World Cup skiing opens with Shiffrin nearing 100 wins, notable comebacks and new safety measures

SOELDEN, Austria (AP) — A series of high-profile crashes in the previous Alpine skiing season throws a shadow over the start of the new World Cup campaign this weekend, as many of the injured skiers have not recovered yet.

Former overall champions Alexis Pinturault and Petra Vlhova have postponed their comebacks until December, Austrian allrounder Marco Schwarz’s return is still undetermined, and Norwegian standout Aleksander Aamodt Kilde will even sit out the entire season.

Still, two giant slaloms on a glacier in Austria, with the women racing on Saturday and the men on Sunday, will open a pre-Olympic season that offers ski racing fans a lot to look forward to.

American star Mikaela Shiffrin needs three more victories to get her record-extending 100th career World Cup win; Marco Odermatt eyes his fourth straight overall championship; and Lucas Pinheiro Braathen and Marcel Hirscher return, coming out of retirement and switching allegiances to Brazil and the Netherlands, respectively.

Usually not keeping a close eye on the numbers and stats behind her achievements, Shiffrin admits that approaching win No. 100 does mean a lot to her.

“Bringing energy to the sport is never a bad thing, whether you want to talk about records or statistics. I’m feeling right now energized by people bringing up 100. I think it’s incredible people are still following along this journey and excited about it,” the two-time Olympic champion said.

Apart from adding to her tally of 97 wins, Shiffrin is expected to be among the main contenders for the overall championship again, even though she will skip the downhills this season.

Having won the big globe five times, Shiffrin led the standings by 340 points in January when a crash on the 2026 Olympic downhill course in Cortina d’Ampezzo forced the American into a six-week break from racing, enabling Lara Gut-Behrami to overtake her and crown her strong finish to the season with the overall title, the Swiss star's second.

It made for a double Swiss triumph, since Odermatt dominated the men’s competition with a whopping 874 point-lead in the final standings.

One of Odermatt’s standout performances was winning two downhills within three days on home snow in Wengen — a feat he won’t be able to repeat this season as no World Cup venue will stage more than one downhill in a single weekend to reduce risks of crashes and injuries.

Last season, Val Gardena and Kitzbuehel, and on the women's side Cortina and Crans-Montana, also hosted two races in the sport’s fastest and physically most demanding discipline.

But with fatigue and exhaustion looming for speed racers competing in such a tight schedule, the International Ski and Snowboard Federation has spread the nine downhills for the men and the eight for the women over as many different venues this time.

In other steps to make the sport safer, FIS has made airbags under the race suits compulsory at all speed events, more than a decade after a system similar to the one long used in motorcycle racing was first introduced to ski racing in 2013.

And as of the 2025-26 season, cut-resistant underwear will become mandatory as well, preventing skiers who crash from getting hurt by the sharp edges of their skis.

The airbag inflates as soon as a skier loses control and can reduce the impact of a crash on the upper body and neck, but still divides opinions among racers.

“I find the airbag positive, but the airbag alone will not be the future,” said Vincent Kriechmayr, the 2021 downhill and super-G world champion from Austria.

“We must see that we make the sport safer in many aspects, but skiing, and especially the downhill, will never be safe. There will always be danger, but that is the thrill.”

American allrounder River Radamus called the airbags “a good innovation. With Kilde and Pinturault and all the crashes that we’ve had in speed recently, it's a reminder of how dangerous what we do is. If we can make those horrific, catastrophic injuries a little less possible, that’s only a good thing for the sport.”

However, Gut-Behrami has not been wearing the system, and she would have preferred to keep it that way.

“We talked with our supplier and they still have got no regulations, so why should I put on an airbag when we don’t know what it protects?” Gut-Behrami posed, adding she initially supported the system.

“I was fully convinced and thought safety is the most important, but now there are a lot of questions and I would rather not wear one. I have looked into it at MotoGP, there are rules there what the airbags should protect, but we don’t have those rules. I don’t know whether an airbag opens in three seconds or in half a second, so that only creates uncertainty.”

Italian skier Elena Curtoni, who hasn’t raced since injuring her knee in a super-G crash in December, has been wearing airbags since the beginning.

