Excitement rockets as new stars and old favourites turn Alpine ski season into one for the ages

Anticipation could scarcely be greater as the world’s best Alpine skiers prepare to return to Audi FIS World Cup action after a short year-end break, with the women’s Giant Slalom and Slalom contenders kicking things off in Kranjska Gora on Saturday and Sunday respectively.

The first 10 weeks of the season have set the stage for a truly memorable second half. Established stars have shone, but thrillingly the next generation have stepped up. Throw in a selection of seasoned campaigners landing their first wins, plus comeback queens and kings continuing to create their own headlines and you can understand why fans cannot wait for it all to start again.

Oh, and there is the small matter of the 2025 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships in early February.

Odermatt’s march continues

He may have been upstaged in the most recent races by a pair of young compatriots determined to make their own mark on the big stage, but there is no doubting Marco Odermatt’s (SUI/Stöckl) continued position as the outstanding men’s skier of his generation.

Four wins (two in Giant Slalom, one in Downhill and one in Super G) and two podiums in 10 races has placed the Swiss megastar once again atop the Overall, Downhill, Super G and GS Crystal Globe standings.

World Cup win No.41 in the Alta Badia GS took him above long-time idol Pirmin Zurbriggen as Switzerland’s most successful male World Cup skier.

The 27-year-old will have tens of thousands cheering him on as he chases another double success in Wengen (Super G on 17 January and Downhill on 18 January). But Odermatt has made it clear he wants the Downhill in Kitzbühel (25 January) more than any other.

It all makes for quite a prospect, even before you add on those trying to stop him.

Youngsters gunning for top spot

Odermatt’s teammates Franjo Von Allmen (SUI/Head) and Alexis Monney (SUI/ Stöckl) will not be lacking for support down the Lauberhorn either. The duo, 23 and 24-years-old respectively, have announced their arrival at the very top level in some style in recent weeks.

Both skiers beat Odermatt in the most recent World Cup Downhill, in Bormio. Monney pipped his slightly younger compatriot to take a maiden win. But two second places in a row leave Von Allmen as Odermatt’s nearest challenger in the Crystal Globe Downhill standings.

But it is not only Swiss youngsters who are making a name for themselves. Norway’s 24-year-old Fredrik Moeller (Atomic) held off Odermatt, and 2021 double speed world champion Vincent Kriechmayr (AUT/Head) to claim Bormio’s Super G.

Once the lot of them have battled down Switzerland and Austria’s landmark speed tracks it will be on to Saalbach, for the World Championships (Super G 7 February and Downhill 9 February). Bring it on.  

Old v Young across the board

It is a similar story everywhere you look. Henrik Kristoffersen (NOR/Van Deer) will attempt to add to his two World Championship titles in Saalbach and all the signs are that he will do it in the best of form.

The Norwegian leads the Slalom Crystal Globe standings and is just a point behind Odermatt in the GS rankings. But his biggest challenge may well come from a young teammate too.

The 23-year-old Alexander Steen Olsen (NOR/Rossignol) started off the season with a bang, grabbing a first ever GS triumph in the opener in Sölden. He has since been managing a knee injury but expect more fireworks once he is fit.

The young guns on the women’s side have been just as good – if not better. Zrinka Ljutic (CRO/Atomic) was the female Longines Rising Star of last season – and heads this season’s standings too. But she has even bigger prizes in her sights now.

The 20-year-old finally turned her enviable consistency (six top-10 finishes in her opening seven races this season) into glory, taking her first World Cup win last time out in Semmering’s slalom. Ljutic sits second in the Overall Crystal Globe race, while she is third in the Slalom and fourth in the GS rankings.

Not bad, but not quite as good as 25-year-old Camille Rast (SUI/Head). It has been a serious season so far for the Swiss flier. First in late November she secured a debut World Cup podium, in Gurgl’s slalom. A day later she repeated the feat in the GS and then seven days later, on the other side of the Atlantic, she grabbed victory in the Killington slalom. Enough to make her the one to beat.

Big names still firing

Not that it has been all about Gen Z in the women’s ranks. Far from it, in fact. Twice already this season Federica Brignone (ITA/Rossignol) has broken her own record as the oldest women’s World Cup winner. Top of the GS standings and third overall, the 34-year-old is not going anywhere.

Neither too is her compatriot Sofia Goggia (ITA/Atomic). The speed queen has returned after injury as if nothing had changed. In her three races so far she has finished first (Beaver Creek Super G), second (Beaver Creek Downhill) and third (St. Moritz Super G).

The woman who succeeded her as World Cup Downhill Crystal Globe champion, Conny Hütter (AUT/Head) got the better of Goggia to become the first female skier to win a downhill on Beaver Creek’s iconic Birds of Prey course.

Lara Gut-Behrami (SUI/Head) has also overcome a challenging start to the season to sit second in the Super G and third in the Downhill standings. The trio’s speed races first in Cortina D’Ampezzo (18 and 19 January) and then in Saalbach (6 and 8 February) will be box office.

On the tech side, Lena Duerr (GER/Head) will be eying up the night slalom in Flachau (14 January) as a chance to become the oldest women’s World Cup winner.

Vonn and Pinheiro Braathen making a splash

Incredibly, it is not out of the question that Lindsey Vonn (USA/Head) could pip the German to that accolade. The 40-year-old icon has grabbed the limelight by returning to action with an artificial knee. The early signs are promising, Vonn ending 14^th in her first start back in a World Cup, in the Super G in St Moritz last month.

All eyes will be on her when she goes again in St. Anton (11 January Downhill).

Lucas Pinheiro Braathen (BRA/Atomic) is another to have lit up the slopes after time away, and not just via his samba dancing. After several near misses, the 24-year-old became Brazil’s first ever World Cup podium finisher when second in the GS in Beaver Creek in December.

Cruel injury robbed Marcel Hirscher (NED/Van Deer) of the chance to join Braathen in attempting to make World Championship history in Saalbach. The five-time world champion picking up a season-ending injury in December.

Mikaela Shiffrin (USA/Atomic) has also been out of action since undergoing surgery for a puncture wound suffered in Killington in December as she chased her 100^th World Cup win. Encouragingly, the superstar posted a video on 1 January suggesting she would be gently returning to snow “within a week”.

All best wishes are also with Cyprien Sarrazin (FRA/Rossignol) who was released out of intensive care recently after crashing during training for December’s Bormio Downhill.

Nations Cup and Constructors’ Championship updates

All the above leaves Switzerland well clear at the top of the World Cup Nations Cup. Eight wins and 22 podium places across the genders puts them ahead of age-old rivals Austria (two wins and 10 top three finishes) with Norway (top of the combined GS standings) third overall.

The 21-year-old Eduard Hallberg (FIN/Fischer) is the current forerunner in the men’s Longines Rising Star race.

Meanwhile, Head stand atop of the Constructors’ Championship. They lead Rossignol by less than 500 points, with Atomic back in third.

But, as with every part of this electrifying season, it will be all to play for when action resumes.