The International Ski Federation (FIS) Alpine World Cup tour is the premier circuit for alpine skiing competition. The inaugural season launched in January 1967, and the 2016 season marked the 50th consecutive year for the FIS. This World Cup season began on 24 October 2015, in Sölden, Austria, and concluded in Saint Moritz, Switzerland on 20 March 2016. The World Ski Championship, a biennial event, did not interrupt this competitive season, and the upcoming World Championships were held Saint Moritz, Switzerland in February 2017 "World Alpine Ski Championships 2017" . St. Moritz Hosting Committee.
Men Summary
By late December 2015, the season had seen year-ending injuries to two top skiers. Austrian Matthias Mayer suffered severe spinal damage in the downhill competition at Gröden in Val Gardena, Italy, and German Josef Ferstl damaged his knee during training in Santa Caterina, Italy on the downhill course. Despite his broken back, Mayer is optimistic about returning for a 2017 World Cup try following his much debated crash. During the crash that injured Mayer, another World Cup first took place when the 'body airbag' he was wearing inflated."Mayer Body Bag Inflation". New York Daily News. 23 December 2016. The new protective gear, now worn by many skiers, has never been deployed during a World Cup competition prior to this. The system is designed to minimize severe thoracic injuries, like the one Mayer suffered, by deploying quickly during tumbles and mishap. Emergency responders could see that the "airbag" had engaged as designed before they even knew about the broken spine. It has not been determined if the "protective gear" prevented worse injury, promoted the injury that was received, or had no effect in the matter.
An odd incident marred the early season as a small, remotely-piloted camera helicopter, operated by broadcast media, nearly foiled Marcel Hirscher's podium effort by crashing during his run and narrowly missing him. A day after the incident, the International Ski Federation adopted the policy of banning remotely-piloted vehicles from flying over their events as a matter of safety and concern for the welfare of their athletes, staff and viewers. Senior Race Director Markus Waldner stated his displeasure with the occurrence and insisted that the ban will remain in effect as long as he is on the job. The newly introduced parallel giant slalom event at Alta Badia, Italy, was a relatively short Giant slalom course that pitted the men against one another in a modified bracket-reduction format from thirty-two 1st run skiers, to sixteen 2nd bracket skiers that eventually dwindled to just four final round racers. The Snow Queen Trophy slalom planned for Sljême, Croatia was cancelled and diverted to Santa Caterina, Italy for lack of snow, while the early season slalom in Levi, Finland suffered similar conditions, but could not find a home to reschedule to in the very busy year.
By mid-season, the World Cup overall leader, as well as Downhill and Super-G discipline leader, Aksel Lund Svindal was out following a crash during the downhill at Kitzbühel. He suffered a season-ending injury to his right knee and needed immediate surgery. Georg Streitberger of Austria also suffered a season-ending knee injury in the same race, which was ended after only thirty skiers left the starting gate. Poor visibility, and the number of serious crashes that were occurring, prompted race officials to halt the event at the minimum skiers required to have it qualify as a complete event.
