Salt Lake City mogulist Olivia Giaccio was preparing for battle earlier this month with one World Cup left in the season in Shahdag, Azerbaijan.
Giaccio led Australia’s Jakara Anthony, the Milano Cortina Olympics dual moguls champion, by 58 points in the overall moguls standings. If Giaccio posted a solid result in Shahdag, the year-end title and Crystal Globe trophy would be hers.
As war in Iran, which shares a border with Azerbaijan, began to break out Feb. 28, Giaccio and the field knew the final World Cup was in jeopardy. When the event was cancelled on March 6, the year-end title battle was over before it began, and Giaccio won her first Crystal Globe trophy.
Giaccio’s previous best year-end finishes were third place in moguls, dual moguls and overall moguls in 2024.
The 25 year old, who often trains in Park City, was a model of consistency this season, podiuming every World Cup competition outside of the one dual moguls event in Val St. Come, Canada, in January. Giaccio finished in sixth and ninth place in the Olympic dual moguls and moguls competitions, respectively, saying she placed too much pressure on herself.
“It was bittersweet,” Giaccio said about the abrupt end to the season. “I was enjoying
competing, really happy with how I was skiing and excited to continue that momentum into the rest of the season. But at the same time, winning the overall Crystal Globe, even two weeks later, is pretty wild.”
She continued, “To some extent, I’m not sure that I’ll actually fully believe it until I have the globe and I’m looking at it in my own two hands.”
Giaccio tied Anthony in the year-end moguls standings, yet Anthony was given that Crystal Globe because she won three World Cups to Giaccio’s one. Giaccio won the season-ending Nanto-Toyama, Japan, World Cup moguls competition and finished in second place in the Nanto-Toyama dual moguls competition, where Anthony finished in 13th and eighth place, respectively, helping launch Giaccio to the top of the overall standings.
“FIS Freestyle had posted an Instagram of the list of Crystal Globe overall winners from the past 15 years,” Giaccio said. “Seeing my name on that list amongst so many people I’d looked up to in mogul skiing for so long, like from a kid growing up in the sport, was pretty surreal.”
Giaccio dealt with injuries toward the end of last season, which cut it short in February of 2025. She credits her resilience battling back from those, her strong prep period leading into the World Cup season and being part of such a tough U.S. women’s team for her consistency and success this season. Giaccio believes there has never been another moguls season with as many twists and turns as this; four of eight World Cups were cancelled, and the Deer Valley World Cup in January was moved to Waterville Valley, New Hampshire.
As Giaccio begins her offseason, she’s looking to take a little more time to herself than she did after the 2022 Beijing Games. She’s presenting at a psychology conference shortly in Boise, Idaho, before heading out to watch some of the U.S. moguls championships in Tahoe next week and mapping out her offseason plans afterward. Giaccio works at the University of Utah’s HEART Lab and is working on her master’s degree in social work online with Columbia University.
“I think last time around at the Olympics or post Olympics, I didn’t necessarily give myself enough grace for that aspect of my life and kind of letting things really settle,” Giaccio said. “So I’m excited to take some time off and enjoy some other avenues in my life: spend more time with friends and at home, enjoy the very summery weather we have right now and then go from there in terms of what to accomplish in the offseason.”
There will be some post-Olympics turnover on the women’s side of the sport. Giaccio loves the high level of the field and plans to be part of it through the 2030 Games.
“I really adore the balance between careers that I have at the moment,” Giaccio said. “It fulfills me quite a bit. I’m excited to see what the next chapter brings for me in both senses.”