The 59th edition of the FIS Alpine Ski World Cup kicks in October 26-27, 2024, with the Opening Giant Slalom races in Sölden, Austria, and will end in March 27, 2025, at the Finals in Sun Valley (USA).
The highlight of the coming season will be the World Championships in Saalbach-Hinterglemm. The 48th Alpine World Ski Championships will be held in Saalbach from February 4th to 16th, 2025.
The imbalance between speed and technical races in the 2024-2025 FIS Alpine Ski World Cup Calendar is likely to cause discussions through the winter season.
The Men's calendar is a little more unbalanced this season with 17 Speed and 21 Tech events, including 9 Downhills and 8 Super-Gs, as well as 9 Giant Slalom and 12 Slalom events.
On the Women's side, a slightly more balanced calendar, with 17 Speed and 20 Tech events, was presented including 8 Downhills, 9 Super-Gs, plus 10 Giant Slalom and Slalom events.
Lara Gut-Behrami and Marco Odermatt are the defending Overall Champions.
Lara Gut-Behrami had a sensational 2023-2024 winter season, earning 16 podiums, including eight victories. She was a true overall skier last season, as her victories came in three disciplines: Downhill, Super-G, and Giant Slalom.
The skier from Ticino won the Overall, Super-G, and Giant Slalom titles. Gut-Behrami is the first Swiss woman to win three different World Cup classifications in a single season since Vreni Schneider won the Slalom, Giant Slalom, and Overall World Cup in 1994-1995.
Asked about her goals for the season during an online press conference held on September 30, Lara Gut-Behrami explained (she) "just wants to ski as fast as possible. As we've seen last season, many things have to come together to win the overall World Cup."
Marco Odermatt won the Overall, Downhill, Super-G, and Giant Slalom Globes. The 26-year-old Swiss Ace has won the Overall Crystal Globe three consecutive times: 2021-2022, 2022-2023, and 2023-2024. He finished the 2023-2024 winter season with 9 Crystal Globes (3 Overall, 1 in Downhill, 2 in Super-G, and 3 in Giant Slalom).
The last man to win at least four World Cup Crystal Globes in a single season was Hermann Maier in 1999-2000 and 2001-2001 (Overall, Downhill, Giant Slalom, and Super-G in both seasons).
With 13 wins Marco Odermatt has equaled the Men's record for most World Cup wins in a single season, set by Ingemar Stenmark (1978-1979), Hermann Maier (2000-2001), Marcel Hirscher (2017-2018), and Odermatt himself in 2022-2023.
The dominator of the last three seasons is looking for his fourth big crystal globe. The biggest competition would come from his Team. "Technically, Loïc Meillard is currently one of the best, if not the best, skiers. He can also win in three disciplines," Odermatt said in an interview for Blick.
Cornelia Hütter won the last Downhill race of the 2023-2024 winter season and claimed the Downhill Crystal Globe. The last time an Austrian skier led the Downhill standings was in 2019 when Nicole Schmidhofer won in front of an Austrian trio of Stephanie Venier and Ramona Siebenhofer.
Cornelia Hütter became the first Austrian woman to win a World Cup Downhill event in Austria since Christine Scheyer triumphed in Altenmarkt-Zauchensee on January 15, 2017.
The 31-year-old Styrian skier won in Saalbach her first Downhill race in over six years and took home her maiden Crystal Globe.
Huetter has finished on the podium in three of the eight Downhill events this season including one win in the Alpine Ski World Cup Finals in Saalbach. It was her sixth World Cup victory and the second in the Downhill. Her previous win was in Lake Louise back in 2017. She achieved 15 of her 28 World Cup podiums in the Downhill discipline.
2023-2024 was the best season in Huetter's career finishing 5th in the Overall standings, first in the Downhill, and third in the Super-G.
Marco Odermatt secured the Men’s Downhill Crystal Globe after the final race of the 2023-2024 winter season in Saalbach was canceled due to adverse weather. It's Odermatt’s first Downhill Globe and secures the speed double for the Swiss ski Ace.
The last Swiss skier to win the Downhill Crystal Globe was Beat Feuz, who won four in a row between 2017-2018 and 2020-2021.
Odermatt added the Downhill World Cup title to his Overall, Super-G, and Giant Slalom Globes. The last man to win at least four World Cup Crystal Globes in a single season was Hermann Maier in 1999-2000 and 2001-2001 (Overall, Downhill, Giant Slalom, and Super-G in both seasons).
The only Swiss man to win at least four World Cup classifications in a single season was Pirmin Zurbriggen in 1986-1987. He won the Overall, Combination, Super-G, Downhill, and Giant Slalom titles.
Mikaela Shiffrin secured her eighth Slalom Crystal Globe by winning the Åre Slalom on March 10th tying her with Lindsey Vonn (Downhill) and Ingemar Stenmark (Slalom and Giant Slalom), who also hold eight discipline Globes. Marcel Hirscher won the Men's Overall World Cup Crystal Globe eight times.
Mikaela Shiffrin won the Slalom Crystal Globe in 2012-2013, 2013-2014, 2014-2015, 2016-2017, 2017-2018, 2018-2019, 2022-2023, and 2023-2024.
The 29-year-old US skier has won seven (Levi, Killington, Lienz, Flachau, Jasna, Åre, and Saalbach) of the 11 Women's World Cup Slalom events last season. She only claimed more World Cup Slalom wins in the 2018-2019 winter season (8). Shiffrin won all Slalom races she started in the 2023-2024 winter season with three exceptions: Levi, Courchevel, and Kranjska Gora.
