From Whistler, CAN
(November 21, 2025) – Shannon Galea kicked off her 2025/2026 season in style as she took gold in Whistler.
The slider from Malta held a .17 second advantage over Columbia’s Laura Vargas after the first run, with South Africa’s Nicole Burger in third, .35 back.
In the second heat though it was Olympian Katie Tannenbaum who put down the quick run of the heat from fifth place and held her spot as neither Burger nor South Korea’s Sujung Hong could match her combined time.
Vargas was able to barely unseat Tannenbaum with a run that wasn’t quite up to Tannenbaum’s pace but with enough in the bank from the first heat, Vargas took the lead by .06.
Galea was the final slider off the top, in a position she’d never been in before. Defending as the first heat leader, Galea was smooth off the start and while her second run wasn’t as quick as Tannenbaum’s, it was more than enough to hold off the slider from the US Virgin Islands and take gold, her first.
Vargas took silver, and Tannenbaum bronze.
Finland’s Hannah Russwurm had a strong effort and finished fourth, ahead of Burger and Hong, who were fifth and sixth, respectively.
Liesel Baker was eighth for the United States, with teammate Grace Otto in 12th.
The Canadians put one athlete in the top ten in Emily Bateman, one spot ahead of Madeleine Parra in 11th and Julia Hamilton 13th.
Results:
| Pos | Name | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Finish |
| 1 | Shannon Galea | MLT | 11 | 5.24 | 5.26 | 56.12 | 57.61 | 1:53.73 |
| 2 | Laura Vargas | COL | 2 | 5.31 | 5.38 | 56.29 | 58.12 | 1:54.41 |
| 3 | Katie Tannenbaum | ISV | 3 | 5.17 | 5.23 | 56.90 | 57.57 | 1:54.47 |
| 4 | Hannah Russwurm | FIN | 8 | 5.08 | 5.12 | 56.96 | 57.89 | 1:54.85 |
| 5 | Nicole Burger | RSA | 4 | 5.02 | 5.03 | 56.47 | 58.45 | 1:54.92 |
| 6 | Sujung Hong | KOR | 7 | 5.00 | 5.02 | 56.82 | 58.49 | 1:55.31 |
| 7 | Eire Rowland-Evans | IRL | 9 | 5.17 | 5.24 | 57.79 | 58.65 | 1:56.44 |
| 8 | Liesel Baker | USA | 5 | 5.18 | 5.17 | 58.13 | 58.57 | 1:56.70 |
| 9 | Ana Torres Quevedo | ESP | 10 | 5.31 | 5.32 | 58.44 | 58.32 | 1:56.76 |
| 10 | Emily Bateman | CAN | 13 | 5.13 | 5.14 | 58.54 | 59.94 | 1:58.48 |
| 11 | Madeline Parra | CAN | 12 | 5.41 | 5.46 | 59.17 | 61.42 | 2:00.59 |
| 12 | Grace Otto | USA | 16 | 5.22 | 5.23 | 59.27 | 61.55 | 2:00.82 |
| 13 | Julia Hamilton | CAN | 15 | 5.34 | 5.36 | 59.88 | 61.75 | 2:01.63 |
| DNS | Yerim Kim | KOR | 14 | |||||
| DNS | Katie Uhlaender | USA | 1 | |||||
| DSQ | Grace Dafoe | CAN | 6 | 5.20 | 31.68 | DSQ |