Alpine World Ski Championships

Gold medal of the FIS

The Alpine World Ski Championships are a sporting event that takes place every two years, in which the world champions in the alpine ski disciplines are determined in various races . The organizer is the World Ski Federation FIS . The Alpine Ski World Championships, along with the Olympic Games, are among the most important championships in Alpine ski racing.

According to the official language of the FIS, the sporting event is named in the plural and is called "Alpine World Ski Championships (year)".

history

World championships in alpine skiing were held for the first time in 1931 . Initially they were referred to as FIS competitions , FIS championships or simply FIS races , from 1937 the events were officially called World Championships (and the competitions that have taken place since 1931 were subsequently referred to as such). Until 1939 the title fights took place annually. A special feature, there was 1936, when it both alpine Skibewerbe at the Olympic Winter Games in Garmisch-Partenkirchen , albeit with only one combination (from a departure and a two-rounds slalom) for men and women and separately shortly after an Alpine World Championships in Innsbruck was . While practically all men from Switzerland and Austria were not allowed to participate in the Olympic competition because of their "professionalism", they were able to take part in the world championship, but on the other hand the Olympic starters were now missing. At the World Championships in 1938 and 1939, the runners from Austria belonged to the team of the German Reich due to the affiliation that has now been completed .

After the Second World War , the world championships were held every two years from 1948 to 1982, with the Olympic champions also being world champions up to the 1980 Winter Olympics (the combination was also an Olympic ranking in 1948; after that, the combination winners were "only" world champions from 1956 to 1980 ). Since 1985 the World Championships have been held in odd years independently of the Winter Olympics. The exception was the World Cup in the Sierra Nevada, which could only be held in 1996, as there had been an acute lack of snow the year before.

Disciplines

Initially there were only three disciplines (downhill, slalom and combination, although these were not part of the program in 1931, 1950 and 1952 and on the other hand only a "paper race" up to and including 1980 - only in 1948 there was a small deviation), and thus also up to and including 1939 an event scheduled for two or three days, the duration increased due to the addition of further disciplines afterwards. From 1950 the giant slalom was included, from 1982 the combination was held in a different form and thus as an additional competition, and from 1987 the Super-G was added. From 1996 the combination was no longer calculated in points, but by adding times. From 2005 a team competition was installed, which was changed in its form and rating in 2011 to a parallel race. The "Super Combination" (later "Alpine Combination") was modified in 2007. At the 2021 World Ski Championships, additional parallel individual races will be held for the first time, bringing the number of medal decisions to 13.

Duration of the event

In the thirties it was a weekend at the beginning, later three days, but this was extended (with the introduction of the giant slalom) to a good week (from one Sunday to the next). With the addition of changed and additional disciplines, it was eleven days in 1982, this increased to around two weeks. Hand in hand with this, the number of participants also increased enormously, which also caused problems with their accommodation. Only 20 women and 25 men competed in 1931; In 1938 there were 30 women and 50 men, in 1970 there were 50 women and 120 men; In 1991 that number roughly doubled, and in 2017 there were 589 athletes from 77 different countries. However, the basic planning since 1996 with first the "speed" and then the technical disciplines brought the advantage that, especially in the larger nations, the "technician troop" only arrives at a later point in time, and it becomes a kind of " Shift change "in the accommodations.

Successful nations

In the first few years it was only the traditional Alpine nations (Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Austria, shortly afterwards France) and also the women from the British ski club Kandahar who won the medals, but in 1939 a medal went to Sweden for the first time. The USA were added in 1948, Norway in 1952, Japan and the USSR in 1956 and Canada in 1958. Then it lasted until 1970 with Australia and Poland, in 1972 with the surprise from Spain, and in 1974 Liechtenstein joined them. Other nations were: 1982 Yugoslavia, 1985 Luxembourg, 1991 Russia (whereby a common ground with the USSR can be assumed here), 1999 Finland, 2001 Slovenia (here the connection with Yugoslavia), 2003 Croatia, 2005 Czech Republic, 2017 Slovakia.

