2024 Alpine Skiing World Cup – Men's overall

The men's overall in the 2024 FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup consisted of 35 events in four disciplines: downhill (DH) (8 races), super-G (SG) (7 races), giant slalom (GS) (10 races), and slalom (SL) (10 races). The season was originally scheduled with 45 events, but the first three events of the season (a giant slalom on the glacier at Sölden and two downhills on the Matterhorn) were cancelled due to high winds and heavy snowfall.[1][2] The cancelled giant slalom was subsequently rescheduled for Aspen on 1 March,[3] and one of the canceled races from Zermatt-Cervinia (the Matterhorn) 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.

2024 Men's Overall World Cup
  • Marco Odermatt of Switzerland, overall champion for the third straight season.
Previous: 2023 Next: 2025

As is the case every fourth year, there were no other major FIS events (world championships or Olympics) taking place during this season.[4] The fifth and sixth current FIS disciplines, parallel (PAR) and Alpine combined (AC), were eliminated from future World Cup schedules due to a lack of participation or interest in staging these events, and a new event that had been contemplated on the tentative schedule for the season, a team combined (which had been planned for 20 January 2024 at Kitzbühel), was also eliminated and replaced with an additional downhill.[4] Thus, for the second straight season, only the four major disciplines were contested.

Season Summary edit

Because of the three straight cancellations to start the season, the only race held before December 2023 was a slalom at Gurgl, won by the Austrian skier Manuel Feller, who thus held the overall lead. The next three races after that, speed events scheduled for Beaver Creek in the U.S., were also cancelled due to high winds and heavy snowfall, bringing the total to six cancellations with only one race held.[5] When the second race was finally contested, all-discipline skier (and 2021 slalom champion) Marco Schwarz of Austria took over the overall lead by finishing second again, with Feller in second overall.[6] However, the very next race, a slalom, was again cancelled due to overnight rains followed by new snow and high winds, bringing the number of cancelled races to seven (and now including each of the four disciplines).[7]

The first speed races were finally held on 14–16 December, and the "battle of the Marcos" was finally underway. Swiss two-time defending overall champion Marco Odermatt's two third-place finishes in the first two speed races propelled him past Schwarz, who only managed a fifth, and into the overall lead by 15 points.[8] At Alta Badia, Odermatt extended his dominance in giant slalom to six in a row, winning both races and jumping out to a lead over Schwarz of 92 points, with everyone else at least 250 points down.[9] However, Schwarz's victory in the next race, a slalom (the only discipline in which Odermatt does not compete) moved Schwarz into the overall lead for the season by 8 points.[10] In the very next race, a downhill in Bormio, the "Battle of the Marcos" came to an end for the season, when Schwarz suffered a season-ending knee injury, while Odermatt finished second and reclaimed the lead.[11] Odermatt's victory in a super-G the next day gave him the season lead in every discipline except slalom and a lead of almost 400 points over his closest competitor who was still active, Aleksander Aamodt Kilde of Norway.[12] Odermatt continued his season-long giant slalom winning streak at Adelboden, extending his lead over Kilde to over 400 points.[13]

The men's tour then headed to the classic courses of Wengen for the Lauberhorn races (two downhills, a super-G, and a slalom) and Kitzbühel for the Hahnenkamm races (two downhills and a slalom). In Wengen, Odermatt increased his lead by winning both downhills and finishing second in the super-G, but the bigger news were season-ending crashes for two former overall season champions: first, in the super-G, Alexis Pinturault of France,[14] and then, in the second downhill, Kilde, which put the second of Odermatt's main rivals out for the season and left Cyprien Sarrazin of France, a former giant slalom skier turned speed specialist, in second place among Odermatt's still-active rivals.[15] In the five speed races in Wengen and Kitzbühel, Sarrazin won three and finished second in the other two, drawing him to within 500 points of Odermatt – but no closer, because Odermatt won the other two, finished second twice and third once, thus allowing Sarrazin an overall gain of only 40 points.[16] When Odermatt won the super-G at Garmisch-Partenkirchen and Sarrazin failed to finish, Odermatt's lead over Sarrazin in the overall championship went back over 600 points.[17] Odermatt also won the giant slalom at Bansko,[18] while the slalom scheduled the next day was rained out and not rescheduled.[19]

