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.
Hermann Maier is an Austrian former World Cup champion alpine ski racer and Olympic gold medalist. Nicknamed the "Herminator", Maier ranks among the greatest alpine ski racers in history, with four overall World Cup titles, two Olympic gold medals, and three World Championship titles. His 54 World Cup race victories – 24 super-G, 15 downhills, 14 giant slaloms, and 1 combined – rank third on the men's all-time list behind Ingemar Stenmark's 86 victories and Marcel Hirscher's 67 victories. Until 2023 he held the record for the most points in one season by a male alpine skier, with 2000 points from the 2000 season. From 2000–2013 he also held the title of most points in one season by any alpine skier, until Tina Maze scored 2414 points in the 2013 season.
Janica Kostelić is a Croatian former alpine ski racer. She is a four-time Olympic gold medalist. In addition to the Olympics, she won five gold medals at the World Championships. In World Cup competition, she won thirty individual races, three overall titles, three slalom titles, and four combined titles. Kostelic's accomplishments in professional skiing have led some commentators, writers, and fellow ski racers to regard her as the greatest female ski racer of all time.
Tina Maze is a retired Slovenian World Cup alpine ski racer. She is the most successful Slovenian ski racer in history with a career that culminated with two gold medals at the 2014 Winter Olympics. Maze was awarded the title of the Slovenian Sportswoman of the Year in 2005, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014 and 2015, and with her four medals she is the most decorated Slovenian athlete at the Winter Olympics.
Lindsey Caroline Vonn is an American World Cup alpine ski racer. She won four World Cup overall championships – third amongst female skiers to Annemarie Moser-Pröll and Mikaela Shiffrin – with three consecutive titles in 2008, 2009, and 2010, plus another in 2012. Vonn won the gold medal in downhill at the 2010 Winter Olympics, the first one for an American woman. She also won a record eight World Cup season titles in the downhill discipline, five titles in super-G, and three consecutive titles in the combined (2010–2012). In 2016, she won her 20th World Cup crystal globe title, the overall record for men or women, surpassing Ingemar Stenmark of Sweden, who won 19 globes from 1975 to 1984. She has the third highest super ranking of all skiers, men or women.
Alpine skiing has been contested at every Winter Olympics since 1936, when a combined event was held in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.
Combined is an event in alpine ski racing. The event format has changed within the last 30 years. A traditional combined competition is a two-day event consisting of one run of downhill and two runs of slalom; each discipline takes place on a separate day. The winner is the skier with the fastest aggregate time. Until the 1990s, a complicated point system was used to determine placings in the combined event. Since then, a modified version, called either an "alpine combined" or a "super combined", has been run as an aggregate time event consisting of two runs: first, a one-run speed event and then only one run of slalom, with both portions held on the same day.
Luxembourg sent a delegation to compete at the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway from 12–27 February 1994. The nation was making its fifth appearance at a Winter Olympic Games. The Luxembourgian delegation to Lillehammer consisted of a single athlete, alpine skier Marc Girardelli. His best performance in any event was fourth in the Super-G; he also finished fifth in the downhill and ninth in the combined. As well, he failed to finish the giant slalom, and was disqualified from the slalom.
Maria Höfl-Riesch is a former German alpine ski racer. She is a three-time Olympic champion, two-time World champion, an overall World Cup champion and five-time World junior champion.
Alpine skiing at the 2010 Winter Olympics was held in Canada at Whistler Creekside in Whistler, British Columbia, north of Vancouver. The ten events were scheduled for 13–27 February; weather delayed the first event, the men's downhill, two days until Monday, 15 February.
The women's alpine skiing combined event was part of the alpine skiing at the 1948 Winter Olympics programme. It was the second appearance of the event. The competition consisted of a downhill race held on Monday, February 2, 1948, and two slalom heats held on Wednesday, February 4, 1948. Twenty-eight alpine skiers from ten nations competed.
Anna Veith is an Austrian former alpine ski racer and Olympic gold medalist. She was the overall World Cup champion for the 2014 and 2015 seasons.
The 45th World Cup season began on 23 October 2010, in Sölden, Austria, and concluded on 20 March 2011, at the World Cup finals in Lenzerheide, Switzerland.
The 48th World Cup season began on 26 October 2013, in Sölden, Austria, and concluded on 16 March 2014 at the World Cup finals in Lenzerheide, Switzerland. The defending overall champions from the 2013 season were Marcel Hirscher of Austria and Tina Maze of Slovenia. The overall titles were won by Hirscher and Anna Fenninger, also of Austria. The season was interrupted by the 2014 Winter Olympics that took place from 7 to 23 February in Sochi, Russia, with the alpine events at Rosa Khutor.
The women's super-G competition of the Sochi 2014 Olympics was held at the Rosa Khutor Alpine Resort near Krasnaya Polyana, Russia, on Saturday, 15 February. Anna Fenninger from Austria won the race, getting her first Olympic medal. Maria Höfl-Riesch of Germany won the silver medal, and Nicole Hosp of Austria finished third. Of the 2010 medalists, only Tina Maze participated and finished fifth.
The men's combined competition of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi was held on Friday, 14 February, at Rosa Khutor Alpine Resort near Krasnaya Polyana, Russia.
From August 19, 2013 to March 23, 2014, the following skiing events took place at various locations around the world.
The men's downhill competition of the PyeongChang 2018 Olympics was held on Thursday, 15 February, at the Jeongseon Alpine Centre in PyeongChang. Scheduled for Sunday, 11 February, winds in excess of 50 km/h (31 mph) forced officials to postpone the race four days.
The men's combined competition of the PyeongChang 2018 Olympics was held on 13 February 2018 at the Jeongseon Alpine Centre and the Yongpyong Alpine Centre at the Alpensia Sports Park in PyeongChang.
