This was supposed to be the perfect ending. After 148 days of thrilling action that started in Solden, Austria, the Audi FIS Alpine Ski World Cup Finals in Sun Valley, Idaho, were set to wrap up the 2024/25 season beautifully. Fans were ready for a week full of high-stakes drama—Mikaela Shiffrin chasing her 101st win on home snow, Lindsey Vonn making a grand return, and rising star Lauren Macuga looking to make her mark and more! Throw in the fact that four women’s and two men’s Crystal Globe titles were still hanging in the balance, and Sun Valley was buzzing with excitement.

Everything was falling into place like a dream. The weather was playing along, the Challenger course was primed for speed, and the crowd was gearing up for an unforgettable showdown. Mikaela Shiffrin was poised to give her home fans another iconic moment to celebrate. But just when it looked like nothing could go wrong, Mother Nature decided to stir things up.

Overnight snowfall dumped a thick layer of fresh powder on the course, leaving race officials scrambling to ensure athlete safety. The heavy snow made the original downhill schedule impossible to stick to, forcing officials to postpone the races. If athletes were forced to race on a soft, snow-covered course, it would be a recipe for disaster. Downhill skiing is all about speed and when the surface isn’t firm, skis don’t grip properly. Even the slightest misstep on unpredictable snow could lead to a brutal crash, potentially causing serious injuries. Racing cannot start when safety standards are not met because race safety takes precedence over everything else. The new plan?

Men’s downhill at 2:00 p.m. MT (4:00 p.m. ET) and Women’s downhill at 3:00 p.m. MT (5:00 p.m. ET). Coverage is still set to air on Outside TV, but with ongoing coursework, these times are far from set in stone. The race crew is working overtime to get the track back in shape, but Mother Nature isn’t exactly making it easy. Because with snowfall, strong winds are adding to the problem.

“Wind’s a problem when you are jumping, especially when they are getting as much air as they were off that Frontier jump,” Austin Savaria, an assistant coach with the men’s speed team, said. “A lot of things can go wrong with one big gust of wind.” According to reports, gutsy efforts were on the way to make the track ready for the event. Throughout the night, hundreds of volunteers slipped downhills, some of them even 100,000 vertical feet, to keep it clear. But looks like that fell short in front of nature’s powers. So what happens if the races are eventually canceled?

As per reports, the races will not be rescheduled in case of cancellation. The current leaders of the downhill will be announced as the winners, meaning thereby, Swiss Marco Odermatt and Italy’s Federica Brignone will lift the trophies. If the weather continues to deteriorate, that might cast a shadow on the upcoming exciting races that are on the line.

Mikaela Shiffrin and others’ Olympic preparation at the stake

Mikaela Shiffrin’s quest for No. 101 and Lindsey Vonn’s big return is still very much alive. Vonn is there in the Super-G on March 23. On the other hand, Shiffrin will set out to register her 101st career victory when she competes in Slalom on March 27. Shiffrin missed a bunch of races this season while recovering from a crash, but she will definitely be a favorite when she steps in on her home slopes. This will also serve as a window to find out her preparations for the upcoming Olympic qualifiers.

Mikaela Shiffrin looks ahead to compete in the 2026 Milan-Cortina Olympics even though she and her fellow skiers first must complete their business at the World Cup Finals. The contest serves more than trophy goals since it secured points for the next season. The U.S. team plans to demonstrate their readiness for the upcoming Olympics through their six podium results achieved during this season. But..

All eyes focus solely on Shiffrin because she managed to recover after two months of healing from her serious oblique injury. In slalom racing, Shiffrin displays her best form once again while being among the top contenders for the championship finals. GS remains challenging to her mentally since her Killington crash. Also, earlier this month, she crashed out of the GS finals when she made an error early in her first run at Are, Sweden that ended her race as a DNF. It was the first time she missed the World Cup final GS since her debut in 2012.

Taking all these together, these finals represent the upcoming slate at Milan-Cortina while serving as a season finale for this point in time. So if the weather plays a spoilsport leading to the cancelation of the events, a vital opportunity to prepare for the upcoming big events might be wasted.