The men's giant slalom in the 2026 FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup consisted of nine events, including the final. The season began with the traditional opener: a giant slalom on the Rettenbach ski course, located on the Rettenbach glacier in Sölden, Austria, on 26 October 2025. The next two giant slaloms took place in the United States in late November and early December, including the first World Cup visit to Copper Mountain (Colorado) for the men since 1976, after which the remainder of the races were held in Europe on the same courses used during the 2025 season. The season championship was won by Brazil's Lucas Pinheiro Braathen, who ended Marco Odermatt's four-year hold on the discipline by winning the finals.
The season was interrupted for the quadrennial 2026 Winter Olympics in three regions in ItalyMilan, the Stelvio Pass, and Cortina d'Ampezzoduring 6–22 February 2026. All of the Alpine skiing events for men took place on the classic Stelvio course at Bormio. The championship in men's giant slalom is scheduled to be held on Saturday, 14 February. Braathen also won the Olympic gold medal in giant slalom over runner-up Odermatt.
Season summary Although the first race of the World Cup giant slalom season at Sölden went to four-time defending discipline champion Marco Odermatt, as expected, the race saw a long-delayed restart to the "Battle of the Marcos", as both heats were tight battles between Odermatt and Austrian former slalom champion Marco Schwarz, finally returning to form after a catastrophic injury almost two years ago (when Schwarz was narrowly leading Odermatt for the overall World Cup title). However, in the next race, which took place at Copper Mountain in the U.S., Odermatt went off course and failed to finish the first run, which led to an upset first World Cup victory by Austria's Stefan Brennsteiner, who drew the #1 starting position in the first run, and also led to Brennsteiner taking the overall lead in the discipline over Schwarz, who finished fourth. The final race in the U.S. for the 2026 season was a giant slalom at Beaver Creek, and Odermatt returned to form with his second win in the three-race series there (and his fifth overall at Beaver Creek, but his first GS there), which allowed Odermatt to move into a tie for first in the discipline with Brennsteiner.
The next week at Val d'Isère, France, the Swiss team swept the podium; the winner was Loïc Meillard, who came from fifth to earn the victory, while first-run leader Brennsteiner fell back to fifth, allowing Odermatt (who placed third) to regain the solo discipline lead. A week later, Schwarz finally returned to the top step of the podium for the first time in two full years (22 December 2023, in slalom, a week prior to his injury), after building a dominating lead on the first run and then holding off Brazil's Lucas Pinheiro Braathen on the second, while Brennsteiner, who occupied the bottom step on the podium, moved past Odermatt (sixth) to regain the discipline lead by 5 points. In the first giant slalom after the Christmas break, at Adelboden, Switzerland, the see-saw continued, as Odermatt built a half-second lead over Braathen on the first run and matched his time on the second, taking both the win (his fifth straight in the GS there) and the discipline lead when Brennsteiner failed to complete the second run. The last giant slalom before the Winter Olympics, a night race under the lights at Schladming, Austria, featured a neck-and-neck first run between Meillard and Braathen, only for Meillard to win the second run by about three-quarters of a second over Braathen for his second victory of the year; Odermatt's fourth place left him with a lead of 103 points over Braathen, his closest pursuer, with only two more races in the discipline after the Olympics.
At the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics, Braathen raced down the hill as the first starter and, at the end of the first run, held a 0.95 second lead over Odermatt, followed by two more Swiss (Meillard and Thomas Tumler), and -- despite the fact that the Swiss coach got the right to set the course in the second run -- Braathen lost less than half of that lead on the second run to earn the gold for Brazil's (and South America's) first Winter Olympic medal ever, with Odermatt silver (his third medal of the games) and Meillard bronze (his second). The first giant slalom after the Olympics, in Kranjska Gora (Slovenia), had a very similar result, with Braathen holding a large lead over two Swiss (Meillard and Brennsteiner) after the first run and maintaining it, allowing him to close within 48 points of Odermatt (who was fifth) for the discipline title, with just the finals remaining.
Finals The World Cup finals in the discipline are scheduled to take place on Tuesday, 24 March 2026 on the Olympialøypa course at Hafjell, near Lillehammer, Norway. Only the top 25 skiers in the World Cup giant slalom discipline and the winner of the 2026 FIS Junior World Championships in the discipline (Rasmus Bakkevig of Norway), plus any skiers who have scored at least 500 points in the World Cup overall classification for the season, will be eligible to compete in the final, and only the top 15 will earn World Cup points. One 500-plus point skier (Giovanni Franzoni of Italy, who competed in GS occasionally during the season) registered, as well as all 25 qualified competitors and Bakkevig, so the field was set at 27. In the first run, Odermatt struggled on the soft snow and failed to finish, meaning that either Braathen or Meillard (who were in the top three after the first run, with Braathen leading) would win the season title if he won the race; they both rose to the occasion, with Meillard holding the lead with just Braathen to go, but Braathen's second run gave him the title by over half a second, with Odermatt second and Meillard third for the season.