Unfortunately for Sarrazin, he then became the latest skier to suffer an injury, this time in training, which forced him to miss at least the next two speed races on the World Cup circuit and for all intents and purposes ended his chances to catch Odermatt.[20] After the races in Kvitfjell, with only 11 races (maximum 1,100 points) remaining in the season, Odermatt held a lead of over 900 points against all competitors.[21] When Odermatt then won the next race, a giant slalom at Palisades Tahoe, USA (his 10th consecutive victory in the discipline), he clinched the overall championship for the season -- his third straight -- with a month (10 races) still to go.[22] The following week at Aspen, Odermatt won two more giant slaloms,[23] but the best performance of the weekend was turned in by his Swiss teammate Loïc Meillard, who placed second in both giant slaloms and then won the slalom on Sunday to move into third place overall for the season, just 3 points behind slalom season champion Manuel Feller. However, the last races before the finals, the technical races scheduled for Kranjska Gora, were cancelled due to a lack of snow (giant slalom) and heavy rains (slalom), which pushed the showdown for second place to the finals.[24]

Finals edit

The last events of the season are scheduled for the World Cup finals at Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria. This season, for the first time, the finals will take place over two weekends—16-17 March 2024 for the technical events and 22–24 March 2024 for the speed events—with the last race for the men (the downhill) taking place on Sunday, 24 March. Only the top 25 in each discipline and the winner of the Junior World Championship in each discipline are eligible to compete in the finals, with the exception that any skier who has scored at least 500 points in the overall classification is eligible to participate in any discipline, regardless of his standing in that discipline for the season. However, only six racers (Odermatt, Feller, Meillard, Sarrazin, former overall champion Henrik Kristoffersen, and speed specialist Vincent Kriechmayr) were able to reach that 500-point threshold prior to the finals. Due to the reduced field, only the top 15 in each discipline will earn World Cup points.

Coming into the finals, Odermatt, with 9 victories in giant slalom and 2 in each of downhill and Super-G, had already tied the all-time men's record of victories in a season with 13. However, while leading the giant slalom final during his second run, Odermatt missed a gate, handing the victory (and overall second place for now) to his Swiss teammate Loïc Meillard.[25] Meillard then finished fourth in slalom and second in super-G to clinch second place for the season, relegating Feller to third.[26] Finally, continuing the season-long string of cancellations, the downhill final was also cancelled due to heavy snow and winds, meaning that ten men's races were cancelled and not made up during the season.[27] However, the cancellation gave Odermatt the season title in downhill, and he had already won the titles in super-G and giant slalom, meaning that Odermatt became the fourth man to win four season-long titles, joining Jean-Claude Killy (1967), Pirmin Zurbriggen (1987, who won five titles if combined were included), and Hermann Maier (2000, 2001).[27]

