“Cursed” Levi for the Swiss, even though Yule and Meillard have reached the podium. And with Joris, anything is possible...

Levi has never smiled on the Swiss colors over the course of a 20-year history which, if we are talking about the men’s slalom beyond the Arctic Circle, has in fact also featured quite a few gaps due to cancellations and its removal from the calendar.

The fact remains that the Swiss have never won on the “Levi Black”, but they head into the first World Cup event of the season, scheduled for Sunday, with confidence after the great deal of work carried out in New Zealand, once again under coach Matteo Joris: the Aosta Valley-born coach is truly a reference point for Loic Meillard and his teammates, with the victories in particular of the 1996-born skier from the canton of Valais (not forgetting Daniel Yule’s successes on the nights in Campiglio or those of Ramon Zenhaeusern himself, left out of the national team setup for 2026/27 but selected for Levi) having made Swiss slalom history.

Yes, because Meillard brought an Olympic title home after 78 years, becoming the second Swiss skier to win gold at the Games in the slalom after Edy Reinalter at St. Moritz 1948. And 12 months before his triumph in Bormio, Loic had done the same at the World Championships in Saalbach, given that one of the nations synonymous with skiing had not triumphed in that event since 1950, when Georges Schneider won in Aspen.

Last year in Levi, the leading trio who will be competing again in three days—Meillard, Nef and Yule, in that order—finished 14th, 21st and 22nd respectively, but the Olympic and world champion was third in 2024, the team’s second podium after Daniel Yule’s in 2019.

And the last Swiss victory in a World Cup slalom came at Hafjell in March 2025, once again courtesy of Meillard, who, however, has never won the crystal globe—not even in giant slalom—and wants to make a strong start in that respect as well, after doing so in the overall standings with runner-up spot in Soelden, another course he certainly does not love. “Winning the World Cup is definitely a goal and a dream,” Loic said via the Swiss-Ski press office, referring in this case to the discipline trophy. “It has special meaning, but I’m not focusing too much on it.

If I ski well and fight for the podium throughout the winter, I’ll automatically be in contention for the cup at the end of the season. That’s what happened two years ago in slalom and last winter in giant slalom.”

In the 60-year history of the World Cup, only one Swiss skier has won the crystal globe in the slalom: Dumeng Giovanoli, who achieved it in 1968, in the second edition.