Standings Venue #SkierTotalDNF1264536808080①1001005472 Marco Odermatt100DNF1100604010050②45DNF14953 Loïc Meillard 1813291002640100③80804864 Stefan Brennsteiner50100504560DNF216⑧60504315 Marco Schwarz8050913100DNF232⑨26293396 Atle Lie McGrath60DNQ3614502436⑤50603307 36806024244513⑦3603188 Timon Haugan22DNF11450295045⑪22452329 Alex Vinatzer32458032185DSQ2DNF212022410 River Radamus101640403636DNF2⑰111820711 Fabian Gratz1420DNF222452924DNF2142619412 Sam Maes113622DNF2141240DNF1144018913 Luca Aerni11220802026DNF1⑱18017714 Léo Anguenot DNF13613123608⑥40DNF217215 Žan Kranjec 2940711181620⑫24016916 Alexis Pinturault 132224913226DNS152414817 Anton Grammel2412DNQDNQDNQ926⑮323613918 Raphael Haaser 406315DNQ329⑲29DNF113419 Filip Zubčić1660DNQ7DNQDNQ18⑭102013120 Thomas Tumler 15291891622DNF1④16012521 Alban Elezi Cannaferina6DNF115DNQ81460DNF2DNF1DNF110322 Thibaut Favrot4593245DNF2DNF1DNS6DNF110123 Joshua SturmDNQ7DNQ10DNF11822DNS83610124 Patrick FeursteinDNQ14DNQ2932DNQ15⑯DNF209025 Jonas Stockinger12DNF1DNQ20DNQDNQ10DNS20248626 Joan Verdú2215DNF2DNF21211DNF1⑩DNF1NE6027 Alexander Schmid 426DSQ1209DNF2DNS⑬DNQNE5928 Eirik Hystad Solberg618DNQ615DNQ12DNF1DNQNE5729 Giovanni Borsotti7211DNF2DNS29DNSDSQ2NE4930 Flavio Vitale26DNF210DNQDNQ7DNF1DNSDNQNE4331 Lukas FeursteinDNQDNF126DNQ210DNF1DNSDNQNE3832 Ryder SarchettDNQDNQ626DNQDNQDNF1㉕5NE3733 Filippo Della ViteDNQDNQ6164DNF1DNF1DNS10NE3634 Loévan ParandDNQ10DNQDNF11115DNF1DNSDNQNE3635 Fabian Ax SwartzDNQDNQDNQDNF1101014㉒DNQNE3236 Luca De Aliprandini 95DNQ5DNQ13DNQDNF1DNQNE3237 Oscar Andreas SandvikDNF1DNF116DNF1DNQDNF1DNF1DNSDNSNE1637 Rasmus BakkevigDNQDNSDNQDNQDNQDNS161639 Erik Read DNQ4DNQDNQDNQDNQ11DNSDNQNE1540 Albert Ortega FornesaDNS8DNQDNQDNQ6DNQDNSDNQNE1441 Lenz HächlerDNF1DNF112DNQDNQDNQDNSDNQNE1242 Tormis Laine83DNQDNQDNQDNQDNQ㉘DNF1NE1143 Andreas Žampa3DNQDNQDNQDNQDNQ7㉑DNQNE1044 William HanssonDNQDNQ8DNSDNQDNF1DNF1DNSDNF1NE845 Aleix Aubert SerracantaDNQDNS7DNF1DNQDNSDNF1NE745 Fadri JanutinDNQDNQDNSDNQDNQDNQDNQDNS7NE747 Tobias KastlungerDNQDNQDNSDNQ6DNQDNQDNF1DNQNE648 Guerlain FavreDNQDNQDNF1DNQDNQDNQ5DNSDNQNE549 Bridger GileDNF1DNF1DNQDNQDNF2DNQDNQDNS4NE449 George Steffey DNSDNQ4DSQ1DNQDNQDNSNE449 Simon TalacciDNSDNQDNQDNQ4DNSDNF1NE452 Vincent Kriechmayr2DNS2References
Legend
DNQ = Did not qualify for run 2 DNF1 = Did not finish run 1 DSQ1 = Disqualified run 1 DNF2 = Did not finish run 2 DSQ2 = Disqualified run 2 DNS2 = Did not start run 2
R# = Rescheduled (make-up) race
See also 2026 Alpine Skiing World Cup – Men's summary rankings 2026 Alpine Skiing World Cup – Men's overall 2026 Alpine Skiing World Cup – Men's downhill 2026 Alpine Skiing World Cup – Men's super-G 2026 Alpine Skiing World Cup – Men's slalom World Cup scoring system
References
External links Alpine skiing at FIS website