Television broadcasts

At its congress in Beirut in 1967, the world ski association secured the exclusive rights to television broadcasts of the world championships. It was noted in the minutes that »the FIS is entering into negotiations directly with the TV companies in this regard«. Since the influence of television increased immensely (as in all sports), the organizers had to and still have to bow to the requirements of TV several times (which was / is particularly important for cancellations or postponements), and it is also the curiosity of known from the 2005 World Championships in Bormio when a strike by the cameramen of the Italian host station RAI triggered the postponement of the men's giant slalom by one day.

Other incidents

• The men's slalom in 1931 was run in just one run because of the piste that melted away in the "late February sun", which is why its results were considered "unofficial" for a long time. There was actually no medal award either (the runners left immediately after finishing anyway); Only from 2013 onwards will the first three places be considered medal winners according to the FIS (and therefore winner David Zogg is considered world champion).
• At the World Championships in 1934, the entire Austrian team was missing, only a few officials had come to St. Moritz .
• The 1950 World Championships in Aspen were the first outside Europe.
• There was a rather limited number of participants in Bad Gastein in 1958 due to the regulation that each nation was only allowed to name six runners, of which four could be used in every competition as usual.
• In 1962 it was initially questionable whether these world championships could be considered such, for political reasons. For the first time, there were major shifts in the program due to weather conditions. The Austrian Ski Association won six of the eight possible gold medals.
  In addition, for the first time there was a qualifying slalom for the actual slalom; of 62 registered runners, 30 were able to secure participation. These qualifications, which were held up to and including 1970, remained extremely controversial, the runners announced boycotts, but ultimately they had to submit again and again. The main criticism was that the entire runners had to compete, which carried the risk that an elite runner would not qualify (especially if he fell); It was said, "that the elite runners had earned the good start number due to their results in the previous season and the current season and they should not be deprived of their merits in such a decision, which may also be dependent on weather conditions".
• The Swiss Ski Association remained without a medal at the World Championships from 1962 to 1966 (although in 1964 there was no medal in the other Olympic competitions either).
• For the 1964 Olympic slalom, which was also the world championship, there was (as in the 1962 World Cup) a qualifying slalom.
• The only world championship to date in the southern hemisphere and thus held in August took place in Portillo in 1966 . The men's giant slalom was run in two runs for the first time, and also (with the exception of 1974 and 1978) on two days until 1980. The French Ski Association won six of the eight possible gold medals, or seven of the eight possible gold medals due to the subsequent award of the gold medal in the women's downhill.
• For the third time here in Portillo, due to the high number of registrations for the men's slalom, the starting field was reduced by a "qualification slalom". (This measure also existed for the Olympic slalom in 1968 and in Val Gardena in 1970 - and only after that again in 2007.) The larger nations were allowed to send five runners to qualify. The conclusion was that the quota of four starters was broken, because both Switzerland and Austria brought all their runners into the main competition.
• Both the alpine ski races at the 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble and the 1970 World Championships in Val Gardena were simultaneously considered World Cup races.
• Since the ski competitions are also considered world championships at the 1972 Olympic Games, these were the first in Asia.
• At the 1978 World Cup, the women's giant slalom was also driven in two rounds for the first time.
• From 1982 onwards, in addition to the four permitted runners per nation, the respective defending champions (i.e. the 1980 winners) were allowed to start. For the first time there was a separately held combination, consisting of a descent and a slalom consisting of two runs, but these two races (and this also at the following world championships) were held on two different (and mostly further apart) days.
• The Austrian Ski Association was unable to win a gold medal in 1985 or 1987.
• For the first time in 1993 in Shizukuishi a competition, namely the men's Super-G, had to be canceled.
• The first night slalom was the men's combination slalom at the 1996 World Championships.
• The men's Super-G in 1999 saw an ex-aequo victory at world championships for the first time.
• For the 2001 World Championships in St. Anton am Arlberg there was a relocation or a new construction of the train station.
• Starting in 2007, qualification races were held both in the men's slalom and now also in the giant slalom in order to reduce the number of participants. However, the mode of these qualifications had fundamentally changed compared to those between 1962 and 1970, because in contrast to back then, when the entire registered field including the elite had to undertake this very controversial procedure, from now on only runners of lower quality were affected .
• In 2009 in Val-d'Isère there was no team competition due to weather conditions, which for the first time was not programmed for the end of the championship but "in between". In the slaloms and giant slaloms, only the first thirty of the first run were allowed for the second run (as in the World Cup).
• At the 2011 World Championships in Garmisch-Partenkirchen , the previous rules for slalom and giant slalom were used again in 2009 when the "thirty-one rule" was applied (so the best 60 of the first run were eligible for the second run).

