The World Cup has started its season in Sölden, and both races were close. On Saturday, 24 October, the American Paula Moltzan won the women’s giant slalom by one hundredth of a second ahead of Lara Colturi (Albania). On Sunday the Brazilian Lucas Pinheiro Braathen won the men’s race ahead of the Swiss Loïc Meillard (+0.48) and Marco Odermatt (+0.49). From a Swiss point of view: two podium places among the men, and sixth place as the best result among the women.
Women, Saturday: Moltzan’s first World Cup win
For Paula Moltzan it was a first World Cup win, and with new equipment: she raced as the first woman on skis of the brand Van Deer (SRF). Colturi was 0.01 seconds behind, Emma Aicher (Germany) in third 0.52. Aicher was only ninth after the first run and so moved from ninth place onto the podium, her best result so far in giant slalom (Sportschau, ZDF).
Mikaela Shiffrin led after the first run and dropped to seventh in the second (Sportschau, ZDF). The defending champion Julia Scheib (Austria) crashed in the first run and was out. The best Swiss woman was Camille Rast in sixth, 0.81 seconds behind and with her first top-ten result in Sölden (SRF). The NZZ’s headline on the race says the Swiss women went away empty-handed.
Conditions were difficult. It had snowed overnight, piste work delayed the start by half an hour, and in the second run visibility kept getting worse (SRF, ZDF). Only three racers did not finish.
| Swiss women | Rank |
|---|---|
| Camille Rast | 6th |
| Wendy Holdener | 20th |
| Simone Wild | 24th |
| Stefanie Grob | 25th |
| Vanessa Kasper | 28th |
Dania Allenbach (33rd), Sue Piller (44th), Corinne Suter (50th), Shaienne Zehnder (53rd) and Sina Fausch (56th) missed the second run (SRF).
Men, Sunday: Braathen ahead of two Swiss
Lucas Pinheiro Braathen won in 1:44.72 minutes, Loïc Meillard was second 0.48 seconds behind, Marco Odermatt third 0.49 behind. Both runs lasted only about 52 seconds. That is no coincidence: the wind prevented a start from the very top, so the men raced on a shortened course (SRF). The times are therefore not comparable with those of earlier years.
In the second run the piste was almost unused, as SRF writes. Odermatt was 0.31 seconds slower than Meillard in the first run (52.95 against 52.64) and gained 0.30 seconds in the second (52.26 against 52.56). In the end one hundredth was missing. Behind the first three it got thin for Switzerland: Thomas Tumler was 23rd (+1.89), Lenz Hächler 25th (+2.14). Fadri Janutin (41st), Luca Aerni (42nd), Gino Caviezel (49th) and Giuliano Fux (61st) missed the second run.
The men’s top ten with both run times
| Rank | Name | Nation | Total | Gap | 1st run | 2nd run |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lucas Pinheiro Braathen | Brazil | 1:44.72 | 52.40 | 52.32 | |
| 2 | Loïc Meillard | Switzerland | 1:45.20 | +0.48 | 52.64 | 52.56 |
| 3 | Marco Odermatt | Switzerland | 1:45.21 | +0.49 | 52.95 | 52.26 |
| 4 | River Radamus | USA | 1:45.54 | +0.82 | 53.55 | 51.99 |
| 5 | Raphael Haaser | Austria | 1:45.58 | +0.86 | 53.68 | 51.90 |
| 6 | Fabian Gratz | Germany | 1:45.67 | +0.95 | 53.09 | 52.58 |
| 7 | Alex Vinatzer | Italy | 1:45.80 | +1.08 | 53.49 | 52.31 |
| 8 | Eirik Solberg | Norway | 1:45.81 | +1.09 | 53.44 | 52.37 |
| 9 | Leo Anguenot | France | 1:45.82 | +1.10 | 53.79 | 52.03 |
| 10 | Patrick Feurstein | Austria | 1:45.83 | +1.11 | 53.55 | 52.28 |
The women’s top ten as a table
| Rank | Name | Nation | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Paula Moltzan | USA | 2:14.82 |
| 2 | Lara Colturi | Albania | +0.01 |
| 3 | Emma Aicher | Germany | +0.52 |
| 4 | Sara Hector | Sweden | +0.63 |
| 5 | Asja Zenere | Italy | +0.72 |
| 6 | Camille Rast | Switzerland | +0.81 |
| 7 | Mikaela Shiffrin | USA | +0.83 |
| 8 | Alice Robinson | New Zealand | +1.01 |
| 9 | Franziska Gritsch | Austria | +1.12 |
| 9 | Maryna Gasienica-Daniel | Poland | +1.12 |
SRF names further retirements among the men: Atle Lie McGrath was out after five gates, Timon Haugan got stuck in the first run, and Marco Schwarz slid out after the seventh gate.
And the ski area below
The glacier ski area in Sölden has been running since 9 October and stays open until 2 May 2027. During the race weekend a Zentrum shuttle ran from 8 am to 10 pm (ski area news of Bergbahnen Sölden). Everything about the area is on the Sölden page.
Read on: The programme and the figures before the race · This weekend’s weather · All open resorts
Sources
- Women: SRF, “Frauen-Riesenslalom in Sölden: Neues Material, erster Sieg, Moltzan überrascht beim Auftakt”, 24 October 2026 (ranking, winner’s time, conditions, Swiss women). Podium, the lead after the first run and Aicher’s halfway rank confirmed by Sportschau and ZDFheute of 24 October 2026, neither of which gives times.
- Men: Sportschau, “Ergebnisse Riesenslalom Männer Sölden”, 25 October 2026 (ranking, both run times); SRF, “Männer-Riesenslalom in Sölden: Nur Pinheiro Braathen steht Meillard und Odermatt vor der Sonne”, 25 October 2026 (podium, wind and shortened course, Swiss placings, retirements). Both sources agree on the first three places and the times.
- Ski area: ski area news of Bergbahnen Sölden on soelden.com, retrieved on 23 October 2026.
- What is missing: The FIS results page showed us no races on Sunday, so we rely on the sources named. None of the sources we could read gives the women’s run times. For Camille Rast and the other Swiss women we follow the SRF report.
