LEVI, Finland (AP) — Mikaela Shiffrin opened the Olympic slalom season in convincing style Saturday by dominating a World Cup race in Finnish Lapland for her record-extending 102nd career win.
The American star built on a commanding first-run lead of more than a second, clocked the fastest time again in the final run and won the race by 1.66 seconds from second-placed Lara Colturi.
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United States' Mikaela Shiffrin, center, winner of an alpine ski, women's World Cup slalom, poses on the podium with second placed Albania's Lara Colturi, left, and third placed Germany's Emma Aicher, in Levi, Finland, Saturday, Nov. 15, 2025.
Albania's Lara Colturi celebrates her second place in a alpine ski, women's World Cup slalom, in Levi, Finland, Saturday, Nov. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)
United States' Mikaela Shiffrin, center, winner of an alpine ski, women's World Cup slalom, poses on the podium with second placed Albania's Lara Colturi, left, and third placed Germany's Emma Aicher, in Levi, Finland, Saturday, Nov. 15, 2025.
United States' Mikaela Shiffrin feeds a deer on the podium after winning an alpine ski, women's World Cup slalom, in Levi, Finland, Saturday, Nov. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)
United States' Mikaela Shiffrin celebrates after winning an alpine ski, women's World Cup slalom, in Levi, Finland, Saturday, Nov. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)
United States' Paula Moltzan competes in an alpine ski, women's World Cup slalom, in Levi, Finland, Saturday, Nov. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)
Albania's Lara Colturi competes in an alpine ski, women's World Cup slalom, in Levi, Finland, Saturday, Nov. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)
United States' Mikaela Shiffrin competes in an alpine ski, women's World Cup slalom, in Levi, Finland, Saturday, Nov. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)
United States' Mikaela Shiffrin concentrates at the starting gate of an alpine ski, women's World Cup slalom, in Levi, Finland, Saturday, Nov. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Gabriele Facciotti)
“It's for sure a good feeling, it was so nice to race today. I felt really strong on both runs,” said Shiffrin, adding she didn't want to be too cautious in protecting her big lead.
“I was just feeling like: ‘Oh, don’t mess it up, like it would be embarrassing, kind of.' But then, in the end, if you are pushing as hard as you can, you can't mess it up.”
Colturi, an Italian-born prodigy competing for Albania, matched her career-best result. Colturi turned 19 on Saturday.
All-rounder Emma Aicher placed third, 2.59 behind, for her first podium in a tech race. The German, who turned 22 last Thursday, won a downhill and a super-G last March.
Shiffrin’s teammate Paula Moltzan, who finished runner-up to Austrian winner Julia Scheib in the season-opening giant slalom three weeks ago, was 2.46 off the lead in 19th but improved to fourth place, which she shared with Aicher's teammate Lena Duerr.
“I knew I needed to shift into another gear to find a lot of time. I'm super happy with my skiing second run, I felt like I was able to make some of my best turns,” said Moltzan, who had the second-fastest run time.
Shiffrin and Moltzan now rank 1-2 in the overall standings after two events; first-race winner Scheib does not compete in slaloms.
“Mikaela put on an absolute clinic on how to ski Levi. She continues to impress everyone with her skiing,” Moltzan added.
Slalom World Cup champion Zrinka Ljutic of Croatia was fourth after the opening run and dropped to sixth.
Shiffrin laid the foundation for her 65th slalom victory with an aggressive first run.
“This was the best run I could do, that was kind of perfect,” Shiffrin said after the opening run, calling it “a wonderful feeling” to replicate some of her best skiing from training.
“The whole summer prep I was focusing really a lot on giant slalom, so I didn’t get so many slalom days,” said the American, who placed fourth in the GS in October.
“But then when I did train slalom, it was really important to be maximum quality, maximum intensity every run.”
Recovered from a frightening crash in a GS a year ago, Shiffrin announced before the season she planned to reduce her schedule to slalom and GS, and maybe super-G, heading into the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics in February.
Shiffrin won Olympic gold in slalom in 2014 and in GS in four years later.