Standings edit

# Skier DH
8 races
SG
7 races
GS
10 races
SL
10 races
Total
      Marco Odermatt 552 495 900 0 1,947
2     Loïc Meillard 0 196 468 409 1,073
3   Manuel Feller 0 0 237 715 952
4  Henrik Kristoffersen 0 0 395 359 754
5   Cyprien Sarrazin 510 224 0 0 734
6   Vincent Kriechmayr 298 409 0 0 707
7  Timon Haugan 0 0 171 450 621
8   Dominik Paris 342 197 0 0 539
9   Linus Straßer 0 0 6 526 532
10   Filip Zubčić 0 0 402 64 466
11   Marco Schwarz 29 45 210 180 464
12  Atle Lie McGrath 0 0 244 215 459
13  Alexander Steen Olsen 0 0 326 116 442
14  Aleksander Aamodt Kilde 220 120 100 0 440
15   Raphael Haaser 23 271 114 0 408
16   Clément Noël 0 0 0 397 397
17   Nils Allègre 201 193 0 0 394
18     Stefan Rogentin 104 244 0 0 348
19   Zan Kranjec 0 0 347 0 347
20     Justin Murisier 139 119 77 0 335
21   Mattia Casse 185 139 0 0 324
22   Alex Vinatzer 0 0 178 145 323
23   James Crawford 152 144 15 0 311
24   Ryan Cochran-Siegle 208 98 0 0 306
25   Guglielmo Bosca 55 230 0 0 303
26   Cameron Alexander 205 96 0 0 301
27     Gino Caviezel 0 92 206 0 298
28     Thomas Tumler 0 0 295 0 295
29     Daniel Yule 0 0 0 288 288
  Dave Ryding 0 0 0 288 288
31   Bryce Bennett 257 23 0 0 280
32   River Radamus 0 46 217 12 275
33     Niels Hintermann 229 31 0 0 260
34     Marc Rochat 0 0 0 258 258
35   Jeffrey Read 52 187 0 0 239
    Arnaud Boisset 56 183 0 0 239
37   Stefan Babinsky 109 128 0 0 237
38     Franjo von Allmen 103 128 0 0 231
39    Joan Verdú 0 0 221 0 221
40   Kristoffer Jakobsen 0 0 0 217 217
41   Dominik Raschner 0 0 29 179 208
42   Alexis Pinturault 38 31 130 0 199
43   Florian Schieder 194 2 0 0 196
44   Fabio Gstrein 0 0 0 194 194
45   Stefan Brennsteiner 0 0 184 0 184
  Alexander Schmid 0 0 184 0 184
47  Adrian Smiseth Sejersted 65 118 0 0 183
  Johannes Strolz 0 0 0 183 183
  Steven Amiez 0 0 0 183 183
50   Luca De Aliprandini 0 0 172 0 172
51   Thibaut Favrot 0 0 160 0 160
52   Tommaso Sala 0 0 0 158 158
53   Jared Goldberg 70 78 0 0 148
54     Luca Aerni 0 0 7 138 145
55   Samuel Kolega 0 0 0 134 134
56   Sam Maes 0 0 108 25 133
57   Michael Matt 0 0 0 129 129
58   Blaise Giezendanner 100 26 0 0 126
59   Daniel Hemetsberger 26 94 0 0 120
60     Alexis Monney 99 19 0 0 118
61   AJ Ginnis 0 0 0 115 115
62   Albert Popov 0 0 0 111 111
63   Daniel Danklmaier 56 53 0 0 109
64   Maxence Muzaton 101 0 0 0 101
65   Adrien Théaux 79 20 0 0 99
  Otmar Striedinger 78 21 0 0 99
67   Christof Innerhofer 69 28 0 0 97
68   Giovanni Borsotti 0 9 86 0 95
69   Elian Lehto 73 21 0 0 94
70   Lukas Feurstein 0 48 45 0 93
71   Sam Morse 59 32 0 0 91
