Winning now or peaking at the Olympics? How World Cup skiers plan to be at their best in February

SÖLDEN, Austria (AP) — When Paula Moltzan opened the Alpine skiing World Cup season this weekend with her career-best result in giant slalom, the American was left with one question.

Was she maybe peaking too early?

With the 2026 Milan-Cortina Olympics still more than three months away, she might rather prefer to hit top form a bit later.

“No, I don’t think so,” Moltzan said. “I’m just hoping that I’m building a really wide base to build off.”

While the annual five-month-long World Cup campaign is generally regarded by skiers as their most important stage, the chance to compete for Olympic medals comes along only once every four years.

So, can skiers build their World Cup season in such a way that they are at their best come February? Do they even want to do so?

“Yes, there is peaking,” said Moltzan, who came runner-up to Austrian winner Julia Scheib in Saturday’s giant slalom.

“My coaches keep track and so they know where I’m at in recovery and where I am in the peaking cycle. They know how many days I’ve skied, they know how many turns I’ve taken, they know the load that I’ve taken,” added the American, who is the GS bronze medalist from the 2025 worlds eyeing her second Winter Olympics after 2022.

All the data her coaches collect will help her “to be lining up just OK for the Olympics,” Moltzan said.

Two-time Olympic champion Mikaela Shiffrin, though, has a slightly different approach than her teammate.

According to Shiffrin, picking a peak moment in a season is “not really possible” in ski racing.

“I have a big priority on the World Cup races as well, so it’s more to get to a high level of racing and then to just try to keep the energy on a daily basis, just not to go too far past them,” said Shiffrin, who became the youngest ever Olympic slalom champion at age 18 in 2014 and added GS gold four years later.

“I need to be strategic each day about how much training I’m doing, how I spend my time, how I use my energy, and to make sure there’s enough recovery days built into a plan. It’s like we try to get to a top level and then hold that.”

Opinions vary on whether it’s possible, or even desirable, to plan an entire World Cup season around the Olympics which, for some skiers, might consist of just a single race.

For Austrian speed specialist Vincent Kriechmayr the question answers itself.

“We have the most important classics just before, so you have to time it in a way that you are in a good shape even before the Olympics,” said Kriechmayr, referring to the downhills in Wengen and Kitzbühel in mid-January.

From a coaching perspective, there is no clear answer because of unpredictable factors coming into play, according to Roland Assinger, the head coach of the Austria women’s team.

“At Olympics and world championships, it always depends on the shape of the day,” said Assinger, a World Cup downhill racer in the 1990s who didn’t qualify for the Olympics.

“We have seen so many times that in a whole season, it doesn’t go well, but at Olympics or worlds, suddenly the highlight is there, and you get surprise winners.”

Racers from other nations weigh in with similar opinions, like Sofia Goggia and Lara Gut-Behrami.

Despite her home Olympics coming up, Goggia prepared for this season like she did for any other.

“Skiing is an outdoor sport, we have so many variables during the season and day by day,” the 2018 downhill gold medalist from Italy said. “So, you better ski the most you can and give the 100% of what you have to give every day on skis.”

Gut-Behrami has announced her retirement for next year, but the 2022 Olympic super-G champion will still treat the 2025-26 season like any other.

“I always build my season one race after the other,” the Swiss standout said. “The most important is to focus on each race. To be top fit in February, you have to be in form during the entire season.”

On the men’s side, a former overall World Cup champion believes success can be planned, as long as you compete in a single discipline.

And this is exactly what Alexis Pinturault is doing, coming off two seasons marred by knee injuries. Formerly an allrounder, the Frenchman now solely focuses on the giant slalom, the discipline in which he took Olympic bronze both in 2014 and 2018.

“I think it’s possible,” Pinturault said. “But it also depends on what the goal for the World Cup season is. When your goal is to make the globes, then it makes the Olympics more complicated.”

Not complicated at all is Henrik Kristoffersen’s advice.

“The best way to be best prepared for the Olympics is to win all the races,” said the Norwegian tech specialist, who has a silver and bronze from three previous Olympics. "If you come in the rhythm, you get into the flow.”

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

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

Norway's Henrik Kristoffersen reacts at the finish area of an alpine ski, men's World Cup giant slalom, in Soelden, Austria, Sunday, Oct. 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)

France's Alexis Pinturault competes in an alpine ski, men's World Cup giant slalom, in Soelden, Austria, Sunday, Oct. 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandro Trovati)

Switzerland's Lara Gut Behrami competes in an alpine ski, women's World Cup giant slalom, in Soelden, Austria, Saturday, Oct. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)

United States' Paula Moltzan celebrates at the finish area of an alpine ski, women's World Cup giant slalom, in Soelden, Austria, Saturday, Oct. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandro Trovati)

United States' Mikaela Shiffrin celebrates at the finish area of an alpine ski, women's World Cup giant slalom, in Soelden, Austria, Saturday, Oct. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Two people were killed and at least 10 injured after Russia struck the Ukrainian capital Kyiv with drones and missiles overnight on Tuesday, local authorities said.

The attack comes after a pause over the weekend as U.S. envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff arrived in Kyiv for their first official visit in a renewed push to end the war between Russia and Ukraine.

The main targets of the overnight attack were Kyiv and the southern Odesa region. Ukrainian forces shot down and suppressed two ballistic missiles, 31 cruise missiles and 142 drones. Hits were recorded in 29 locations, Ukraine’s Air Force said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a post on Telegram that the attack was complex and appeared deliberately designed to cause maximum damage, involving ballistic and cruise missiles, anti-ship missiles and Shahed drones.

The attack caused significant damage to residential buildings and other civilian infrastructure in Kyiv, he said.

Strikes also hit critical infrastructure in several other regions. In Odesa, a regular market was hit and in Kharkiv, two people were injured and a multistory building was damaged, Zelenskyy said.

In the Sumy region, a train locomotive operating on the Kyiv-Sumy route was attacked at a railway station, Zelenskyy said. Zaporizhzhia and the Dnipropetrovsk regions also came under attack, he said.

Damage and fires occurred in at least five districts of the capital, Ukraine's State Emergency Service said, while a statement on Telegram by the Kyiv City Military Administration said damage to civilian infrastructure was located in at least 16 locations.

A 26-story, non-residential building was hit in the Holosiivskyi district. At another location in the same district, a fire broke out and the flames spread to a nearby non-residential building. Rescuers saved one person during a search and two people were evacuated from an apartment in a 16-story, residential building.

People also were trapped in a five-story, residential building in the Solomianskyi district. At least 10 people were rescued, according to the emergency service, which said fires also were recorded in the Darnytskyi and Podilskyi districts.

Kyiv resident Iryna Barisenkova, 61, said she heard explosions while traveling on public transport and was told there was a large fire near the Darnytskyi Vehicle Repair Plant, or DVRZ, area on the capital’s left bank.

“Everything was thundering on the left bank,” Barisenkova said. “It was just brutal.”

Barisenkova said she slept well during the previous two nights while Witkoff and Kushner traveled to Kyiv and then stayed in the city.

“We got some rest, thanks to them,” she said. “Let them come more often so they don’t shell us.”

Firefighters try to extinguish a fire following a Russian missile attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, early Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

Firefighters try to extinguish a fire following a Russian missile attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, early Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

Firefighters try to extinguish a fire following a Russian missile attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, early Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

Firefighters try to extinguish a fire following a Russian missile attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, early Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

A man walks along an underpass as smoke rises following a Russian missile attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, early Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)