Calendar + Event key: DH – Downhill, SL – Slalom, GS – Giant slalom, SG – Super giant slalom, AC – Alpine combined, CE – City Event (Parallel), PG – Parallel giant slalom # Event Date Venue Type Winner Second Third Details1593125 October 2015 SöldenGS 380 Ted Ligety Thomas Fanara Marcel Hirscher 15 November 2015 LeviSL cnx lack of snow1594228 November 2015 Lake LouiseDH 452 Aksel Lund Svindal Peter Fill Travis Ganong1595329 November 2015 SG 185 Aksel Lund Svindal Matthias Mayer Peter Fill159644 December 2015 Beaver CreekDH 453 Aksel Lund Svindal Kjetil Jansrud Guillermo Fayed159755 December 2015 SG 186 Marcel Hirscher Ted Ligety Andrew Weibrecht159866 December 2015 GS 381 Marcel Hirscher Victor Muffat-Jeandet Henrik Kristoffersen1599712 December 2015 Val-d'Isère GS 382 Marcel Hirscher Felix Neureuther Victor Muffat-Jeandet1600813 December 2015 SL 450 Henrik Kristoffersen Marcel Hirscher Felix Neureuther1601918 December 2015 Val GardenaSG 187 Aksel Lund Svindal Kjetil Jansrud Aleksander Aamodt Kilde16021019 December 2015 DH 454 Aksel Lund Svindal Guillermo Fayed Kjetil Jansrud16031120 December 2015 Alta BadiaGS 383 Marcel Hirscher Henrik Kristoffersen Victor Muffat-Jeandet16041221 December 2015 PG 001 Kjetil Jansrud Aksel Lund Svindal André Myhrer16051322 December 2015 Madonna di CampiglioSL 451 Henrik Kristoffersen Marcel Hirscher Marco Schwarz160614 29 December 2015 Santa CaterinaDH 455 Adrien Théaux Hannes Reichelt David Poisson1607156 January 2016 SL 452 Marcel Hirscher Henrik Kristoffersen Aleksandr Khoroshilov 1 January 2016 MunichCE cnx pre-season organizational issues; replaced in Stockholm on 23 February 20166 January 2016 ZagrebSL cnx warm temperatures and lack of snow; replaced in Santa Caterina on 6 January 2016 9 January 2016 AdelbodenAdelboden Hill Layout For SL and GS . Adelboden World Cup Committee. January 2016GS cnx dense fog and inclement weather; replaced in Hinterstoder on 26 February 201616081610 January 2016 SL 453 Henrik Kristoffersen Marcel Hirscher Aleksandr Khoroshilov. International Ski Federation. 10 January 2016.16091715 January 2016 WengenAC 123 Kjetil Jansrud Aksel Lund Svindal Adrien Théaux16101816 January 2016 DH 456 Aksel Lund Svindal Hannes Reichelt Klaus Kröll16111917 January 2016 SL 454 Henrik Kristoffersen Giuliano Razzoli Stefano Gross16122022 January 2016 KitzbühelSG 188 Aksel Lund Svindal Andrew Weibrecht Hannes Reichelt16132122 January 2016 AC 124 Alexis Pinturault Victor Muffat-Jeandet Thomas Mermillod-Blondin16142223 January 2016 DH 457 Peter Fill Beat Feuz Carlo Janka16152324 January 2016 SL 455 Henrik Kristoffersen Marcel Hirscher Fritz Dopfer16162426 January 2016 SchladmingSL 456 Henrik Kristoffersen Marcel Hirscher Aleksandr Khoroshilov16172530 January 2016 Garmsich-PartenkirchenDH 458 Aleksander Aamodt Kilde Boštjan Kline Beat Feuz 31 January 2016 GS cnx humid, pouring rain and dense fog; replaced in Kranjska Gora on 4 March 20161618266 February 2016 JeongseonDH 459 Kjetil Jansrud Dominik Paris Steven Nyman1619277 February 2016 SG 189 Carlo Janka Christof Innerhofer Vincent Kriechmayr16202813 February 2016 Yuzawa NaebaGS 384 Alexis Pinturault Mathieu Faivre Massimiliano Blardone16212914 February 2016 SL 457 Felix Neureuther André Myhrer Marco Schwarz16223019 February 2016 ChamonixAC 125 Alexis Pinturault Dominik Paris Thomas Mermillod-Blondin16233120 February 2016 DH 460 Dominik Paris Steven Nyman Beat Feuz16243223 February 2016 StockholmCE 005 Marcel Hirscher André Myhrer Stefano Gross16253326 February 2016 HinterstoderGS 385 Alexis Pinturault Marcel Hirscher Thomas Fanara16263427 February 2016 SG 190 Aleksander Aamodt Kilde Boštjan Kline Marcel Hirscher16273528 February 2016 GS 386 Alexis Pinturault Marcel Hirscher Henrik Kristoffersen1628364 March 2016 Kranjska GoraGS 387 Alexis Pinturault Philipp Schörghofer Marcel Hirscher1629375 March 2016 GS 388 Marcel Hirscher Alexis Pinturault Henrik Kristoffersen1630386 March 2016 SL 458 Marcel Hirscher Henrik Kristoffersen Stefano Gross16313912 March 2016 Kvitfjell DH 461 Dominik Paris Valentin Giraud Moine Steven Nyman16324013 March 2016 SG 191 Kjetil Jansrud Vincent Kriechmayr Dominik Paris16334116 March 2016 St. MoritzDH 462 Beat Feuz Steven Nyman Erik Guay16344217 March 2016 SG 192 Beat Feuz Kjetil Jansrud Aleksander Aamodt Kilde16354319 March 2016 GS 389 Thomas Fanara Alexis Pinturault Mathieu Faivre16364420 March 2016 SL 459 Andre Myhrer Marcel Hirscher Sebastian Foss-Solevåg
