Eleven months after a heavy crash in St. Moritz, Michelle Gisin announced her retirement on Tuesday, on top of the Titlis. In Lapland, the Levi race slope was approved by the International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS) on Thursday, without an inspector setting foot on it. In between, the world’s best are making use of a three-week break. Franjo von Allmen, meanwhile, has been named Skieur d’Or by the world’s ski journalists.
Athletes
Michelle Gisin calls time on her career
Michelle GisinSUI will not be coming back. The 32-year-old from Engelberg announced her retirement on Tuesday 3 November at a press conference on the Titlis, the mountain above her home resort, the Swiss broadcaster SRF reported. She had not raced since crashing in downhill training in St. Moritz on 11 December 2025. According to SRF, a comeback would probably have taken another year, perhaps two.
Gisin said she was above all grateful for her years at the highest level. With a touch of humour, she added that she was glad to be able to choose her own slopes from now on. She is not leaving the circuit entirely. She will follow the races of her partner, the Italian Luca De Aliprandini, and will be at the World Championships in Crans-Montana in February in a different role, doing interviews in the finish area and appearing on evening programmes. Swiss-Ski paid tribute to her 13 seasons on the World Cup in a statement quoted by Ski Racing Media.
Liene Bondare also steps away
Liene BondareLAT, 30, has also announced her retirement, on Instagram, shortly before the Sölden opener, the Austrian news site Tips reported. The Latvian raced at the Beijing 2022 and Milano Cortina 2026 Olympics and at seven World Championships. Her best championship finish was 27th at Saalbach in 2025. She made her World Cup debut in Levi in 2017. Skiing, she wrote, was never just a sport for her, but her passion.
Three weeks off: how the leaders fill the gap
After the opening races in Sölden, the World Cup resumes in Levi, Finland, with the women’s slalom on Saturday 14 November and the men’s race a day later. FIS asked several athletes how they are using the break. Emma AicherGER, third in Sölden, is mixing super-G and slalom training and will only arrive in Levi on the Monday of race week. Atle Lie McGrathNOR stayed in Sölden for super-G, before a few days at the SNØ indoor slope near Oslo. Henrik KristoffersenNOR is taking a week at home, followed by two weeks of training.
Loïc MeillardSUI, runner-up in the men’s opening giant slalom, began with a week of dryland conditioning before returning to snow. Laura PirovanoITA, last season’s downhill globe winner, will train at Copper Mountain, Colorado, from 9 November. Mikaela ShiffrinUSA, who is skipping the Levi slalom, will return to racing at Killington on 28 and 29 November.
Venues and calendar
Levi gets the green light, remotely
The Levi slaloms will go ahead. The Levi Black slope passed the FIS snow control on Thursday 5 November, race director Petri Tuomikoski told the regional daily Lapin Kansa. No inspection team travelled to Finland. “A drone flew over the race slope, and after that we got the stamp of approval,” he said.
An unusually mild autumn did not exhaust the stockpiles. The resort had set aside between 60,000 and 70,000 cubic metres of snow for the race, and spreading it on the slope began on Sunday 1 November, according to the same newspaper. One question remains. A fallback plan, which would see racers taken up by car rather than by chairlift, is due to be decided next week.
Awards
Franjo von Allmen named Skieur d’Or
Franjo von AllmenSUI is the 2026 Skieur d’Or. The International Association of Ski Journalists (AIJS) named him skier of the season, FIS announced on 30 October. The trophy recognises performances, charisma and a constructive relationship with the international media. The 25-year-old from Boltigen, a triple Olympic champion at Milano Cortina, finished just a few votes ahead of Italy’s Federica Brignone, last year’s winner.
He is the first speed specialist to win since France’s Luc Alphand in 1997 and Austria’s Matthias Lanzinger in 2008. The award has been presented since 1963. The trophy will be handed to him during the season.
The AIJS also gave its Prix Armando Trovati, for the best ski photograph of the winter, to the Milan-based photographer Mattia Ozbot. His black-and-white image shows Sweden’s Felix Monsen in the Val Gardena downhill on 20 December 2025, seemingly launched into the void against the Dolomites.
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