72   Filippo Della Vite 0 0 87 0 87
73   Sebastian Holzmann 0 0 0 86 86
  Léo Anguenot 0 0 81 5 86
75   Istok Rodeš 0 0 0 85 85
76   Matthieu Bailet 83 1 0 0 84
  Nils Alphand 65 19 0 0 84
78     Marco Kohler 58 25 0 0 83
79  Rasmus Windingstad 0 0 81 0 81
80   Miha Hrobat 80 0 0 0 80
  Simon Jocher 33 47 0 0 80
82   Tommy Ford 0 0 79 0 79
83     Fadri Janutin 0 0 71 0 71
84     Ramon Zenhäusern 0 0 0 65 65
85   Pietro Zazzi 22 42 0 0 64
86   Patrick Feurstein 0 0 59 0 59
87   Andreas Sander 46 12 0 0 58
88   Romed Baumann 45 12 0 0 57
89     Tanguy Nef 0 0 0 53 53
90   Armand Marchant 0 0 0 48 48
  Billy Major 0 0 0 48 48
92   Adrian Pertl 0 0 0 47 47
  Erik Read 0 0 30 17 47
94   Kyle Negomir 13 33 0 0 46
95     Josua Mettler 45 0 0 0 45
96   Laurie Taylor 0 0 0 44 44
97   Tobias Kastlunger 0 0 0 42 42
98   Wiley Maple 34 5 0 0 39
99   Victor Muffat-Jeandet 0 0 35 0 35
100   Juan del Campo 0 0 0 34 34
 Sebastian Foss-Solevåg 0 0 0 34 34
102     Livio Simonet 0 0 33 0 33
103   Paco Rassat 0 0 0 31 31
104   Stefano Gross 0 0 0 30 30
105   Hannes Zingerle 0 0 29 0 29
106  Christian Borgnæs 0 0 27 0 27
  Christoph Krenn 0 27 0 0 27
108   Christopher Neumayer 26 0 0 0 26
109   Jett Seymour 0 0 0 25 25
 Fredrik Møller 1 10 14 0 25
111   Joshua Sturm 0 0 8 16 24
112     Gilles Roulin 4 19 0 0 23
  Benjamin Ritchie 0 0 0 23 23
114   Josef Ferstl 22 0 0 0 22
115     Sandro Zurbrügg 0 0 21 0 21
  Thomas Dreßen 8 13 0 0 21
117   Noel Zwischenbrugger 0 0 20 0 20
118   Dominik Schwaiger 18 0 0 0 18
  Anton Tremmel 0 0 0 18 18
120  Eirik Hystad Solberg 0 0 0 13 13
  Seigo Kato 0 0 11 2 13
  Anton Grammel 0 0 13 0 13
123   Jan Zabystřan 11 0 0 0 11
  Fabian Ax Swartz 0 0 0 11 11
  Andrej Drukarov 0 0 11 0 11
  Florian Loriot 0 11 0 0 11
  Fabian Gratz 0 0 11 0 11
128   Mathieu Faivre 0 0 9 0 9
  Kilian Pramstaller 0 0 0 9 9
    Lars Rösti 7 2 0 0 9
131   Brodie Seger 5 3 0 0 8
132   Hugo Desgrippes 0 0 0 7 7
  Andreas Ploier 0 7 0 0 7
  Halvor Hilde Gunleiksrud 0 0 7 0 7
  Patrick Kenney 0 0 7 0 7
  Andreas Žampa 0 0 7 0 7
137   Joaquim Salarich 0 0 0 6 6
  Martin Čater 1 5 0 0 6
 Theodor Brækken 0 0 0 6 6
140   Mattias Rönngren 0 0 5 0 5
  William Hansson 0 0 5 0 5
  Giovanni Franzoni 0 5 0 0 5
143   Riley Seger 0 4 0 0 4
  Louis Muhlen-Schulte 0 0 4 0 4
  Albert Ortega 0 0 4 0 4
  Simon Rüland 0 0 0 4 4
147   Sam Alphand 0 3 0 0 3
  George Steffey 0 0 3 0 3
  Jonas Stockinger 0 0 3 0 3
150   Adrien Fresquet 0 2 0 0 2
151   Luis Vogt 1 0 0 0 1
  Kyle Alexander 0 1 0 0 1
  •   Leader
  •   2nd place
  •   3rd place
  • Updated on 24 March 2024, after all events.[28]