Start authorization

According to the currently valid FIS rules, there are limited numbers per nation (here also divided between women and men; Swiss-Ski provided eleven men and thirteen women for 2017, the ÖSV fourteen women and thirteen men) that per individual competition only four runners and the defending champions may be used. In addition, only runners with 80 FIS points or less are allowed to start , which is especially important for very small ski nations. In Skiweltcup other guidelines apply here.

Nomination by the national associations

The nominations are made by the "large" associations in the alpine sector (Switzerland and Austria) according to stricter guidelines than those of the German Ski Association. The increase in competitions has also led to a greater number of start authorizations, and the "defending champion regulation" that came into force in 1982 can avoid possible hardship cases. The partially used phrase of "fifth place on the grid" has to be restricted in such a way that actually only defending champions are additionally entitled to start.

Venues

So far there have been 45 Alpine World Ski Championships at 29 different venues. Once the World Cup results were annulled (Cortina 1941). The 1931 World Cup in Mürren was only later recognized and added by the FIS.

year	venue	country	comment
1931	Murren	Switzerland
1932	Cortina d'Ampezzo	Italy
1933	innsbruck	Austria
1934	St. Moritz	Switzerland
1935	Murren	Switzerland
1936	innsbruck	Austria
1937	Chamonix	France
1938	Engelberg	Switzerland
1939	Zakopane	Poland
1941	Cortina d'Ampezzo	Italy	The results were canceled in 1946.
1948	St. Moritz	Switzerland
1950	Aspen	United States
1952	Oslo	Norway
1954	Are	Sweden
1956	Cortina d'Ampezzo	Italy
1958	Bad Gastein	Austria
1960	Squaw Valley	United States
1962	Chamonix	France
1964	innsbruck	Austria
1966	Portillo	Chile
1968	Grenoble	France	Results also counted for the World Cup
1970	Val Gardena	Italy	Results also counted for the World Cup
1972	Sapporo	Japan
1974	St. Moritz	Switzerland
1976	innsbruck	Austria
1978	Garmisch-Partenkirchen	Germany
1980	Lake Placid	United States
1982	Schladming	Austria
1985	Bormio	Italy
1987	Crans-Montana	Switzerland	First edition of the Super G
1989	Vail	United States
1991	Saalbach-Hinterglemm	Austria
1993	Morioka- Shizukuishi	Japan	The men's Super G could not be played
1996	Sierra Nevada	Spain	Postponed from 1995 to 1996 due to lack of snow
1997	Sestriere	Italy
1999	Vail / Beaver Creek	United States	Joint hosting of the games
2001	St. Anton am Arlberg	Austria
2003	St. Moritz	Switzerland
2005	Bormio	Italy	First staging of the team competition
2007	Are	Sweden
2009	Val d'Isère	France	The team competition was canceled due to the weather
2011	Garmisch-Partenkirchen	Germany	The team competition was held for the first time as a parallel race
2013	Schladming	Austria
2015	Vail / Beaver Creek	United States	Joint hosting of the games
2017	St. Moritz	Switzerland
2019	Are	Sweden
2021	Cortina d'Ampezzo	Italy	First parallel individual races planned
2023	Courchevel - Méribel	France

List of venues

So far, nine of the 45 world championships have taken place in Austria, eight in Switzerland, seven in Italy and six in the USA. 30 in the Alps , six in other areas of Europe, six in the USA, two in Japan and once in Chile.