Manuel Feller's second place in Saalbach capped off a dominant season for the Austrian skier. He was Mr. Consistency finishing inside the Top-5 in all ten Men's World Cup Slalom events last season, including four victories in Gurgl, Adelboden, Wengen, and Palisades Tahoe. He is the first man to win four World Cup Slalom events in a single season since Marcel Hirscher won five times in 2018-2019.
Feller secured the World Cup Slalom Crystal Globe after the World Cup Slalom event in Kranjska Gora was canceled on March 6th.
31-year-old Manuel Feller became the oldest winner of the Slalom Crystal Globe on the Men's side since Ivica Kostelic won in 2010-2011 at the same age.
It was Feller’s biggest career achievement after winning the silver medal in Slalom at the 2017 World Championships in St. Moritz, Switzerland.
Before 2024 the closest he came to winning a World Cup Crystal Globe was in 2021-2022 when he finished runner-up in the Slalom standings 90 points behind Henrik Kristoffersen.
Lara Gut-Behrami finished in 10th position in the last race of the 2023-2024 winter season held in Saalbach, enough to secure the Giant Slalom and Overall Crystal Globes. It was her first Giant Slalom title.
Gut-Behrami became the first woman representing Switzerland to win the Giant Slalom Crystal Globe since Sonja Nef in 2001-2002.
The 33-year-old Swiss has competed in eleven Giant Slalom World Cup events this season, and finished on the podium in seven, including four wins (Sölden, Killington, Kronplatz, and Soldeu). Until Saalbach, her worst result last season was sixth place in Lienz and Jasna. She records four wins in a discipline in a single World Cup season for the third time, following four Super-G victories in 2013-2014, and 2020-2021.
Marco Odermatt secured the Giant Slalom Crystal Globe in Aspen on March 1st. He was again the absolute dominator of the discipline. He is the reigning Olympic Champion, World Champion, and World Cup winner in the Men's Giant Slalom for the third consecutive time.
Odermatt (2021-2022, 2022-2023, and 2023-2024) became the third Swiss male skier to win the Giant Slalom World Cup standings at least three times, after Michael von Grüningen (4) and Pirmin Zurbriggen (3).
The 26-year-old Swiss competed in ten Men's Giant Slalom World Cup events last season and won nine (Val d'Isère, Alta Badia (2), Adelboden, Schladming, Bansko, Palisades Tahoe, and Aspen (2). Only Ingmar Stenmark (10 in 1978-1979) has won more Giant Slalom races in a single season.
Lara Gut-Behrami finished in 7th place in the last race of the 2023-2024 winter season in Saalbach and clinched the Super-G Crystal Globe. Gut-Behrami joined the Club of Super-G stars with her fifth Crystal Globe (2014, 2016, 2021, 2023, and 2024). German Katja Seizinger (1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, and 1998) and American Lindsey Vonn (2009,2010, 2011, 2012, and 2015) are the other two women in this exclusive group.
The skier from Ticino has finished on the podium in six of the nine Super-G events this season including three victories in Altenmarkt-Zauchensee, Cortina d'Ampezzo, and Kvitfjell (she DNF in Val d'Isère, finished in 6th place in Crans Montana, and in 7th place in Saalbach).
Gut-Behrami (22) is second for most World Cup Super-G wins among women, only trailing Lindsey Vonn (28). Gut-Behrami (39) sits third for most podium finishes, trailing only Lindsey Vonn (46) and Renate Götschl (41).
Marco Odermatt finished in fifth place in the last Super-G of the 2023-2024 winter season in Saalbach securing the discipline Crystal Globe.
Odermatt became the first male skier to win the Super-G Crystal Globe in successive seasons since Kjetil Jansrud won it in 2016-2017 and 2017-2018. The only Swiss man to have topped the Super-G World Cup standings more than once was Pirmin Zurbriggen who has won it four times.
The skier from Nidwalden finished on the podium in five of the seven Super-G events this season including two victories in Bormio, and Garmisch Partenkirchen.
The 26-year-old Swiss Ace is the fourth man to win at least 12 World Cup Super-G World Cup races, after Hermann Maier (24), Aksel Lund Svindal (17), and Kjetil Jansrud (13).
Update 09.26.2024: In September Marco Schwarz suffered another setback. He canceled the training camp in Chile and the "big setback" came, as Schwarz called it in a media round. He suffered a slipped disc and an operation was unavoidable. Instead of continuing to work on his comeback, Schwarz will miss most of next season, even the home Alpine World Ski Championships in Saalbach.
Update 09.27.2024: At the FIS Committee meeting in Zurich in September, it was confirmed that the Dutch federation's request for a wild card for Marcel Hirscher, submitted during the summer, is valid and meets the requirements. This means that Hirscher can take part in the first competition of the season in Soelden.
Update 10.09.2024: Niels Hintermann will not compete in the Alpine Skiing World Cup next winter. The Swiss speed specialist will miss the season for health reasons: he suffers from cancer in his lymph nodes. The positive aspect of this drama is that because the disease was discovered at an early stage, the chances of recovery are very good according to the doctors.
Update 10.11.2024: Sofia Goggia plans to return to the Alpine Ski World Cup at the speed opening just before Christmas. "If everything goes well, I would like to compete again in Beaver Creek in mid-December ," said the 31-year-old on Friday at Milan's Italian Winter Sports Federation (FISI) media day.
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