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ Willemsen, Eric (29 October 2023). "Wind cancels men's World Cup season opener after 47 starters with Austrian skier Schwarz leading". AP News. Retrieved 23 November 2023.
  2. ^ Associated Press (12 November 2023). "World Cup downhill ski race at Matterhorn mountain canceled because of snow and strong winds". Washington Post. Retrieved 23 November 2023.
  3. ^ Thatcher, Leslie (22 November 2023). "FIS reschedules opening GS race to Aspen". KPCW. Retrieved 23 November 2023.
  4. ^ a b Poggi, Alessandro (16 October 2023). "2023/2024 FIS alpine ski World Cup season preview: Mikaela Shiffrin and Marco Odermatt seek title defence". olympics.com. Retrieved 23 November 2023.
  5. ^ Staff (3 December 2023). "Alpine skiing-Weather wipes out World Cup weekend events at Beaver Creek". Microsoft Start. Retrieved 3 December 2023.
  6. ^ AFP (9 December 2023). "Dominant Odermatt wins giant slalom opener in Val d'Isere". MSN.com. Retrieved 9 December 2023.
  7. ^ Associated Press (10 December 2023). "World Cup men's slalom canceled because of snow and rain at Val d'Isere in French Alps". MSN.com. Retrieved 10 December 2023.
  8. ^ AFP (15 December 2023). "'Angry' Kriechmayr edges super-G at Val Gardena". MSN.com. Retrieved 15 December 2023.
  9. ^ Associated Press (18 December 2023). "Olympic, world champion Odermatt wins back-to-back giant slaloms in Alta Badia". CBC.ca. Retrieved 18 December 2023.
  10. ^ ESPN (22 December 2023). "Austria's Marco Schwarz tops overall, slalom standings after win". MSN.com. Retrieved 22 December 2023.
  11. ^ ESPN (28 December 2023). "World Cup leader Marco Schwarz out for year after crash". MSN.com. Retrieved 31 December 2023.
  12. ^ Associated Press (29 December 2023). "Marco Odermatt continues super-G dominance with clear victory in year-ending World Cup ski race". MSN.com. Retrieved 31 December 2023.
  13. ^ Sportsbeat (6 January 2024). "MARCO ODERMATT CONTINUES PERFECT GIANT SLALOM START TO DOMINATE ALPINE SKIING SEASON WITH HOME WIN IN ADELBODEN". Eurosport. Retrieved 6 January 2024.
  14. ^ ESPN (16 January 2024). "Skier Alexis Pinturault to have surgery after World Cup crash". MSN.com. Retrieved 20 January 2024.
  15. ^ Associated Press (13 January 2024). "Odermatt edges Sarrazin in World Cup downhill marred by serious crash for Kilde". AP News. Retrieved 20 January 2024.
  16. ^ Associated Press (21 January 2024). "French skier Sarrazin claims 2nd Kitzbuhel downhill triumph in 2 days". CBC. Retrieved 21 January 2024.
  17. ^ Associated Press (28 January 2024). "Swiss ski star Marco Odermatt dominates World Cup super-G to match Bode Miller's tally of 33 wins". Newsday. Retrieved 31 January 2024.
  18. ^ Associated Press (10 February 2024). "Olympic and world champion Odermatt extends men's giant slalom win streak to 9". CBC.ca. Retrieved 10 February 2024.
  19. ^ Associated Press (11 February 2024). "Heavy rain wipes out World Cup slalom after 31 starters with Olympic champ Noel leading". CBC. Retrieved 13 February 2024.
  20. ^ AFP (16 February 2024). "Le skieur Cyprien Sarrazin, victime d'une chute, est forfait pour la descente à Kvitfjell". Le Monde. Retrieved 19 January 2024.
  21. ^ AFP (18 February 2024). "Kriechmayr wins shortened super-G as Odermatt closes on title". MSN.com. Retrieved 19 February 2024.
  22. ^ Associated Press (24 February 2024). "Odermatt wins third straight World Cup overall title as Radamus makes podium". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 February 2024.
  23. ^ ESPN (2 March 2024). "Marco Odermatt takes World Cup giant slalom in Aspen". MSN.com. Retrieved 9 March 2024.
  24. ^ Associated Press (8 March 2024). "Austria's Manuel Feller clinches World Cup slalom title after Slovenia race cancelled". CBC. Retrieved 9 March 2024.
  25. ^ Associated Press (16 March 2024). "Odermatt misses 45-year-old record as Meillard wins World Cup giant slalom finale". CBC. Retrieved 16 March 2024.
  26. ^ Associated Press (22 March 2024). "Ski star Odermatt seals World Cup super-G title as teammate Rogentin leads Swiss sweep of podium". MSN.com. Retrieved 22 March 2024.
  27. ^ a b AFP (24 March 2024). "Odermatt joins exclusive club with downhill title win". MSN.com. Retrieved 24 March 2024.
  28. ^ "Official FIS men's season standings". fis-ski.com. FIS. Retrieved 24 March 2024.

External links edit