Giant slalom (GS) is an alpine skiing and alpine snowboarding competitive discipline. It involves racing between sets of poles ("gates") spaced at a greater distance from each other than in slalom but less than in Super-G.
Marc Girardelli is an Austrian–Luxembourger former alpine ski racer, a five-time World Cup overall champion who excelled in all five alpine disciplines.
Theodore Sharp Ligety is a retired American alpine ski racer, a two-time Olympic gold medalist, and an entrepreneur, having cofounded Shred Optics. Ligety won the combined event at the 2006 Olympics in Turin and the giant slalom race at the 2014 Olympics in Sochi. He is also a five-time World Cup champion in giant slalom. Ligety won the gold medal in the giant slalom at the 2011 World Championships. He successfully defended his world title in giant slalom in 2013 in Schladming, Austria, where he also won an unexpected gold medal in the super-G and a third gold medal in the super combined.
Gustav Thöni is an Italian retired alpine ski racer.
Michaela Kirchgasser is a retired Austrian alpine ski racer. She raced in the technical events of slalom and giant slalom, and also the combined.
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.
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.
Alexis Pinturault is a French World Cup alpine ski racer and Olympic medalist.
The 46th World Cup season began on 22 October 2011, in Sölden, Austria, and concluded on 18 March 2012, at the World Cup finals in Schladming, Austria.
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.
Mikaela Pauline Shiffrin is an American World Cup alpine skier who has the most World Cup wins of any alpine skier in history. She is considered one of the greatest alpine skiers of all time. She is a two-time Olympic Gold Medalist, a five-time Overall World Cup champion, a four-time world champion in slalom, and an eight-time winner of the World Cup discipline title in that event. Shiffrin, at 18 years and 345 days, is the youngest slalom gold medalist in Olympic history.
Fritz Dopfer is a German former World Cup alpine ski racer, specializing in the technical events of giant slalom and slalom.
Stefan Luitz is a German World Cup alpine ski racer. He primarily competes in giant slalom, but in January 2016 at Kitzbühel, Luitz completed both runs in slalom, a first in his World Cup career, and finished eighteenth. His only previous second run in slalom was more than three years earlier, in December 2012 at Madonna di Campiglio, where he failed to finish.
Mathieu Faivre is a French World Cup alpine ski racer, and specializes in giant slalom. He has competed for France in two Winter Olympics and six World Championships. In 2021, he won two gold medals for world titles in giant slalom and parallel giant slalom.
The International Ski Federation (FIS) Alpine World Cup tour is the premier circuit for alpine skiing competition. The inaugural season launched in January 1967, and the 2016 season marked the 50th consecutive year for the FIS. This World Cup season began on 24 October 2015, in Sölden, Austria, and concluded in Saint Moritz, Switzerland on 20 March 2016. The World Ski Championship, a biennial event, did not interrupt this competitive season, and the upcoming World Championships were held Saint Moritz, Switzerland in February 2017
Marco Schwarz is an Austrian World Cup alpine ski racer. He focuses on the technical events of slalom and giant slalom, as well as the combined.
Marta Bassino is an Italian World Cup alpine ski racer. She competes in all disciplines, with a focus in giant slalom, in which she has six World Cup wins.
Loïc Meillard is a Swiss World Cup alpine ski racer and specializes in the technical events of slalom and giant slalom.
Stefan Brennsteiner is an Austrian World Cup alpine ski racer, and specializes in giant slalom. He has competed in two Winter Olympics and three World Championships.
The men's giant slalom in the 2019 FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup involved nine events, including a parallel giant slalom. After this season, all parallel races were moved into a separate discipline. Marcel Hirscher of Austria won three of the first four races this season and easily won the discipline for the fifth straight season, his sixth total win in this discipline, on his way to his eighth straight overall World Cup championship.
