The
International Ski Federation (FIS) Alpine Skiing World Cup is the premier circuit for
alpine skiing competition. The inaugural FIS
World Cup season launched 57 years ago in January
1967 and this 51st season began on 22 October 2016 in
Sölden, Austria, and concluded in the United States at
Aspen on 19 March 2017. The biennial
World Championships interrupted the tour in early February in
Saint Moritz, Switzerland.[1] The season-ending finals in March were held in
North America for the first time in two decades: the last finale in the U.S. was in
1997 at
Vail.
Chief Race Director for the WC Tour, Markus Waldner, offered his pre-season thoughts on the pending 2016-17 tour in an early October interview. He addressed: early season scheduling and weather considerations, the growing global interest in alpine skiing beyond the core market in Europe and Scandinavia, the balance between what disciplines were scheduled and the marketability concerns each present, course construction that is safely competitive and manages risk, and a new change to regulation that allows top qualifiers to pick their starting position across a much wider range of bibs between 1 and 19.[2]
Former overall World Cup champion
Tina Maze of
Slovenia, who missed the entire 2015-16 World Cup season, retired in January 2017.[3] At the end of the season, former two-time overall World Cup champion
Bode Miller of the
United States, who had not raced in the last two seasons, also officially retired.[4]
Men's overall champion
Marcel Hirscher won the overall title for the sixth successive year.
Mikaela Shiffrin. First American female to capture the Overall since 2012.
The women typically have had technical events in the U.S. in late November in Colorado at
Aspen, but instead stopped this season in Vermont at
Killington for its first effort as a World Cup venue. The most recent World Cup races in the Eastern U.S. were over a quarter century earlier, in March
1991 at
Waterville Valley Resort, New Hampshire [94] and the last World Cup races in Vermont were in
1978 at
Stratton Mountain Resort.[95][96] The women also had two
Olympic venue orientation speed events in South Korea at the
Jeongseon Alpine Centre in March, which produced identical podiums led by
Sofia Goggia.
Injuries continued to affect several of the top racers. Two-time overall champion
Anna Veith (née Fenninger) and three-time overall champion
Lindsey Vonn both missed the first half of the season due to injuries suffered during the previous season, although both returned by mid-January and competed in the
World Championships in early February.[97][98] However, Veith then missed the end of the season as well to recover further from her injuries.[99] In addition, defending overall champion
Lara Gut suffered a season-ending injury during the World Championships, costing her a chance to repeat.[100]
At the end of the season,
Mikaela Shiffrin, who also won the slalom discipline for the fourth time and was second in the giant slalom, became the third American woman and fifth American overall to win the overall World Cup championship, joining men's champions
Phil Mahre and
Bode Miller and women's champions
Tamara McKinney and
Vonn.[101] Additionally, women's super G champion
Tina Weirather became a second-generation discipline champion, as her father (
Harti Weirather) was downhill discipline champion in 1981 and both her mother (
Hanni Wenzel) and uncle (
Andreas Wenzel) won the overall World Cup championship. Weirather and her mother thus became the first mother-daughter pair to win season trophies in World Cup competition.[102]
The
International Ski Federation (FIS) Alpine Skiing World Cup is the premier circuit for
alpine skiing competition. The inaugural FIS
World Cup season launched 57 years ago in January
1967 and this 51st season began on 22 October 2016 in
Sölden, Austria, and concluded in the United States at
Aspen on 19 March 2017. The biennial
World Championships interrupted the tour in early February in
Saint Moritz, Switzerland.[1] The season-ending finals in March were held in
North America for the first time in two decades: the last finale in the U.S. was in
1997 at
Vail.
Chief Race Director for the WC Tour, Markus Waldner, offered his pre-season thoughts on the pending 2016-17 tour in an early October interview. He addressed: early season scheduling and weather considerations, the growing global interest in alpine skiing beyond the core market in Europe and Scandinavia, the balance between what disciplines were scheduled and the marketability concerns each present, course construction that is safely competitive and manages risk, and a new change to regulation that allows top qualifiers to pick their starting position across a much wider range of bibs between 1 and 19.[2]
Former overall World Cup champion
Tina Maze of
Slovenia, who missed the entire 2015-16 World Cup season, retired in January 2017.[3] At the end of the season, former two-time overall World Cup champion
Bode Miller of the
United States, who had not raced in the last two seasons, also officially retired.[4]
Men's overall champion
Marcel Hirscher won the overall title for the sixth successive year.
Mikaela Shiffrin. First American female to capture the Overall since 2012.
The women typically have had technical events in the U.S. in late November in Colorado at
Aspen, but instead stopped this season in Vermont at
Killington for its first effort as a World Cup venue. The most recent World Cup races in the Eastern U.S. were over a quarter century earlier, in March
1991 at
Waterville Valley Resort, New Hampshire [94] and the last World Cup races in Vermont were in
1978 at
Stratton Mountain Resort.[95][96] The women also had two
Olympic venue orientation speed events in South Korea at the
Jeongseon Alpine Centre in March, which produced identical podiums led by
Sofia Goggia.
Injuries continued to affect several of the top racers. Two-time overall champion
Anna Veith (née Fenninger) and three-time overall champion
Lindsey Vonn both missed the first half of the season due to injuries suffered during the previous season, although both returned by mid-January and competed in the
World Championships in early February.[97][98] However, Veith then missed the end of the season as well to recover further from her injuries.[99] In addition, defending overall champion
Lara Gut suffered a season-ending injury during the World Championships, costing her a chance to repeat.[100]
At the end of the season,
Mikaela Shiffrin, who also won the slalom discipline for the fourth time and was second in the giant slalom, became the third American woman and fifth American overall to win the overall World Cup championship, joining men's champions
Phil Mahre and
Bode Miller and women's champions
Tamara McKinney and
Vonn.[101] Additionally, women's super G champion
Tina Weirather became a second-generation discipline champion, as her father (
Harti Weirather) was downhill discipline champion in 1981 and both her mother (
Hanni Wenzel) and uncle (
Andreas Wenzel) won the overall World Cup championship. Weirather and her mother thus became the first mother-daughter pair to win season trophies in World Cup competition.[102]