She was the prime example of an all-rounder. Now Michelle Gisin is turning her back on the technical disciplines. She wants to give her career a new lease of life by focusing on speed.
10.12.2025, 13:00
10.12.2025, 15:56
SDA
The start of the season in mid-December: anyone who would have predicted this for Michelle Gisin not so long ago would probably have been laughed at by the skier from Engelberg. After all, the season opening on the Rettenbach glacier above Sölden at the end of October and the slaloms in Levi in November were fixed items on the calendar of the now 32-year-old for years. However, after announcing last January that she would no longer be competing in slaloms, she will also be giving up the giant slalom, at least temporarily.
"There's no point in competing with the number 60 or 70," she explained her decision at the Swiss-Ski media day at the beginning of October. Gisin dropped out of the top 30 on the World Cup start list at the end of last season. Accordingly, the prospects of top rankings in the basic discipline would have been poor.
"It's become a bit much"
She, who has finished on the World Cup podium in all four disciplines and was an all-rounder for years, competing in every race on the calendar, is now focusing on the speed disciplines. What is a well-trodden path in alpine skiing with increasing age was a long process for Gisin. "The last nine years have been very intense, even deliberate. I'm proud to have skied four disciplines at this level. Unfortunately, it didn't work out in my ninth attempt, it became a bit much."
She only finished in the top 10 three times last winter, twice in Beaver Creek and once in La Thuile - always in the fast races. In the technical disciplines, Gisin only finished in the top 20 once, in the slalom in Killington. Due to her lack of results, she lost her national team status and was demoted to the A squad. This does not change her commitment. "The passion for skiing is still as strong as ever."
Olympics as an anchor
The summer was completely different for Gisin. More relaxed. "Doing all the preparation in a focused and calm manner was a new world for me," she says. She was able to do "one thing at a time" and didn't feel under pressure. "That helps. I felt so comfortable, didn't have to force anything, didn't have to squeeze out percentages." Listening to Gisin talk like this, you get the feeling that her decision to no longer focus on four disciplines, but only on two, is tantamount to liberation.
The two-time Olympic champion has one big goal this season: the Olympic Games next February. The women's alpine competitions will be held in Cortina d'Ampezzo. So it's practically on her doorstep, considering that Gisin won her gold medals in the Alpine combined in China and South Korea. She also has a connection to Italy through her fiancé, Luca De Aliprandini, who also competes in the World Cup.
With her big goal in mind, Gisin persevered even in difficult times. "I was afraid of two things last season," she says: "That I would injure myself, or that I would be sitting at home next February saying to myself: 'I wish you had stuck with it'. I'm grateful and proud that I did it."
The good memories of St. Moritz
However, there are still numerous World Cup races on the program before the Olympic Games. With the downhill races on Friday and Saturday and a super-G on Sunday, the speed skiers will also start the season in St. Moritz. Finally, Gisin will be thinking.
The Obwalden native has fond memories of the Engadin: It was here that she made her first World Cup podium in 2016 in the mixed team parallel competition together with Wendy Holdener, Daniel Yule and Reto Schmidiger. She won her first World Championship medal here in February 2017 when she took silver in the Alpine combined behind Holdener. She celebrated her first World Cup podium in the super-G here in December of the same year.
Michelle Gisin's website features pictures of her greatest successes under the heading "olympic champion x2 and ski fanatic". She would love to upload new photos again. And as quickly as possible, of course.