venue	country	number	including Olympia	Host years
St. Moritz	Switzerland	5	1	1934; 1948 ; 1974; 2003; 2017
innsbruck	Austria	4th	2	1933; 1936; 1964 ; 1976
Cortina d'Ampezzo	/ Italy	3	1	1932; 1941; 1956
Vail *	United States	3		1989; 1999; 2015
Are	Sweden	3		1954; 2007; 2019
Beaver Creek *	United States	2		1999; 2015
Bormio	Italy	2		1985; 2005
Chamonix	France	2		1937; 1962
Garmisch-Partenkirchen	Germany	2		1978; 2011
Murren	Switzerland	2		1931; 1935
Schladming	Austria	2		1982; 2013
Aspen	United States	1		1950
Bad Gastein	Austria	1		1958
Crans-Montana	Switzerland	1		1987
Engelberg	Switzerland	1		1938
Grenoble	France	1	1	1968
Val Gardena	Italy	1		1970
Lake Placid	United States	1	1	1980
Morioka- Shizukuishi	Japan	1		1993
Oslo	Norway	1	1	1952
Portillo	Chile	1		1966
Saalbach-Hinterglemm	Austria	1		1991
Sapporo	Japan	1	1	1972
Sestriere	Italy	1		1997
Sierra Nevada	Spain	1		1996
Squaw Valley	United States	1	1	1960
St. Anton am Arlberg	Austria	1		2001
Val d'Isère	France	1		2009
Zakopane	Poland	1		1939

* The 1999 and 2015 World Championships were co-hosted by Vail and Beaver Creek.
Olympic years are shown in italics .

The most successful participants

See also : List of world champions in alpine skiing

The most successful participants in terms of the number of world championship titles are Christl Cranz ( GER , 12 wins) for women and Marcel Hirscher ( AUT , 7 wins) for men . However, most of the men's medals went to Kjetil André Aamodt ( NOR , 12 medals).

Anja Pärson ( SWE ) is the only one to have won the title in all five ski disciplines ( Slalom 2001, Giant Slalom 2003/2005, Super-G 2005/2007, Downhill 2007, Super Combined 2007).

rank	Surname	from	to
1	Christl Cranz	1934	1939	12	3	-	15th
2	Marielle Goitschel	1962	1968	7th	4th	-	11
2	Marcel Hirscher	2013	2019	** 7 **	4th	-	11
4th	Anja Pärson	2001	2011	7th	* 2 *	* 4 *	13
5	Toni Sailer	1956	1958	7th	1	-	8th
6th	Erika Hess	1980	1987	6th	-	1	7th
7th	Jean-Claude Killy	1966	1968	6th	-	-	6th
8th	Kjetil André Aamodt	1991	2003	5	4th	3	12
9	Annemarie Moser-Pröll	1970	1980	5	2	2	9
9	Aksel Lund Svindal	2005	2019	5	2	2	9

* including one medal in a team competition, ** including two medals in a team competition

Eternal medal table

Status: February 17, 2019; without medals from the canceled World Cup in 1941

rank	country
1	Austria	96	103	95	294
2	Switzerland	66	69	60	195
3	France	45	51	35	131
4th	/ / Germany	34	35	45	114
5	United States	28	25th	34	87
6th	Norway	23	20th	16	59
7th	/ Italy	21st	24	26th	71
8th	Sweden	17th	10	21st	48
9	Canada	14th	8th	7th	29
10	Slovenia	6th	6th	2	14th
11	Croatia	6th	1	2	9
12	Liechtenstein	5	9	7th	21st
13	Great Britain	4th	4th	3	11
	Luxembourg	4th	4th	3	11
15th	Yugoslavia	1	3	5	9
16	Finland	1	2	2	5
17th	Slovakia	1	2	1	4th
18th	Czech Republic	1	1	2	4th
19th	Australia	1	-	1	2
	Spain	1	-	1	2
21st	Japan	-	1	1	2
	Poland	-	1	1	2
23	Soviet Union	-	-	2	2
	total	375	379	372	1126

Canceled World Cup of 1941

rank	country
1	Germany	5	2	4th	11
2	Italy	2	3	2	7th

According to the APA report of January 29, 2013, research by the ORF revealed that the FIS has now included the 1931 men's slalom, which was held in only one run, in the official medal ranking, giving the Austrians a silver medal (Toni Seelos). These unofficially managed medals are already included in the majority of the medal statistics.

See also

• Alpine Ski Junior World Championship

Web links

Commons : FIS Alpine World Ski Championships  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Eternal World Cup balance sheet: Austria now has one more medal ( Memento from February 9, 2015 in the Internet Archive )