The men's overall in the 2025 FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup is scheduled to consist of 38 events in four disciplines: downhill (DH) (9 races), super-G (SG) (8 races), giant slalom (GS) (9 races), and slalom (SL) (12 races).[1] As of 23 February 2025, no races had been cancelled from the schedule, although one had to be rescheduled. Swiss three-event star Marco Odermatt easily won his fourth consecutive overall title, along with both the super-G and giant slalom disciplines, all prior to the finals, and he was also leading in the downhill discipline with only the finals remaining.
After cancellations in both of the prior two seasons, the two downhills scheduled on the Matterhorn in mid-November were removed from the schedule.[2] Thus, for the third straight season, only the four major disciplines will be contested on the World Cup circuit.
As is the case every other year, the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships 2025 took place, this time in Saalbach, Austria during 4–16 February 2025.[3] The Swiss men's team excelled, winning 10 of a possible 18 medals. Gold medals were won by (all Swiss unless otherwise noted) Franjo von Allmen in the downhill, Odermatt in the super-G, Raphael Haaser of Austria in the giant slalom, Loïc Meillard in the slalom, von Allmen and Meillard in the team combined, and Italy (including Filippo Della Vite and Alex Vinatzer) in the mixed-team parallel; Meillard, with two golds and a bronze in giant slalom, was the only man to win three medals.
Season Summary
Although Marco Odermatt of Switzerland had won the last three overall titles, his path to a fourth straight title would need to get past two new obstacles returning from their retirements, both of whom are sponsored by Red Bull, which is headquartered in Austria. First, Lucas Braathen of Norway, who won the 2023 slalom discipline title (and finished fourth overall that season) before retiring over a dispute with the national team over his individual commercial rights changed his sponsoring nation to Brazil, his mother's home nation, with the approval of Norway and added his Portuguese middle name (Pinheiro) to his FIS registration.[4] Second, Marcel Hirscher of Austria, who retired from Alpine skiing in 2019 after winning eight consecutive men's overall titles, decided to return after five years away from the sport . . . but, like Braathen, for his mother's home nation: the Netherlands (again, with the approval of Austria).[5] However, Hirscher suffered a season-ending tear of a cruciate ligament in December during training and expressed some doubt about whether he'd return for the 2026 season,[6]
Early season
By placing second in each of the first two technical events (a giant slalom in Sölden and a slalom in Levi), two-time overall runner-up Henrik Kristoffersen of Norway jumped into the overall lead at the start of the season, ahead of his countryman Alexander Steen Olsen, who was leading after winning the giant slalom.[7] In the third technical event, another slalom, Kristoffersen only finished sixth, allowing 2022 Olympic slalom gold medalist Clément Noël, who won both of the first two slaloms of the season, to tie Kristoffersen for the overall lead through three races.[8]
After a week off, the men moved to Beaver Creek, Colorado (United States) for three races (DH, SG, GS). Defending overall champion Marco Odermatt of Switzerland was favored in each of the three races, and he won the super-G for his 38th World Cup victory,[9] but he was unset by his teammate Justin Murisier in downhill.[10] In the giant slalom, Kristoffersen's fifth-place finish (worth 45 points) was sufficient to put him in solo first pace, with Thomas Tumler of Switzerland collecting his first World Cup win and Odermatt once again failing to complete both runs.[11] Odermatt finally won a giant slalom this season when the World Cup circuit returned to Europe at Val d'Isère, France; however, Kristoffersen narrowly retained the overall lead over Odermatt.[12] Then, after an almost two-year victory drought, Kristoffersen won the slalom in Val d'Isére to stretch his lead to over 100 points, with his Norwegian teammate Atle Lie McGrath edging out Odermatt for second place.[13]
The last four races before Christmas took place in Italy (Val Gardena for speed and Alta Badia for technical), and Odermatt's victories in both downhill and giant slalom, plus a third in super-G, returned him to the top of the leaderboard before Christmas, as well as establishing him as the male Swiss skier with the most World Cup victories (41, one more than Pirmin Zurbriggen).[14]