Nine of Shiffrin's record 102 World Cup wins have come in the traditional season-opening slalom in Lapland, where the winner is given a reindeer as a prize. Shiffrin said Saturday she had no name yet for the latest addition to her herd, adding she would reveal it on her social media channels.
No skier other than Shiffrin or Petra Vlhova of Slovakia has won the race in 14 editions since then overall champion Tina Maze triumphed in 2014.
Vlhova, who is the 2022 Olympic slalom champion, is still recovering from the lingering knee injury she sustained in January 2024.
A men's slalom on the same hill is scheduled for Sunday. The women travel to Austria for another slalom next weekend.
AP skiing: https://apnews.com/hub/alpine-skiing
Albania's Lara Colturi celebrates her second place in a alpine ski, women's World Cup slalom, in Levi, Finland, Saturday, Nov. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)
United States' Mikaela Shiffrin, center, winner of an alpine ski, women's World Cup slalom, poses on the podium with second placed Albania's Lara Colturi, left, and third placed Germany's Emma Aicher, in Levi, Finland, Saturday, Nov. 15, 2025.
United States' Mikaela Shiffrin feeds a deer on the podium after winning an alpine ski, women's World Cup slalom, in Levi, Finland, Saturday, Nov. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)
United States' Mikaela Shiffrin celebrates after winning an alpine ski, women's World Cup slalom, in Levi, Finland, Saturday, Nov. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)
United States' Paula Moltzan competes in an alpine ski, women's World Cup slalom, in Levi, Finland, Saturday, Nov. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)
Albania's Lara Colturi competes in an alpine ski, women's World Cup slalom, in Levi, Finland, Saturday, Nov. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)
United States' Mikaela Shiffrin competes in an alpine ski, women's World Cup slalom, in Levi, Finland, Saturday, Nov. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)
United States' Mikaela Shiffrin concentrates at the starting gate of an alpine ski, women's World Cup slalom, in Levi, Finland, Saturday, Nov. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Gabriele Facciotti)
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Saturday presented the 2025 Kennedy Center honorees with their medals during a ceremony in the Oval Office, hailing the slate of artists he was deeply involved in choosing as “perhaps the most accomplished and renowned class” ever assembled.
This year's recipients are actor Sylvester Stallone, singers Gloria Gaynor and George Strait, the rock band Kiss and actor-singer Michael Crawford.
Trump said they are a group of “incredible people” who represent the “very best in American arts and culture” and that, “I know most of them and I've been a fan of all of them.”
“This is a group of icons whose work and accomplishments have inspired, uplifted and unified millions and millions of Americans,” said a tuxedo-clad Trump. "This is perhaps the most accomplished and renowned class of Kennedy Center Honorees ever assembled.”
Trump ignored the Kennedy Center and its premier awards program during his first term as president. But the Republican has instituted a series of changes since returning to office in January, most notably ousting its board of trustees and replacing them with GOP supporters who voted him in as chairman of the board.
Trump also has criticized the center's programming and its physical appearance, and has vowed to overhaul both.
The president placed around each honoree's neck a new medal that was designed, created and donated by jeweler Tiffany & Co., according to the Kennedy Center and Trump.
It's a gold disc etched on one side with the Kennedy Center's image and rainbow colors. The honoree's name appears on the reverse side with the date of the ceremony. The medallion hangs from a navy blue ribbon and replaces a large rainbow ribbon decorated with three gold plates that rested on the honoree's shoulders and chest and had been used since the first honors program in 1978.
Strait, wearing a cowboy hat, was first to receive his medal. When the country singer started to take off the hat, Trump said, “If you want to leave it on, you can. I think we can get it through.” But Strait took it off.
The president said Crawford was a “great star of Broadway” for his lead role in the long-running “Phantom of the Opera.” Of Gaynor, he said, “We have the disco queen, and she was indeed, and nobody did it like Gloria Gaynor.”
Trump was effusive about his friend Stallone, calling him a “wonderful” and “spectacular” person and “one of the true, great movie stars” and "one of the great legends."
