Stars shine and contenders emerge: taking stock of the 2023/24 Alpine skiing season

If it's possible to have a turning point just three races into a long season, it happened in Levi in mid-November when, a day after winning the first slalom in the Finnish resort by nearly 1.5 seconds, Olympic champion Petra Vlhova (SVK) built a similar lead in the second race and merely had to stay on her skis to ensure another victory.

After a down season a year ago following her Beijing 2022 triumph, Vlhova seemed all the way back and ready to challenge for multiple crystal globes.

But she straddled mid-way down the second run on that Sunday in Levi, handing Mikaela Shiffrin (USA) her first victory of the young season after the American star had missed the podium in the opening two technical races.

While Vlhova admitted to anger at the result, which affected her in races to come, Shiffrin hasn't looked back since.

Including that gift win in Levi, Shiffrin has won five of the last 11 races she has competed in and finished on the podium four other times, extending her all-time World Cup victories record to 93.

In a women's Alpine skiing season dominated by stars, Shiffrin has shone the brightest, winning in three disciplines and leading the overall and slalom standings, while also being in contention for the giant slalom and downhill titles.

But while her seemingly inevitable march to 100 victories continues, Shiffrin is not alone in producing some of her best skiing this season.

Thirteen of the 14 races on the women's circuit this season have been won by the five biggest names on tour: Shiffrin (5), Federica Brignone (ITA, 3), Vlhova (2), Lara Gut-Behrami (SUI, 2) and Sofia Goggia (ITA, 1).

The only skier to break up this pattern has been Jasmine Flury (SUI), who added her first World Cup downhill victory to her 2023 world championship gold when she triumphed in Val d'Isère in mid-December, in a race Shiffrin skipped.

On a certain level, the dominance of the big five — who each boast more than 20 World Cup wins over their stellar careers — was to be expected, although Goggia has yet to be truly unleashed in the technical-heavy early part of the schedule.

But perhaps the most surprising element in the opening stage of the women's season has been former overall champion Brignone's re-emergence as a multi-discipline victory threat at age 33.

After winning only one race all last season, the Italian veteran claimed three victories in a span of 16 days in December. She became the oldest winner of a World Cup giant slalom race in Tremblant, then promptly won again the next day — and again in super-G in Val d'Isère two weeks later for good measure.

Like Brignone, Vlhova has returned to near top-form this season despite throwing away a victory in Levi. Her two wins so far match her total from all of last season, and she has been the only skier other than Shiffrin to win in slalom.

"I think it's really good for our sport and especially for us because I think we are pushing each other," Vlhova said of her rivalry with Shiffrin after the Slovakian won the Courchevel slalom just before Christmas for her 30th World Cup victory.

"We are putting our skiing at a higher level."

Odermatt vs the field as Swiss star dominates men's tour

If the women's tour has seen all the stars rise to the top, the men's season has been a tale of a single superhero — Marco Odermatt (SUI) — and a host of often surprising challengers who have emerged when the Swiss star takes off his cape.

Early-season weather cancellations have restricted the men's tour to 10 races so far, with Odermatt triumphing four times and leading the race for an incredible four crystal globes: overall, downhill, super-G and giant slalom.

The 26-year-old has been sublime, missing the podium only once in his eight races while winning all three giant slalom contests and adding a super-G triumph.

Odermatt continues to defy the physical and mental toll of skiing three disciplines, most notably when he won back-to-back giant slalom races in Alta Badia before Christmas at the end of a gruelling schedule of five races in five days.

"Right now if everything works, it's probably hard to beat me," the two-time defending overall champion admitted after his super-G win in Bormio in the final race of 2023, and the rest of the skiers on tour would probably agree.

Marco Schwarz's (AUT) unfortunate knee injury and Aleksander Aamodt Kilde's (NOR) slow start to the season by his standards have meant that no single skier has been able to stand up and challenge Odermatt on his favourite slopes.

The six races Odermatt hasn't won this season have gone to six different skiers, while Kilde has yet to record a victory despite coming close with three speed podiums.

With Kilde slightly off the pace in downhill and Odermatt yet to break through for his first victory in the discipline on the World Cup tour, the door has been left open for some surprising contenders to emerge.

Bryce Bennett (USA) and Cyprien Sarrazin (FRA) have both won on the downhill tour this season for their second career victories, while 34-year-old Dominik Paris (ITA) turned back the clock in Val Gardena for his first triumph in nearly two years.

The evenness of the field behind Odermatt is also reflected in 11 countries having shared the 30 available podium places, including Andorra (with Joan Verdu's third place in the Val d'Isère giant slalom) and Great Britain (with Dave Ryding's third in the Madonna di Campiglio slalom).

These results have led to one of the most even seasons in recent memory in downhill and slalom as the 'any given Sunday' mentality takes hold with World Cup victories up for grabs.

Classics, milestones and globes on tap as the season heats up

If the men's season had a slow start due to weather, it is set to explode in January as the first four scheduled stops of the new year feature some of the most famous races on the tour: the steep pitch technical contests in Adelboden, the classic downhills in Wengen and Kitzbuehel and the traditional night slalom in Schladming.

Odermatt appears to have the overall and giant slalom globes well in hand, but whether he can hang onto his red bib in downhill amid challenges from Kilde and others will be one of the main talking points in the second half of the season.

The title in the discipline Odermatt doesn't ski, slalom, is also there for the taking with only two races having been contested so far and current discipline leader Schwarz out of the rest of the season.

With Ryding, Gurgl winner Manuel Feller (AUT), Olympic champion Clement Noel (FRA) and wily veteran Henrik Kristoffersen (NOR) still in the chase, it's a contest that could go all the way down to the final race of the season at the World Cup finals in Saalbach, Austria.

On the women's side, the giant slalom title race between current leader Brignone and challengers Gut-Behrami and Shiffrin is shaping up as the most compelling, but there's more on offer this season than crystal globes.

The two most successful women in Italy's rich Alpine skiing history, Brignone (24 World Cup wins) and Goggia (23), are set to continue their battle to see who can extend the national record and end the season with the most victories.

While Brignone hopes to pick up where she left off and continue her stunning start to the season, Goggia will be looking forward to triple speed weekends in Altenmarkt-Zauchensee, Cortina d'Ampezzo and Crans Montana in January and February to ignite her campaign.

And they are not the only skiers to keep an eye out for as milestones approach. Gut-Behrami is one victory shy of becoming the seventh woman to reach 40 World Cup wins, while Shiffrin is drawing tantalisingly close to an unfathomable 100.

To reach the magic number by the end of this season, the American would have to win at least seven races after the New Year's break, something she has accomplished three times in her career, including in 2023 (eight).

But while her chase for 100 wins might consume the Alpine skiing world for the remainder of the season, Shiffrin offered hope to the rest of the field as the women's tour resumes this weekend in Kranjska Gora.

"When it (the work put in by her team) comes together like that it's amazing, but it doesn't happen often and I don't think it will happen again — not this season at least," Shiffrin said after her most recent victory in Lienz before the New Year's break.

"For any of these athletes it's actually possible to win."

Click to view the World Cup standings and the upcoming schedule.