2025 Men's Overall World Cup
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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] 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 Alpine Skiing World Championships will place, this time in Saalbach, Austria during 4–16 February 2025. [3]
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]
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]
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 finals in all disciplines will be held from 22 to 27 March 2025 in Sun Valley, Idaho, United States. [20] 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.
The FIS Alpine Ski World Cup is the top international circuit of alpine skiing competitions, launched in 1966 by a group of ski racing friends and experts which included French journalist Serge Lang and the alpine ski team directors from France and the USA. It was soon backed by International Ski Federation president Marc Hodler during the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships 1966 at Portillo, Chile, and became an official FIS event in the spring of 1967 after the FIS Congress at Beirut, Lebanon.
Marcel Hirscher is an Austrian-born Dutch World Cup alpine ski racer. Hirscher made his World Cup debut in March 2007. He competed primarily in slalom and giant slalom, as well as combined and occasionally in super G. Winner of a record eight consecutive World Cup titles, Hirscher has also won 11 medals at the Alpine Skiing World Championships, seven of them gold, a silver medal in slalom at the 2014 Winter Olympics, and two gold medals in the combined and giant slalom at the 2018 Winter Olympics. Due to his record number of overall titles and many years of extreme dominance of both slalom and giant slalom, he is considered by many, including his former rivals Henrik Kristoffersen, Kjetil Jansrud and Alexis Pinturault, to be the best alpine skier in history. He won a total of 67 World Cup races, ranking second on the male all-time list.
The 47th World Cup season began on 27 October 2012, in Sölden, Austria, and concluded on 17 March 2013, at the World Cup finals in Lenzerheide, Switzerland. The overall titles were won by Marcel Hirscher of Austria and Tina Maze of Slovenia.
Marco Odermatt is a Swiss World Cup alpine ski racer who races in giant slalom, super-G and downhill. He is considered one of the best alpine ski racers of his generation. In addition to the World Cup, Odermatt has competed for Switzerland at two Junior World Championships, three World Championships, and the 2022 Winter Olympics.
The men's giant slalom in the 2021 FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup involved ten events, as scheduled.
The men's giant slalom in the 2020 FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup involved seven events, as the last two scheduled giant slaloms in the season were cancelled.
The men's overall in the 2020 FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup consisted of 36 events in 6 disciplines: downhill (DH), Super-G (SG), giant slalom (GS), slalom (SL), Alpine combined (AC), and parallel (PAR). The season was originally scheduled to have 44 men's races plus a mixed team event, but a race in Japan plus final the seven men's races and the mixed team event were all cancelled, as discussed below.
The men's overall in the 2022 FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup consisted of 37 events in 5 disciplines: downhill, Super-G, giant slalom, slalom, and parallel. The sixth discipline, Alpine combined, had all of its events in the 2021–22 season cancelled due to the schedule disruption cased by the COVID-19 pandemic, which also happened in 2020–21. The schedules were also revamped as a consequence of the pandemic, thus ensuring that the combined number of speed races was the same as the combined number of technical races, with just one parallel race. The season did not have any cancellations.
The men's slalom in the 2022 FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup consisted of ten events including the final. However, the slalom scheduled in Zagreb on 5 January was first delayed until 6 January due to bad weather and then cancelled in the middle of the first run due to additional bad weather, leading to its removal from the schedule. Eventually, however, it was rescheduled for Flachau on 9 March, restoring the season to 10 events.
The men's overall in the 2023 FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup consisted of 38 events in four disciplines: downhill (DH), super-G (SG), giant slalom (GS), and slalom (SL). The fifth and sixth disciplines in FIS ski events, parallel (PAR). and Alpine combined (AC), had all events in the 2022–23 season cancelled, either due to the schedule disruption cased by the COVID-19 pandemic (AC) or due to bad weather (PAR). The original calendar contained 43 events, but in addition to the parallel, four downhills were cancelled over the course of the season.
The men's slalom in the 2023 FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup consisted of ten events, including the discipline final.
The men's slalom competition in the 2016 FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup involved 11 events, including one parallel slalom. However, the city event was moved from Munich on 1 January to Stockholm on 23 February due to organization issues. The last race of the season was at the World Cup finals in St. Moritz.
The men's overall in the 2024 FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup consisted of 35 events in four disciplines: downhill (DH), super-G (SG), giant slalom (GS), and slalom (SL). The season was originally scheduled with 45 events, but the first three events of the season were cancelled due to high winds and heavy snowfall. The cancelled giant slalom was subsequently rescheduled for Aspen on 1 March, and one of the canceled races from Zermatt-Cervinia was rescheduled to Val Gardena/Gröden on 12 December. As discussed under "Season Summary" below, there were additional cancellations and reschedulings after the opening races.
The men's downhill in the 2024 FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup consisted of eight events. The season had been planned with thirteen downhills, but two scheduled downhills on 11/12 November 2023 on the Matterhorn, running from Switzerland (Zermatt) into Italy (Cervinia), were canceled for the second straight year, this time due to heavy snowfall and high winds, and only one has been rescheduled. The two downhill races after that, scheduled in the U.S. at Beaver Creek, Colorado, were also cancelled for the same reason, although they still may be rescheduled—meaning that the downhill season had not completed a race as of early December despite having had four scheduled, with the next attempt being the rescheduled race at Val Gardena/Gröden. One of the Beaver Creek races was rescheduled at Wengen on 11 January 2024. As described in the season summary, two February downhills at Chamonix, France were cancelled later in the season, reducing the total races in the discipline to nine. In the last race of the World Cup season, the final was also cancelled, meaning that seven men's downhills were cancelled during the season and only two of those were rescheduled.
The 2024–25 FIS Alpine Ski World Cup, organised by the International Ski Federation (FIS), is the 59th World Cup season for men and women as the highest level of international alpine skiing competitions.
The men's giant slalom in the 2025 FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup is scheduled to consist of nine events, including the final. The season opened in Sölden, Austria on 27 October 2024. Through the first four events of this season, the discipline has had four different leaders.
The men's slalom in the 2025 FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup is scheduled to consist of twelve events, including the discipline final. The discipline is scheduled to open the season in Levi, Finland, the first time that the men have raced there since before the pandemic. Interestingly, with the return from retirement of Marcel Hirscher and Lucas Braathen, all of the discipline champions for the past 12 years are competing: Hirscher, Henrik Kristoffersen of Norway, Marco Schwarz of Austria, Braathen, and defending champion Manuel Feller of Austria.
The men's downhill in the 2025 FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup is scheduled to consist of nine events, including the finals. Two-time discipline champion Aleksander Aamodt Kilde of Norway, who failed to win last season because he suffered life-threatening injuries on the Lauberhorn downhill course in January 2024, developed a shoulder infection at the surgical site over the summer and needed a second surgery, which is expected to cause him to miss the entire season, making defending discipline champion Marco Odermatt of Switzerland an overwhelming favorite to earn the season championship.
The men's super-G in the 2025 Alpine Skiing World Cup is scheduled to consist of eight events, including the final. The first event of the season is not scheduled until 6 December 2024 in Beaver Creek.