Kiss is an “incredible rock band," he said.
Songs by honorees Gaynor and Kiss played in the Rose Garden just outside the Oval Office as members of the White House press corps waited nearby for Trump to begin the ceremony.
The president president said in August that he was “about 98% involved” in choosing the 2025 honorees when he personally announced them at the Kennedy Center, the first slate chosen under his leadership. The honorees traditionally had been announced by press release.
It was unclear how they were chosen. Before Trump, it fell to a bipartisan selection committee.
“These are among the greatest artists, actors and performers of their generation. The greatest that we’ve seen,” Trump said. “We can hardly imagine the country music phenomena without its king of country, or American disco without its first lady, or Broadway without its phantom — and that was a phantom, let me tell you — or rock and roll without its hottest band in the world, and that’s what they are, or Hollywood without one of its greatest visionaries."
“Each of you has made an indelible mark on American life and together you have defined entire genres and set new standards for the performing arts,” Trump said.
Trump also attended an annual State Department dinner for the honorees on Saturday. In years past, the honorees received their medallions there but Trump moved the ceremony to the White House.
Meanwhile, the glitzy Kennedy Center Honors program and its series of tribute speeches and performances for each recipient is set to be taped on Sunday at the performing arts center for broadcast later in December on CBS and Paramount+. Trump is to attend the program for the first time as president, accompanied by his wife, first lady Melania Trump.
The president said in August that he had agreed to host the show, and he seemed to confirm on Saturday that he would do so, predicting that the broadcast would garner its highest ratings ever as a result. Presidents traditionally attend the program and sit with the honorees in the audience. None has ever served as host.
He said he looked forward to Sunday's celebration.
“It’s going to be something that I believe, and I’m going to make a prediction: this will be the highest-rated show that they’ve ever done and they’ve gotten some pretty good ratings, but there’s nothing like what’s going to happen tomorrow night,” Trump said.
The president also swiped at late-night TV show host Jimmy Kimmel, whose program was briefly suspended earlier this year by ABC following criticism of his comments related to the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk in September.
Kimmel and Trump are sharp critics of each other, with the president regularly deriding Kimmel's talent as a host. Kimmel has hosted the Primetime Emmy Awards and the Academy Award multiple times.
Trump said he should be able to outdo Kimmel.
“I've watched some of the people that host. Jimmy Kimmel was horrible,” Trump said. “If I can't beat out Jimmy Kimmel in terms of talent, then I don't think I should be president.”
President Donald Trump speaks at a Kennedy Center Honors reception for recipients Sylvester Stallone, George Strait, Kiss, Gloria Gaynor and Michael Crawford at the State Department, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
President Donald Trump, left, presents Sylvester Stallone with his Kennedy Center Honors medal in the Oval Office of the White House, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
President Donald Trump, center, speaks as he presents Sylvester Stallone, George Strait, KISS, Gloria Gaynor and Michael Crawford with their Kennedy Center Honors medals in the Oval Office of the White House, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
President Donald Trump, center, speaks as he presents Sylvester Stallone, George Strait, KISS, Gloria Gaynor and Michael Crawford with their Kennedy Center Honors medals in the Oval Office of the White House, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
President Donald Trump, left, presents Michael Crawford with his Kennedy Center Honors medal in the Oval Office of the White House, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
President Donald Trump, left, speaks as he presents Sylvester Stallone, George Strait, KISS, Gloria Gaynor and Michael Crawford with their Kennedy Center Honors medals in the Oval Office of the White House, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
President Donald Trump, left, presents George Strait with his Kennedy Center Honors medal in the Oval Office of the White House, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
FILE - The Hall of Nations at the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, Nov. 22, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul, file)
Kiss band member Gene Simmons speaks to members of the media at the White House, Friday, Dec. 5, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Allison Robbert)
President Donald Trump speaks before a concert by Andrea Bocelli in the East Room of the White House walking towards the East Room, Friday, Dec. 5, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Allison Robbert)
