The Team Combined is a new event at the Alpine World Ski Championships Saalbach 2025 that made its debut at the FIS Alpine Junior World Ski Championships 2023 in St. Anton am Arlberg.
2025 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships
Tuesday, February 11. 1 run 10:00 / 2 run 13:15 CET Team Combined Women
Wednesday, February 12. 1 run 10:00 / 2 run 13:15 CET Team Combined Men
For the first time in the history of the World Championships, the program in Saalbach 2025 will include a Team Combined event. This format will officially debut at the senior level during the 2025 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships in Saalbach, following its trials at the Junior World Ski Championships in 2023 and 2024.
Like in the individual format, the Team Combined event includes two runs: a Downhill (or Super G) and a Slalom. Both runs must take place on the same day.
In the Team Combined, one competitor races the speed discipline and the other the Slalom.
Each participating nation can field up to four teams, with two skiers per team of the same gender.
Each competitor is allowed to start only in one event. The competitors that make up the team must be named before the draw of the race. No changes can be made after the draw.
The times are added together and the fastest team wins. In the first run, the races are run according to starting numbers. In the second run, the fastest 30 starts in reverse order, as in a classic Slalom or Giant Slalom.
The starting order for the second run is determined by the result list of the 1st run except for the first 30 places which will start in reversed order.
A competitor will not be permitted to start the 2nd run if his teammate was DSQ, DNS, NPS, or DNF on the first run. If one of the two athletes fails or is disqualified in their discipline, the team is eliminated.
The Team Combined (Super-G and Slalom) is said to have received a positive response at its premiere at the FIS Alpine Junior World Ski Championships 2023 in St. Anton am Arlberg.
The 2024 Alpine Junior World Ski Championships were held at Haute-Savoie in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, France. It was the second time the Team Combined was on the program.
The discipline has never been tried at the World Cup level. FIS included the Team Combined in the race calendar for the 2023-2024 season. But after the reaction of the skiers, FIS pulled the handbrake and removed the Team Combined from the calendar shortly before the season started. They wanted to take "more time to analyze and develop detailed rules," it said in a statement.
US star Mikaela Shiffrin will compete in the new Team Combined at the World Championships in Saalbach-Hinterglemm on Tuesday with the new Downhill world champion Breezy Johnson. Meanwhile, Lindsey Vonn will make a Team with AJ Hurt and Lauren Macuga with Paula Moltzan.
Swiss Lara Gut-Behrami with Wendy Holdener is one of the top favorite Teams. Another strong Swiss team consists of Corinne Suter and Camille Rast.
The pairs Mirjam Puchner and Katharina Liensberger, Cornelia Hütter, and Katharina Huber, as well as Stephanie Venier and Katharina Truppe, are also strong candidates for winning gold.
Emma Aicher and Lena Dürr from Germany will also be among the top contenders.
Ski Austria announced its line-up for the Men's Team Combined on Wednesday. Four duos will compete; Vincent Kriechmayr with Manuel Feller, Daniel Hemetsberger with Fabio Gstrein, Stefan Babinsky with Marco Schwarz, and Stefan Eichberger with Dominik Raschner.
Now the time has come: the Team Combined is a new competition at the Ski World Championships. FIS hopes to develop a new, attractive discipline - which will also be integrated into the World Cup in the long term.
The winners of the Alpine Combined at the Courchevel Meribel 2023 Alpine World Ski Championships Alexis Pinturault and Federica Brignone will remain the last gold medal winners in the discipline.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) also announced the replacement of the Classic Combined with a Team Combined at the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026. Johannes Strolz from Austria and Michelle Gisin from Switzerland, at the 2022 Games in Beijing, will therefore remain the last gold medal winners in the classic Olympic combined before the new format comes into force.
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