2023 US women’s World Cup review

The 2023 women’s World Cup program, led by World Cup overall winner Mikaela Shiffrin had a productive season.

Ava Sunshine, Zoe Zimmermann, and Lauren Macuga earned their first World Cup points this season. All three are Stifel US Ski Team members.

Ten US women combined to earn 3,264 World Cup points during the 2023 season; nine are Stifel US Ski Team members and one is an independent.

Notably, this season Paula Moltzan earned her first World Cup slalom podium. And the team saw the triumphant return of injured stars Breezy Johnson and Nina O’Brien.

Unfortunately, The women’s team lost AJ Hurt to injury during the season. They were also missing the considerable talents of Jacqueline Wiles, Alice Merryweather and Alix Wilkinson, who missed the entire season.

Shiffrin scored in all four events and Moltzan, Johnson, Isabella Wright, and Katie Hensien each scored in two disciplines. This season five US athletes qualified for the women’s World Cup finals. The 3,264 points they scored placed them fourth in the women’s Nations Cup standings, behind Switzerland, Italy and Austria.

Take a look at the data from the last three seasons and decide how the US women performed in 2023.

US Women’s downhill 2023

During the season, six US women scored World Cup downhill points. Johnson, Shiffrin, and Wright qualified for the World Cup finals in Andorra. Macuga scored her first career World Cup points and Independent Tricia Mangan scored her first in the discipline. While they didn’t achieve a downhill podium, they did score 619 points and finished the season ranked fourth among the 13 nations who scored in the discipline during 2023.

US Women’s slalom 2023

It was an excellent year for the US women’s World Cup slalom skiers. Shiffrin achieved ten World Cup slalom podiums, won six, earned the discipline title, and became the 2023 World Champion. Moltzan earned her first slalom podium and for the first time ended the season in the top seven. Additionally, Sunshine and Zimmerman scored their first career points while competing in slaloms. In total, five US women contributed to a total of 1,275 slalom points. By doing so they also finished best among the 16 nations that scored in the event and won the 2023 women’s slalom Nations Cup title. Two of the women qualified for the World Cup finals.

US Women’s giant slalom 2023

The US women also experienced a great year racing giant slalom. Although they didn’t win the 2023 women’s giant slalom Nations Cup, by scoring 1,081 points, they finished second among the 14 teams who scored in the discipline. Again Shiffrin led the way, with seven podiums all of which were victories. She also won the 2023 giant slalom season title and the World Championship.

Additionally, Paula Moltzan had her best World Cup giant slalom season scoring 209 points and finishing the season ranked 11th. Although it required most of the season, the team saw star Nina O’Brien return to form after her Olympic injury. Shiffrin, Moltzan and O’Brien qualified to race the discipline at the World Cup finals. Also, 2023 will be remembered as the year Katie Hensien achieved her first World Cup giant slalom top 30.

US Women’s super-G 2023

During the 2023 season, Super-G was the US women’s weakest event. However, Shiffrin did win in St Moritz and added the super-G silver at the 2023 World Championships.

Together they earned 289 super-G points and finished the season ranked 6th among the 12 nations who scored in the discipline. Next season the US women will begin the season with five start positions and a deeper roster of healthy athletes. Notably, 19-year-old Stifel US Ski Team member Marry Bocock won both the Nor-Am Cup overall and super-G titles and has earned a personal continental cup start quota in all events.