Mid-season
Although Odermatt has consistently held the lead in the overall standings since seizing it, he was not able to establish his usual dominance over his rivals, particularly Kristoffersen. At Bormio (Italy) in the week between Christmas and New Years, the downhill and super-G were both won by first-time World Cup winners: Alexis Monney of Switzerland[15] and Fredrik Møller of Norway,[16] respectively, and the first race after New Years, a slalom in Madonna di Campiglio (Italy) was won by another first-time winner, Albert Popov of Bulgaria, recording his country's second-ever World Cup win and first in exactly 45 years.[17] At Adelboden, a slalom victory by Noël (his third of the season) and a podium finish by Kristoffersen brought Kristoffersen back to within 56 points of Odermatt,[18] but a come-from-behind win by Odermatt in the next day's giant slalom (his third consecutive in the discipline), followed immediately by Kristoffersen failing to finish the second run, restored Odermatt's substantial lead.[19]
The next two weeks were the traditional downhill/super-G/slalom races at Wengen, Switzerland (the Lauberhorn ski races) and Kitzbühel, Austria (the Hahnenkammrennen). Odermatt won the downhill at Wengen and the super-G at Kitzbühel, while Kristoffersen's best finish was a third in the slalom at Wengen, enabling Odermatt to pad his lead.[20][21] Odermatt's Swiss teammate Franjo von Allmen was also successful at Wengen, winning his first-ever World Cup race in the super-G and placing second in the downhill,[22] while the Canadians James Crawford and Cameron Alexander pulled a surprising upset in the downhill at Kitzbühel, with Crawford also picking up his first World Cup win.[23] In the slaloms, Wengen offered a Norwegian sweep, with the win going to Atle Lie McGrath,[24] while Kitzbühel featured Noël's return to the top step of the podium for the fourth time this season.[25]
Two days later, racing in the technical events resumed under the lights at Schlamding, Austria, with a Norwegian sweep: Alexander Steen Olsen in the giant slalom, his second win of the season (with Kristoffersen second and Odermatt third),[26] and Timon Haugan in the slalom, also with his second win of the season (with Kristoffersen taking over the season lead in the discipline).[27] The final race scheduled before worlds, a downhill in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, had to be cancelled when fog wiped out both training runs;[28] the race was quickly rescheduled at Kvitfjell in March.[29]
Late season: Odermatt once again, despite Kristoffersen's chase
In the first set of races after worlds, a speed weekend in Crans Montana, Switzerland, Odermatt put up another 180 points on hime snow by finishing second in the downhill to his teammate von Allmen[30] and then winning the super-G.[31] Kristoffersen fought back with a 140-point gain at Kransja Gora, Slovenia by winning both the giant slalom (with Odermatt third) and the slalom.[32][33] But the next racing weekend at Kvitfjell, Norway comprised two downhills and a super-G; although Dominik Paris of Italy won two of the races,[34][35] and Odermatt's teammate Von Allmen won the third,[36], Odermatt posted two seconds and a fourth for 210 points, which left him with a 570-point lead with only 600 points still to go -- meaning that Kristoffersen would have to win all the six remaining races while Odermatt was limited to no more than 30 points. And in the very next race, a giant slalom in Hafjell, Norway, Odermatt finished second while Kristoffersen finished 16th, ending the battle for the overall title and setting up a battle for second between Kristoffersen and race victor Loïc Meillard, also of Switzerland, who had starred at the World Championships and now rose to third, just 130 points behind.[37]
Finals
The finals in all disciplines will be held from 22 to 27 March 2025 in Sun Valley, Idaho, United States.[38] Only the top 25 skiers in each World Cup discipline and the winner of the Junior World Championship in the discipline, plus any skiers who have scored at least 500 points in the World Cup overall classification for the season, are eligible to compete in the final, and only the top 15 finishers earn World Cup points.
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