Mikaela Shiffrin, the world's top alpine skier, has announced that she will ski fewer slaloms during the upcoming season. Instead, she plans to focus more on giant slalom and Super-G, two other disciplines in alpine skiing. The 31-year-old, who has won three Olympic gold medals, eight world championships, and six crystal globes—awards given to the top performers in each discipline—will begin a new four-year cycle that will lead up to the Winter Olympics in the French Alps in 2030. In a detailed message posted on her social media, Shiffrin explained that she wants to have "an exploratory season." She noted that unlike many athletes, she enjoys training more than racing. Her goal has remained the same for 16 years: to push her limits and become a better, faster skier. However, she is allowing herself more freedom to explore what interests her now and what still gives her the desire to fully commit to her sport. Shiffrin expressed a particular interest in giant slalom and Super-G, and she wants to give herself the space to explore these disciplines more deeply. While she will reduce her participation in slalom, her preferred discipline, which has earned her nine small globes, four world titles, and two Olympic gold medals, she emphasized that this does not mean she is giving up on slalom entirely. For now, her plan is to compete in a slalom event at Killington in the United States on November 29, with the possibility of participating in a few others during the season. She aims to maintain enough points and ranking to keep her options open, in case she finds that a full slalom program still appeals to her by the end of the winter. Shiffrin stressed that she is not done with slalom and is not going back on her career path, but she is changing the question she has been asking herself: what happens if she gives herself the freedom to explore the things that interest her most. She acknowledged that she does not know the answer yet, and that is precisely the goal of this new approach. The season will begin on October 24 in Sölden with a traditional giant slalom race.