World Cup start 2026: Alpine skiing season starts in Sölden – overview of the races

Every year on the last weekend in October the clocks are changed to winter time - and the ski mountaineers start the new World Cup season. It started for the women on October 24, 2026, and one day later, when the clocks have changed, it will be the men's turn.

Alpine skiing kick-off in Sölden today live on TV and stream

As usual, the public broadcasters are split up on the weekends. At the start, ARD is broadcasting. From 9:55 a.m. for the first round, Das Erste will be live on site. Before the second round, ARD will be back on the air at 12.45 p.m. Bernd Schmelzer commented at the microphone on Sunday for the men together with Felix Neureuther. The races can be seen in the live stream in the ARD media library. Eurosport is also showing all Alpine ski races this season on free TV and, for a fee, in the live stream HBOMax. Due to wind or snow, the times can change at any time - or races can be interrupted and canceled completely. The wind could create difficult conditions, especially in the men's race.

October 24, 2026

Giant Slalom 1st run (women) - Leading: Mikaela Shiffrin (USA)

Giant Slalom 2nd run (women) - Winner: Paula Moltzan (USA)

In an exciting race, Emma Aicher surprisingly came in third place. After the first round she was still ninth. The victory went to Paula Moltzan (USA), who won by 0.01 seconds ahead of Laura Colturi (Albania).

October 25, 2026

10 a.m.: Giant Slalom 1st run (men), ARD and Eurosport

1 p.m.: Giant Slalom 2nd run (men), ARD and Eurosport

Favorites and favorites

Like last year, the reigning Olympic champion and world champion in the giant slalom missed the start: Federica Brignone (Italy) had to have another knee operation. The 36-year-old was also unable to drive for a large part of the 2025/26 season due to a serious injury. Instead, Julia Scheib (Austria) won the small crystal ball ahead of Sara Hector (Sweden) and Camille Rast (Switzerland). Scheib won the first of five victories this season in this discipline in Sölden 2025.

For men, Marco Odermatt (Switzerland) is the master of the giant slalom. He won 29 of his 54 World Cup victories in this discipline - including in Sölden last year. However, he lost his dominance last season. He 'only' won three of nine races - and had to settle for silver at the Olympics. The discipline ranking was also won by Olympic champion Lucas Pinheiro Braathen (Brazil). Other candidates for victory are Loic Meillard (Switzerland) and Stefan Brennsteiner (Austria)

German drivers in Sölden

From a German perspective, there are four female and six male drivers at the start. However, the giant slalom is not the favorite discipline of the overall World Cup runner-up from 2025/26, Emma Aicher, and the slalom specialist Lena Dürr. Also at the start are Fabiana Dorigo and Jessica Hilzinger, for whom reaching the second round would be a success.

Among the men, Anton Grammel and Fabian Gratz attracted attention last season. Grammel finished in the top ten in the last three giant slalom races (7th, 8th, 10th) and Gratz narrowly missed the podium in 5th place in Alta Badia. Hannes Amman and Jonas Stockinger are happy to be able to take part in the second round again. Slalom specialist Linus Straßer and Alexander Schmid, who was plagued by injuries, are also registered.

Sölden: The slope on the Rettenbach glacier

The athletes start at the infamous Rettenbach Glacier, which is over 3,000 meters above sea level. Criticism comes every year, especially from nature conservationists and environmentalists, because there is often too little snow at the end of October. There was also too little rainfall this year. It snowed a little just in time for the World Cup. Live images show that there is now a layer of white powder on the mountains next to the ski slopes. It's not for nothing that the World Cup is paused until mid-November before the next race takes place in Levi, Finland.

Snow from five depots was distributed for the prepared World Cup slope, which was laid down in the spring and protected over the summer.

The 1.1 kilometer long piste is challenging for the drivers, regardless of the weather. To get started, go from Rettenbachjoch to the glacier table towards the edge of the glacier. Right on the edge of the steep slope, the so-called icefall, the slope reaches a maximum gradient of 68 percent, one of the steepest routes in the World Cup calendar. At the end, runners can expect the elephant trough, where it becomes flatter and wavier.