The 43rd World Cup season began in late October 2008 in Sölden, Austria, and concluded in mid-March 2009, at the World Cup finals in Åre, Sweden.
Sofia Goggia is an Italian World Cup alpine ski racer who competes in all disciplines and specialises in the speed events of downhill and super-G. She is a two-time Olympic downhill medalist — gold at the 2018 Winter Olympics, the first one for an Italian woman — and four-time World Cup downhill title winner.
The women's downhill in the 2021 FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup consisted of seven events. The original schedule had called for eight downhills, but the World Cup finals race was canceled.
The men's downhill in the 2021 FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup consisted of seven events. The original schedule had contained nine downhills, but a rescheduled one on 5 March in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria, was canceled due to fog and continual snowfall after just nine skiers had finished, and the downhill during World Cup finals week was also canceled.
The women's downhill in the 2022 FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup consisted of nine events including the finals. Defending champion Sofia Goggia of Italy, who won four of the five downhills in which she competed in 2020–21, continued her domination in 2021–22 by again winning four of the first five downhills. Goggia took a commanding lead in the discipline after American Breezy Johnson, who finished second in each of the first three downhills, missed the rest of the season with a knee injury. Goggia then suffered her own knee injury, including a broken bone and ligament tears, while training for the last downhill prior to the 2022 Winter Olympics, but she was able to continue competing within a month and, after all but the final race of the season, had such a commanding lead that only one other competitor even had a theoretical possibility of overtaking her. At the finals, Suter failed to score, and Goggia won her second consecutive discipline championship.
The women's super-G in the 2022 FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup consisted of nine events including the final. Although no Italian woman had ever won the super-G championship, the battle in 2021-22 was between three of them: speed specialists Sofia Goggia and Elena Curtoni plus 2020 overall champion Federica Brignone. Through the first six races, Curtoni had won one, and each of the others had won two. However, Goggia was injured in a crash in the sixth race, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, and missed the next set of speed races as well as the super-G in the 2022 Winter Olympics. The seventh race, which was held days before the Winter Olympics, was skipped by many of the other top competitors, but was won by Brignone, enabling her to open a sizable lead in the discipline, and Brignone was able to clinch the season championship in the next Super-G when neither Curtoni nor Goggia scored points.
The women's downhill in the 2023 FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup consisted of nine events, including the final. The original schedule called for eleven events, but the first two races of the season scheduled for 5 and 6 November 2022 in Zermatt/Cervinia, were canceled due to adverse weather conditions; the FIS decided not to reschedule them. Once the season began, a downhill scheduled in St. Anton on 14 January had to be converted into a Super-G due to the inability to hold a pre-race training run on either of the two days prior to the downhill. However, a subsequent Super-G scheduled at Cortina d'Ampezzo was converted into a downhill, restoring the original schedule.
The women's super-G in the 2023 FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup included eight events, including the final. The original schedule called for nine events, but a scheduled downhill at St. Anton on 14 January was converted to a super-G due to the inability to hold pre-race practice runs on either of the two days prior to the event. A later super-G at Cortina was converted into a downhill to restore the original schedule balance, but then a downhill at Crans Montana on 25 February had to be delayed a day due to fog and dangerous course conditions, and the super-G previously scheduled for that day was cancelled and not rescheduled.
The women's downhill in the 2019 FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup involved eight events, including the season finals in Soldeu, Andorra. Defending discipline champion Sofia Goggia of Italy fractured her ankle prior to the start of the season and missed five of the eight events, ending her chances to repeat. In addition, 2018 runner-up Lindsey Vonn of the USA, who had closed the prior season by winning all of the final four downhills and needed only four more victories to equal Ingemar Stenmark's all-time World Cup victory record, began the season injured and announced her planned retirement at the end of the season, but was hampered during her comeback by her cumulative injuries, and finally retired immediately after the conclusion of the 2019 World Ski Championships.
The women's downhill in the 2018 FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup involved eight events, including the season finale in Åre, Sweden. Before the start of the season, defending discipline champion Ilka Štuhec of Slovakia suffered a season-ending injury. Ultimately, the discipline title ended up as a battle between oft-injured eight-time discipline champion Lindsey Vonn of the USA and rising Italian skier Sofia Goggia. Through five races, Goggia had a 63-point lead over Vonn, who had been hampered with an injury at the start of the season. Vonn won all of the last three races, earning 300 points. .. but Goggia finished second in all three, earning 240 points, to hang on to a three-point victory for the season title.
The women's downhill in the 2017 FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup involved eight events, including the season finale in Aspen, Colorado (USA). Defending champion Lindsey Vonn of the USA was injured during the first half of the season, leaving the championship race wide open. However, Slovenian skier Ilka Štuhec won the first three downhills of the season and ended up carrying a 97-point lead into the finals, meaning that all she needed was either to finish in the top 15 herself or for rising Italian skier Sofia Goggia, who was in second, not to win. As it turned out, Štuhec won the final herself, clinching the discipline title.
The women's downhill competition in the 2016 FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup involved nine events, including the season finale in St. Moritz, Switzerland.
The women's overall competition in the 2024 FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup consisted of 39 events in four disciplines: downhill (DH), super-G (SG), giant slalom (GS), and slalom (SL). The schedule initially was planned to consist of 45 events, but two downhills on the Matterhorn in mid-November 2023 were cancelled due to high winds and not rescheduled. As noted below in the season summary, four more speed races scheduled for February were also cancelled, reducing the total number of season events to 39.
The women's downhill in the 2024 FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup consisted of eight events, including the final. The tentative schedule called for eleven events, but a new event, the team combined, which was scheduled for 16 February 2024 in Crans Montana, was cancelled and converted into an additional downhill on the final schedule, increasing the planned schedule to twelve. However, as discussed below in the season summary, cancellations reduced that number during the season. The season champion was Cornelia Hütter of Austria, ending a string of three straight season triumphs by Sofia Goggia of Italy, who was injured just after the midpoint of the season but still finished third.
The women's super-G in the 2024 FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup consisted of nine events, including the final. One super-G on 10 December in St. Moritz was canceled, but it was rescheduled as a second super-G in Zauchensee on 12 January. As discussed in the season summary below, three more cancellations took place during February, reducing the season to eight races, but one downhill was then converted to a super-G to produce the final total of nine.
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 women's overall competition in the 2025 FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup is currently scheduled to consist of 35 events in four disciplines: downhill (DH), super-G (SG), giant slalom (GS), and slalom (SL). As of 18 January 2025, two races have been cancelled during the season.
The women's giant slalom in the 2025 FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup is scheduled to include ten events, including the final. The season opened in Sölden, Austria on 26 October 2024.
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 women's super-G in the 2025 FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup is scheduled to consist of nine events, including the final. The discipline opened for the season on 15 December in Beaver Creek, Colorado, United States.
