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 (Honore Bonnet) and the USA (Bob Beattie). 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.
The inaugural World Cup race was held On 5 January 1967 in Berchtesgaden, West Germany, a slalom won by Heinrich Messner of Austria. Jean-Claude Killy of France and Nancy Greene of Canada were the overall winners for the first two seasons.
Rules
Competitors attempt to achieve the best time in four disciplines: slalom, giant slalom, super G, and downhill. The fifth event, the combined, employs the downhill and slalom. The World Cup originally included only slalom, giant slalom, and downhill races. Combined events (calculated using results from selected downhill and slalom races) were included starting with the 1974–75 season, while the Super G was added for the 1982–83 season.
The current scoring system was implemented in the 1991–92 season. For every race points are awarded to the top 30 finishers: 100 points to the winner, 80 for second, 60 for third, winding down to 1 point for 30th place. The racer with the most points at the end of the season in mid-March wins the cup, represented by a 9 kilogram crystal globe. Sub-prizes are also awarded in each individual race discipline, with a smaller 3.5 kg crystal globe.
The World Cup is held annually, and is considered the premier competition for alpine ski racing after the quadrennial Winter Olympics. Many consider the World Cup to be a more valuable title than the Olympics or the biennial World Championships, since it requires a competitor to ski at an extremely high level in several disciplines throughout the season, and not just in one race.
Races are hosted primarily at ski resorts in the Alps in Europe, with regular stops in Scandinavia, North America, and east Asia, but a few races have also been held in the Southern Hemisphere. World Cup competitions have been hosted in 25 countries around the world: Andorra, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States.
Lower competitive circuits include the NorAm Cup in North America and the Europa Cup in Europe.
Overall winners
Multiple individual overall World Cup winners are marked with (#).
Individual
Individual titles by country
Men overall titles
The following skiers have at least three overall alpine World Cup titles.
Women overall titles
The following skiers have at least three overall alpine World Cup titles.
Discipline titles
Top ten small crystal globe podiums
Men
Women
Most small globes per discipline
Combined crystal globes were officially awarded from 2007 to 2012. Here are counted all season titles, official and unofficial. The records for most World Cup titles in each discipline are as follows:
Men
Women
Men's season titles
Women's season titles
Most race wins in each discipline
As of 16 March 2023
Men
Women
Hosts
Men's
Total
Downhill
Super-G
Giant slalom
Slalom
Updated: 28 October 2023
Women's
Total
Downhill
Super-G
Giant slalom
Slalom
Most races won
A common measurement of how good individual skiers are is the total number of World Cup races won during their skiing career. The following skiers have won at least 20 World Cup races:
Men
update: 28 October 2023
Women
Most podiums and top ten results
As of 19 March 2023.
Career podiums
Career top ten results
Note: Only parallel events from (1975, 1997, 2011–2013, 2016) which count for overall ranking, included on this list, are considered as official individual World Cup victories.
Greatest alpine skiers of all time
Based on ski-database super ranking system (since 1966), this scoring system is calculated using points from three categories: Olympic Games, World Championships, and World Cup (overall titles, discipline titles and individual top ten results).