“If there’s an extra thing on a safety level, why wouldn’t you use it?” Curtoni asked, adding she has already been wearing the cut-resistant underwear as well.

“The reality is that I really feel safer,” the Italian said. “We go out there with knives under our feet.”

AP Sports Writer Daniella Matar in Milan contributed to this report.

Eric Willemsen on X: https://x.com/eWilmedia

AP skiing: https://apnews.com/hub/alpine-skiing

From left, Switzerland's Lara Gut Behrami, Austria's Manuel Feller, Austria's Cornelia Huetter, United States' Mikaela Shiffrin and Switzerland's Marco Odermatt meet the media ahead of an alpine ski, women's and men's World Cup giant slalom in Soelden Austria, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Alessandro Trovati)

Switzerland's Marco Odermatt meets the media ahead of an alpine ski, men's World Cup giant slalom in Soelden Austria, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Alessandro Trovati)

FILE - Switzerland's Marco Odermatt holds the alpine ski men's World Cup overall title trophy, as he celebrates on the podium, in Saalbach, Austria, on March 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)

FILE - Switzerland's Lara Gut Behrami poses with the alpine ski, women's World Cup overall trophy, in Saalbach, Austria, on March 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)

LJUBLJANA, Slovenia (AP) — Slovenia’s parliament on Friday appointed right-wing populist politician Janez Jansa as the new prime minister, in a shift for the small European Union country that was previously run by a liberal government.

Lawmakers backed Jansa in a 51-36 vote in the 90-member assembly. The new prime minister will need to come back to Parliament within the next 15 days for another vote to confirm his future Cabinet.

Jansa's appointment concludes a postelection stalemate in Slovenia after a parliamentary ballot two months ago ended practically in a tie. Former liberal Prime Minister Robert Golob's Freedom Movement won by a thin margin but he was unable to muster a parliamentary majority.

Jansa and his populist Slovenian Democratic Party signed a coalition agreement this week with several right-wing groups. The new government also has the backing of a nonestablishment Truth party that first emerged as an anti-vaccination movement during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The new term in office will be the fourth for the veteran Slovenian politician. Jansa, 67, is an admirer of U.S. President Donald Trump and was a close ally of former populist Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who was defeated in a landslide election last month.

Jansa in a speech listed the economy, fight against corruption and red tape, and decentralization as key goals of the future government. He has promised to lower taxes for the rich and support private education and healthcare.

Critical of the previous government's alleged “inefficiency," Jansa said the new government will turn Slovenia into “a country of opportunity, prosperity and justice, where each responsible citizen will feel safe and accepted."

Like Orban, Jansa was staunchly anti-immigrant during the huge migration wave to Europe in 2015. Also like Orban, Jansa has faced accusations of clamping down on democratic institutions and press freedoms during a previous term in 2020-2022. This led to protests at the time, and scrutiny from the European Union.

Golob in his speech described Jansa as “the greatest threat to Slovenia’s sovereignty and democracy."

Alleging that Jansa had threatened to arrest him, Golob said Jansa's "idea of democracy is that anyone who dares speak a word against you deserves only the worst.”

Jansa, a supporter of Israel, also has been a stern critic of the Golob government's 2024 recognition of a Palestinian state.

The vote on March 22 was marred by allegations of foreign influence and corruption. The around 2 million people in the Alpine nation are deeply divided between liberals and conservatives.

Janez Jansa, center, addresses the Slovenian Parliament during a session in Ljubljana, Slovenia, Friday, May 22, 2026, before appointing him as prime minister, ending a political deadlock after tight elections in March. (AP Photo/Igor Kupljenik)

Janez Jansa arrives for a session of the Slovenian Parliament in Ljubljana, Slovenia, Friday, May 22, 2026, before appointing him as prime minister, ending a political deadlock after tight elections in March. (AP Photo/Igor Kupljenik)

Janez Jansa addresses the Slovenian Parliament during a session in Ljubljana, Slovenia, Friday, May 22, 2026, before appointing him as prime minister, ending a political deadlock after tight elections in March. (AP Photo/Igor Kupljenik)