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.
Super giant slalom, or super-G, is a racing discipline of alpine skiing. Along with the faster downhill, it is regarded as a "speed" event, in contrast to the technical events giant slalom and slalom. It debuted as an official World Cup event during the 1983 season and was added to the official schedule of the World Championships in 1987 and the Winter Olympics in 1988.
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.
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.
Ivica Kostelić is a Croatian former alpine ski racer. He specialized in slalom and combined, but was also one of the few alpine World Cup ski racers able to score points in all disciplines. He is the brother of skiing champion Janica Kostelić. In his career he was coached by his father Ante Kostelić, as well as by Kristian Ghedina and Tomislav Krstičević.
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.
Aksel Lund Svindal is a Norwegian former World Cup alpine ski racer. Born in Lørenskog in Akershus county, Svindal is a two-time overall World Cup champion, an Olympic gold medalist in super-G at the 2010 Winter Olympics and in downhill at the 2018 Winter Olympics, and a five-time World Champion in downhill, giant slalom, and super combined. With his victory in the downhill in 2013, Svindal became the first male alpine racer to win titles in four consecutive world championships.
Carlo Janka is a Swiss former alpine ski racer. Born in Obersaxen, in the canton of Graubünden, he had the winter sports facilities right in front of his home. Janka has won gold medals at both the Winter Olympics and the World Championships, as well as one World Cup overall title, one discipline title and also, one unofficial alpine combined title.
Kjetil Jansrud is a Norwegian former World Cup alpine ski racer and Olympic champion. He competed in all alpine disciplines apart from slalom, and his best event was the giant slalom where he has six World Cup podiums and an Olympic silver medal. Since 2012, he had concentrated on the speed events, where all but two of his World Cup victories had come. At the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, he won the super-G and placed third in the downhill. At the World Championships in 2019 at Åre, Jansrud won gold in the downhill. Kjetil is the current host of popular tv reality show Alt for Norge.
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.
Christina Weirather is a retired Liechtensteiner World Cup alpine ski racer. She won a bronze medal in Super-G for Liechtenstein at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang.
The men's giant slalom in the 2021 FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup involved ten events, as scheduled.
The men's overall in the 2021 FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup consisted of 35 events in 5 disciplines: downhill, Super-G, giant slalom, slalom, and parallel. The sixth discipline, Alpine combined, had all three of its events in the 2020–21 season cancelled. The tentative season schedule contained 43 events, but the final schedule cut the season back to 38 events. The continuing danger of the COVID-19 pandemic caused the three Alpine combineds to be canceled in order to keep the speed skiers and the technical skiers separated during the season; additionally, two of the three parallels and the second team parallel (Lech/Zürs) were canceled so that other events could take their place and reduce travel. Ultimately, only three of those final 38 races were canceled -- two downhills and a Super-G -- and two of those were canceled by snowstorms during World Cup finals week, as discussed below.
The men's giant slalom in the 2022 FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup consisted of eight events including the final. At the halfway point of the season, Marco Odermatt of Switzerland had opened a commanding lead in the discipline by winning four of the races and finishing second in the other. The remainder of the season was held in March, after the 2022 Winter Olympics, but in the first post-Olympic event, Odermatt clinched the crystal globe for the season championship.
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 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 giant slalom in the 2023 FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup consisted of ten events including the final. Defending discipline champion Marco Odermatt of Switzerland opened over a 100-point lead in the discipline by winning four of the first five races and finishing third in the other, although he then missed a race due to injury. Odermatt clinched the discipline championship by winning both giant slaloms on 11-12 March in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia.
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 giant slalom in the 2024 FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup consisted of ten events, including the final. The original schedule included 12 events, but two were canceled during the season. Switzerland's Marco Odermatt, the two-time defending champion. not only won his third straight championship but completely dominated, winning 9 of the 10 races in the discipline.
The men's overall in the 2025 FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup is scheduled to consist of 38 events in four disciplines: downhill (DH), super-G (SG), giant slalom (GS), and slalom (SL). After cancellations in both of the prior two seasons, the two downhills scheduled on the Matterhorn in mid-November were removed from the schedule. Thus, for the third straight season, only the four major disciplines will be contested on the World Cup circuit.