Rankings
Overall Rankafter all 44 races Leaderboard - Men's Overall. International Ski Federation. 2016 season.Points 1 Marcel Hirscher1795 2 Henrik Kristoffersen1298 3 Alexis Pinturault1200 4 Kjetil Jansrud1161 5 Aksel Lund Svindal916
Downhill Rankafter all 11 races Leaderboard - Men's Downhill. International Ski Federation. 2016 season.Points 1 Peter Fill462 2 Aksel Lund Svindal436 3 Dominik Paris432 3 Kjetil Jansrud432 5 Beat Feuz414
Super G Rankafter all 8 races Leaderboard - Men's Super G. International Ski Federation. 2016 season.Points 1 Aleksander Aamodt Kilde415 2 Kjetil Jansrud375 3 Aksel Lund Svindal310 4 Vincent Kriechmayr298 5 Carlo Janka259
Giant slalom Rankafter all 11 races Leaderboard - Men's giant slalom. International Ski Federation. 2016 season.Points 1 Marcel Hirscher766 2 Alexis Pinturault690 3 Henrik Kristoffersen487 4 Mathieu Faivre423 5 Victor Muffat-Jeandet405
Slalom Rankafter all 11 races Leaderboard - Men's slalom. International Ski Federation. 2016 season.Points 1 Henrik Kristoffersen 811 2 Marcel Hirscher 780 3 Felix Neureuther 389 4 André Myhrer 367 5 Alexander Khoroshilov 358
Alpine combined Rankafter all 3 races Leaderboard - Men's Combined. International Ski Federation. 2016 season.Points 1 Alexis Pinturault220 2 Thomas Mermillod-Blondin170 3 Kjetil Jansrud165 4 Dominik Paris161 5 Victor Muffat-Jeandet130
Women Summary
The first part of the season produced many injuries to several top skiers. Sara Hector severely injured her knee in giant slalom, during the competition in Åre, Sweden, and two event champions from the previous season, Lindsey Vonn and Mikaela Shiffrin missed several events due to recent incidents. Vonn missed the October and November events to continue rehabilitating from last year's season-ending injury, and from a recent dog bite from one of her pets. Shiffrin dropped-out in mid-December to recuperate from an injury suffered during practice at Åre. Shiffrin's recovery was not immediate and she missed the heart of the race season, however, she returned to the circuit in mid-February and promptly dominated the competition. The lack of snowy weather eliminated the women's race weekend at St. Anton's, Austria, two weeks before the planned event. Officials recognized that they did not have enough snow on the ground, and that they did not have the ability to generate enough man-made snow for safe racing. The events were quickly relocated to Zauchensee, Austria, for the same dates. A few days later, officials cancelled the Snow Queen Trophy slalom planned at Sljême, Croatia. The stop was the only one planned for Croatia this season, and was one of the few joint stops on tour where male and female teammates crossed paths during the year. The slalom event was quickly rescheduled to Santa Caterina, Italy on consecutive days.
The middle of the season saw a significant reshuffle of many of the events throughout The Alps. Six events were cancelled in January for unseasonably warm weather and insufficient snow. The events were promptly repositioned to snowier venues further down the schedule. In contrast, mid-February saw a few events abandoned due to soft and excessive snow, over two meters in one instance... a significant safety concern for the high speed disciplines. At the end of the February, during the Super-G in Soldeu, Vonn, having just returned from injury seven weeks earlier, crashed again while leading near the end of her run. She raced the next day in the Combined event, earned a few points, then ended her season on Monday after a complete medical evaluation in Barcelona revealed several hairline fractures in her knee. At the time of her departure, she had already won the downhill discipline for the season and was leading the overall, super-G and combined disciplines.