Though many of the 2026 Olympic trials have finished, alpine skiing still remains undecided: the Women’s World Cup finished up a race on January 18th, and many of the top competitors from the Cup will go on to qualify for the games in February.  

Many of these women are proving how formidable they are by overcoming injuries or facing adversity from previous seasons—let’s break down some of the leaders across the standings!

Lindsey Vonn

With 400 points in the downhill category, Vonn is in 4th for all the alpine events. This comes as no surprise.

Vonn is one of the most accomplished skiers in history— the 4 time Olympian has won the World Cup 4 times, and won Olympic Gold in 2010. She's been competing at the highest level since her debut in the World Cup at the age of 16. 

And she’s not done yet. 

This season, Vonn is 41, making her one of the oldest athletes in contention for the Olympics. But Vonn’s path from age 16 to age 41 hasn’t been linear. 

In fact, in 2019 she announced that she would retire from her sport, citing injuries. Now, in 2026, she’s back and better than ever.

When asked how she was combatting her injuries, Vonn said that“[she isn’t] worried about [them]” and that she believes her comeback will be successful. 

Throughout her career, Vonn has had extensive knee injures, highlighted by an ACL tear in 2014. In 2024, she underwent knee surgery, allowing her to get back to the slopes. 

But because of the lack of research in women’s injuries, doctors weren’t sure that Vonn would compete again. Vonn surprised everyone by recovering quickly—showing that toughness doesn’t fade. 

“We’re all learning from Lindsey,” doctor Martin Roche said when asked about Vonn’s progress. 

Keep an eye on Vonn not only as a medal contender, but also as a model for resilience, belief, and dominance in women’s sports.

Mikaela Shiffrin

Described as one of the best skiers of this generation, it’s no surprise that Mikaela Shiffrin is ranked number one overall across all four alpine skiing events. The American skier excels in slalom, where she leads over second place Camille Rast by 268 points as of January 18th, and has proved so far this season that she deserves the hype she’s getting. 

Shiffrin has won two Olympic gold medals and five World Cup gold medals. She has earned 15 medals in 18 World Championships. 

In the 2022 Winter Olympics, however, she uncharacteristically failed to finish in three of her six events. Shiffrin stated that she wants to “make peace” with her performance in 2022, adding that “right now, I’m optimistic about the season.” 

An advocate for mental health, Shiffrin is proving that adversity can happen outside of your sport, and that’s okay. She struggled with PTSD after a crash in 2024, and has been very open in talking about how that has affected her relationship with skiing and being an athlete. “My task is to keep practicing. . .  and when I go step by step, it gets easier,” she mentioned. 

Though performance in the 2026 games is ultimately the goal for these athletes, it’s about more than that for Shiffrin. It's about getting back into the groove, and being the best version of herself while embracing all the things that have shaped her. It’s about not letting past setbacks define her future. Really, it’s about resilience. 

Sofia Goggia

In the tight race in the Super G category, as of January 18th, Italian athlete Sofia Goggia leads with 200 points. Should Goggia qualify for the 2026 Olympics, it would be her third games, and her first as a hometown athlete. 

The three time Olympian has one gold medal to her name, but more than that, she is the face of resilience in the sport after coming back from multiple serious injuries. 

“There's no point in setting expiration dates. My career can continue if approached the right way.”

Sofia Goggia

Tearing her ACL twice, Goggia has had many knee and ankle injuries throughout her career, culminating in the 2024-2025 season when she fell and fractured her tibia and tibial malleolus. This didn’t detour her from her athletic performances, though, and she went on to rank third overall in the World Cup in 2024 and 2025. 

“There’s no point setting expiration dates,” Goggia stated when asked about how her extensive list of injuries may hold her back in the 2026 games. “[My career] can continue if approached the right way.”

Much like Vonn, Goggia is at a disadvantage because of the lack of research on women's sporting injuries and why they are so common.  Her perseverance not only shows resilience, but also brings attention to injuries in women’s sports.  

Maybe the name of the game in this year’s alpine skiing competition will be resilience. Maybe it will be comebacks. Or maybe the word for this year’s Olympic competition is research. 

Because without research, rehabilitation, and prioritization, these women wouldn’t have made their way back to the slopes. 

These women are proving that research about women athletes and injuries matters—and not just for researchers. It matters for athletes from middle school to the Olympics.