Madison Hoffman started 57th of the field in Levi and finished eighth, Australia’s best World Cup result since 1999

Madison Hoffman has given Australian alpine skiing its best day in 27 years.

The 26-year-old from Sydney finished eighth in the women’s slalom at Levi, the first slalom of the World Cup season, on Saturday, Finnish time. It is the best World Cup result by an Australian since Zali Steggall was eighth at Serre Chevalier in France in 1999, and it is Hoffman’s first top 10 at this level.

Why is bib 57 such a big deal?

In slalom, the start order matters. The leading skiers go first, on a clean, smooth course; by the time the 57th starter goes, dozens of skiers have carved ruts into the snow. Seven of the top 10 at Levi started with single-digit bibs, and the podium went to the first three starters.

Hoffman was 13th after the first run, enough to make the cut for the second. Then she moved up the order with a second run that briefly put her in the leader’s chair at the finish, and held on to eighth on combined time. Her rise of 49 places from start number to final position was the biggest of the day.

Who won?

Germany’s Emma Aicher, who started first and led from the opening run, won in a combined time of 1 minute 52.62 seconds. It was her first World Cup slalom win, a day after her 23rd birthday, at the resort where she made her World Cup debut. Albania’s Lara Colturi was second, 0.43 seconds behind, and Austria’s Katharina Truppe third, 0.50 back. Croatia’s Zrinka Ljutić was fourth and Sweden’s Anna Swenn Larsson fifth.

How did she get here?

Not easily. Hoffman has had two long spells out of racing with anterior cruciate ligament injuries, in 2022 and 2024. She came back to finish 23rd in the slalom at the Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics earlier this year.

Her teammate Phoebe Heaydon, 21, also had her best World Cup race, finishing 31st, just 0.12 seconds outside the top 30 who score points.

Where does this leave Australian skiing?

Australia’s winter sport medals usually come from freestyle and snowboard, not alpine racing, which is dominated by European skiers who grow up on the slopes. Steggall remains the country’s alpine benchmark: Olympic slalom bronze in Nagano in 1998, a world championship title in 1999, two World Cup podiums and 11 top-10 finishes. A top-10 in the season opener does not change that on its own, but it puts an Australian back in the conversation in a discipline where the country has barely been seen for a generation.

It also matters in a practical way: a strong result improves a skier’s ranking, and with it a better start number, the very thing Hoffman did without at Levi.