38 races were planned for the men (10 downhill runs , 7 super-G , 8 giant slaloms , 10 slaloms , 2 alpine combinations , 1 city event ). 33 races were to be held for the women (8 downhill runs, 7 super-G, 7 giant slaloms, 9 slaloms, 1 alpine combination, 1 city event). There is also a team competition , which only counts for the nation ranking. The city events scheduled for men and women for New Year's Day in Munich were canceled due to lack of snow.
The highlight of the season was the Alpine World Ski Championships from February 2 to 15, 2015 in Vail / Beaver Creek , the results of which, however, do not count towards the World Cup.
The super combined is from this season called Alpine Combined.
The overall men's World Cup was won for the fourth time in a row by Austrian Marcel Hirscher . He is the first male ski racer in World Cup history to do so. Anna Fenninger, also from Austria, successfully defended her title from the previous year like Hirscher. The overall World Cup winners of both nations come for the fifth time (after 1968/69, 1999/2000, 2001/2002 and 2013/14) both from Austria. Austria won the Nations Cup for the 26th time in a row.
The South Tyrolean Markus Waldner joined the men as the new FIS race director (as the successor to the German Günther Hujara).
After the early end of the season in January 2014, Lindsey Vonn returned to the World Cup in Lake Louise , where - after finishing 8th in the first of the two downhill runs - she already managed a victory in the second, which was also her 60th World Cup victory (and 15th place). Victory on her favorite track ) - and after a relatively long break (last victory on January 26, 2013 at the giant slalom in Maribor ), she was able to take another step towards a new record for women . She achieved this with her victories in the second downhill and in the Super-G in Cortina d'Ampezzo (18/19 January), which equalized and exceeded Annemarie Moser-Pröll's 62 victories.
Elisabeth Görgl became the oldest winner in a World Cup race with her Super G victory on December 21, 2014 at the age of 33 years and 304 days.
Both the men's giant slalom on December 12th and the women's giant slalom on March 13th in Åre were so-called night races; the first round started at 4 p.m. CET. On the other hand, of the slaloms in Zagreb, only the men's slalom was driven in the evening.
Further “night events” were again the women's slalom in Flachau and that of the men in Schladming.
Those with start no. 2 Edit Miklós who started the race caused a sensation with 3rd place on the downhill run in St. Moritz (January 24th), because the Hungarian Ski Association had never had a runner on the podium in an Alpine World Cup race.
Aksel Lund Svindal had torn an Achilles tendon just before the start of the season at an internal team soccer game. The Norwegian, who took part in both Downhill and Super-G at the World Championships in the USA, did not drive a single World Cup race in the current season either before or after this event.
The Swiss combined Olympic champion Sandro Viletta started the speed races there in Val Gardena despite a back pain due to a training fall and continued to contest the racing program in Kitzbühel until January 23, after which he was forced to end the season prematurely.
Program changes
Men's:
At the speed races in Val Gardena there was an exchange: Contrary to the usual practice, the downhill had to be driven first.
The traditional departure in Bormio was canceled; the organizer no longer showed any interest in doing this. Santa Caterina took over.
In Wengen the slalom was held on January 17th and the downhill run on January 18th.
Women:
The Tyrolean municipality of Kühtai was entrusted with hosting World Cup races for the first time (as a substitute for Semmering).
In Cortina d'Ampezzo (after the Kleinkirchheim replacement run), the actual “Cortina run” was already run on January 18th and the Super-G only on January 19th.
Sara Hector won her first World Cup race on December 28th with the giant slalom in Kühtai.
On the same day, Travis Ganong also took his first victory on the downhill in Santa Caterina.
In an extremely close decision, Stefano Gross achieved his first victory in the slalom in Adelboden on January 11th .
After he made it onto the podium for the first time at the slalom in Åre on December 14th, the night slalom in Schladming on January 27th was not only the first victory for Alexander Khoroschilow , but officially also the first for Russia in the men's category , because all previous victories (for men up to March 1981) had been achieved for the Soviet Union.
On March 19, Dustin Cook was able to confirm his silver medal from the world championships with his first World Cup victory in the Super-G in Méribel .
World Cup decisions
In terms of the overall World Cup, both men and women did not fall until the final.
Men:
The 50 points that Marcel Hirscher received for his fourth place in one of his rare Super-G starts, this time on March 19, were not insignificant (although he also benefited from the fact that Kjetil Jansrud did not win). But after two days later Hirscher scored 50 points again in the giant slalom, making his lead over Jansrud 60 points, the Norwegian gave up because it was clear to him that he would never be able to catch up in the slalom.
Women:
Until mid-January it looked like Tina Maze , who was 310 points ahead of Fenninger, would be successful . The Salzburg native managed a brilliant catch-up. In the last races, Maze and Fenninger took turns in the lead, as the Slovenian scored well in the slaloms that her competitor avoided. So also in the last slalom of the season as fourth; Fenninger also competed here in order to have left no stone unturned. With 23rd place she stayed far outside the points, so that the score before the final giant slalom in 1471 compared to 1453 was in favor of Maze. After the first run, Fenninger led by just 0.27 seconds ahead of Maze and was the last to go into the second run and took victory and the "big ball".
Individual disciplines
Here, too, apart from the combinations that ended much earlier, the last races had to clarify the situation. Only the super-G and giant slalom in the men had definitely been decided. However, almost everywhere else, everything spoke for the runners in the lead. In the end there was only a change in leadership in the men's slalom, in which Felix Neureuther was ahead with 55 points. Since the Upper Bavarian was only in 14th place after the first run, but also the main competitor Hirscher with 3rd place would only have received 60 points, the change in position developed into an enormous drama in the second run. Both competitors were able to make up two places. However, this development was much more advantageous for Hirscher, because it drove him to victory and wrested the score from the DSV runner.