 2024-26. She missed 2023 recovering from a severe shoulder blade break.)
Last season she ran full DH (9 races) and SG (8) campaigns with no DNFs. DH was meh—6th, 8th, 9th, 2x10th best finishes, with a 22nd to begin the year.
Super G is Ester’s primary jam, and she took 2026 EOS 5th with a single 3d best finish. 4th, 2x6th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 16th rounded it out. (Kajsa Lie’s 4th was five points better.) Compare this to 2024 SG EOS 6th, a 9-race card she finished off 4th, 3d, 1st , but with an 18th, 23d, DNF, DNS earlier on.
Enigmatic; mercurial. I can’t figure her out. She’s cut back snowboarding significantly, I believe to focus on Alpine prior to the Olympics, and likely because accommodating both World Cup schedules became too problematic. So, with Alpine Speed concentration, you’d think Ledecka’s results would improve.
But she’s not a machine. What do I know? I’ll leave it by saying I hope Ester focuses and realizes her Speed gift for an entire season, and contends for the SG title her talent can easily win.
Ester Ledecka
Romane Miradoli. Turns 33 in March 2027. 190 WAWC starts—Speed dominant, 79 SG and 73 DH. A single WAWC victory. (SG March 2022); 2xACL tears, most recently in March 2024. Miradoli is Exhibit A of an exceptionally talented veteran a DNF-free season away from EOS Discipline podium. Cortina silver proves she can nail the Big Race. Romane’s classy, discreet; under-appreciated IMO. Also, her boyfriend (fiancé?) died wind-suiting in 2016. More than anyone, in any situation, should have to endure. (Several active WAWC, and Men’s WC competitors, have suffered grievous family/friend/partner losses.)
Her 2026 career-best EOS SG 8th shows just how narrow is Miradoli’s margin to the upper rank. For the short, 8-race schedule: 2nd, 2x4th, 2x9th, 12th, 2xDNF. Arghh! 2x7th (72 pts) for those DNFs would have her comfortably EOS 4th, and 32 pts from 3d. Useless speculation, perhaps, but shows how important basic competitive finishes can be.
France’s senior WAWC racer, next season’s results will probably bear heavily on Romane’s decision for 2027-28. The upcoming campaign includes World Championships (Crans Montana); a medal may be a good context in which to say “Adieu.” I hope not.
Romane Miradoli
DOWNHILL
Breezy Johnson. 30 in January 2027. 114 WAWC starts—all Speed, 10 more DHs. See 8 June 2023 Feature on Breezy for my opinions/observations re this extraordinary person.
Johnson has two career victories in WAWC-level competition with international start lists: DH 2025 World Championships and DH 2026 Olympics. She has 10 WAWC DH podiums—4x2nd, 6x3d. One SG 3d. Her total breakthrough season was/is inevitable…right?
Breezy’s had two outstanding DH campaigns. 2024’s 7-race card—4x3d, 2x5th, then dramatic but “safe” crash last race, at Val di Fassa. Her skis skidded out on a fast left-footer about 3/4 of the way down—; luckily blew out of her bindings and flew into the netting. She was really pissed, slamming her gloves onto the piste. It may have cost her EOS DH 3d; she took 4th comfortably.
This season’s EOS 4th, by two points from Weidle-Winkelmann and 40 behind Aicher’s 453, was impressively consistent, if a couple clicks below elite. 2nd, 3d, 2x4th, 5th, 6th, 2x7th, and an opening race 15th. Bump up 3x<5th finishes a position each and the 15th to a 10th for 23 points, then a win instead of a 4th for 50 pts, and you have 83 more EOS points for 493/ 2nd place, 40 clear of Aicher’s 453. Limp speculation, again, but a surely attainable improvement would yield excellent dividend.
On-song, Breezy Johnson is nearly unbeatable in DH. Overcoming three major knee injuries (ACL and MCL) and a tibial plateau fracture, then winning DH’s two highest-profile races within a year, makes her almost legendary. A sustained title run puts her in the Pantheon’s outer ring, IMO, especially with another Worlds medal. One of WAWC’s most complex characters. Rip it, Breez.
Breezy Johnson
Kira Weidle-Winkelmann 31 in February 2027. 153 WAWC starts, even between DH and SG. At the risk of being a tool, I’ll venture that Weidle-Winkelmann is WAWC’s most unrealized major Speed talent. Aside from smacking a gate during training late October 2025 and breaking her nose—from which she recovered to run entire season—she hasn’t had significant injury as far as I see.
DH is definitely Kira’s primary strength. She has 16xT10, including a 3d, from 71 Super G starts; 37xT10 from 78 DH starts, including 3x2nd and 6x3d. She has yet to win a race; a DH 2nd at 2021 Worlds (Cortina) is her signature individual achievement. (Kira and Emma Aicher took the Olympic Combined silver this year.)
Weidle-Winkelmann had a solid 2026 DH campaign: 2x2nd, 3d,4th,5th,8th…11th, 12th, 14th. NO DNFs. EOS 4th place—2 points behind Breezy, 42 behind Emma. Kira consistently finishes, usually highly placed, but a few off-song races cost her. In 2021’s 7-race DH campaign she was 3d, 4th, 2x5th, 10th, 11th, 16th for EOS 5th. 2023’s EOS DH 7th featured a pair of 3ds, 7th and 9th, but a 24th and a DNF skewered top ranking.
Kira seems to be a fine egg. Though she gets down on herself after a subpar run, she’s usually smiling, genuinely appreciative of being a top-notch professional ski racer, and Germany’s premier dedicated Speed Queen. (Also, of the WAWC racers I followed on IG, Kira was the only one who alluded to the terrible river flooding in western Germany in 2021.) Aicher is rightfully getting a lot of attention, but until last season Kira basically was Germany’s Downhill team, consistently finishing T10. You go back to 2020 with Vicky Rebensburg’s EOS DH 10th to find any German but Kira DH T25 until Emma 2025. Same situation for Super G.
So, Kira Weidle-Winkelmann is someone who I hope pulls a rip-snorter 2026-27 Downhill season. She’s so capable of it.
Kira Weidle-Winkelmann