Saalbach 2025: Writing stories in gold, silver, bronze
The World Championships in Saalbach once again taught us that today’s epic stories often are rooted in minor occurrences in the past.
“When I was 12, and I think Mikaela was 13, they set up rooming lists, and I got roomed with this introverted blonde girl. And we bonded over the fact that we both skied on Atomic. And who would have thought, all these years later, here we would be. Still on Atomic.”
The two girls in this story are none other than Mikaela Shiffrin and Breezy Johnson, who just became World Champions in the first-ever Team Combined — a new race format where a Downhill skier and a Slalom skier team up, and their combined times determine the winner. This format highlights skiing’s unique duality: competing individually but training and traveling as a team. Winning the World Championship title provided a chance for reflection.
“I think we connected specifically about feeling like we were a little bit lost in a world where young girls were not really supposed to be as ambitious as we were. And looking forward these many years where we’ve come to and the journeys we’ve both been through has been unbelievable to watch from afar and now to watch up close.”
While Mikaela’s record-breaking career is well known - eventually tying the record for most World Championships medals with her Saalbach gold - Breezy’s path to Downhill gold deserves special recognition. Until December 2024, Breezy, now 29, had been sidelined and had to organize her pre-season all by herself with a private coach and team. Despite earning seven World Cup podium finishes, she had never secured a victory. Yet from day one in Saalbach, she signaled that this could be her time to shine.
Winning the Downhill title made her the U.S. Downhill team’s number one, qualifying her to compete alongside the Slalom team’s number one, Mikaela Shiffrin. Initially, Mikaela had planned to skip the Team Combined to focus on Giant Slalom and Slalom. But when Breezy asked if she’d team up, everything changed. The rest, as they say, is history - a story that began in a hotel room in the U.S. and added its latest chapter in Saalbach.
The story in silver was written by a true local hero. Only an hour’s drive from her home, Mirjam Puchner skied to the silver medal in the Downhill race. For Mirjam, it was a relief after an unsatisfying season so far. Even her spot in the Austrian team for the World Championships was not set in stone. But she earned her chance during the Downhill training runs and seized it, fed off the home-country energy. Pressure to perform in front of friends, family and sponsors? Mirjam turned this into anticipatory excitement. Her mental fortitude earned her silver - a journey powered by red skis and a resilient mindset.
Bronze—the most unexpected, yet no less shiny, medal. If you know Adrian Smiseth Sejersted’s story, you know that his career has stood on the brink many times after devastating crashes. Finishing in third place in a World Championship race means waiting until the very last skier crosses the finish line. In the end, the wait was worth it—both in the moment and from a long-term perspective. The Norwegian has been part of the World Cup for eleven years, securing two podium finishes. Since his last one, it has been four years—"and two or three surgeries," Adrian recalls, reflecting on the hard times during the hour of his biggest triumph so far: bronze in the Super G at Saalbach 2025.
