The 2015/16 season of the Alpine Ski World Cup organized by the FIS began on October 24, 2015 in Sölden and ended on March 20, 2016 on the occasion of the World Cup final in St. Moritz . A new parallel giant slalom for men, which is being held for the first time in the history of the World Cup. In addition, after a three-year break, small crystal balls will be awarded again in the Alpine Combination.
46 races were planned for the men (11 downhill runs , 8 super-G , 10 giant slaloms , 11 slaloms , 3 alpine combinations , 2 city events , 1 parallel giant slalom event). 42 races were planned for the women (9 downhill runs, 8 super-G, 9 giant slalom, 10 slalom, 4 alpine combination, 2 city events). In addition, there was a team competition that only counted for the national ranking . However, the New Year's city events were canceled for men and women, and a combination for women.
Defending champion Anna Fenninger had to skip the whole season after falling during training a few days before the start of the season in Sölden and seriously injuring her knee, and Tina Maze had decided to take a break from racing.
The Canadian Dustin Cook had a hard fall on October 21st during training in Pitztal; his injuries were such that he was out for the entire season; he did not return to the World Cup until October 23, but could not qualify for the second run in the giant slalom in Sölden with 63rd place.
During the World Cup, both Mikaela Shiffrin (before the start) and Sara Hector (during the first round) injured themselves on December 12th in the giant slalom in Åre , which meant the end of the season for the Swede. On the other hand, Shiffrin could earlier than expected, u. to return to the «World Cup Circus» on February 15, successfully winning the slalom in Crans-Montana , but winning the Slalom World Cup again had become impossible. Due to injuries, the leading skiers in the overall standings had to give up. In the men's race, the Norwegian Aksel Lund Svindal fell on January 23, 2016 on the descent from Kitzbühel and had to end the season early. Up until then he was more than 100 points ahead of the later victorious Austrian Marcel Hirscher , who thus achieved the fifth overall victory in a row. In the women's category, the American Lindsey Vonn announced her departure on March 2, 2016, eight races to go. She had been injured in a fall at the previous Super-G in Soldeu and was 28 points ahead of second-placed Swiss Lara Gut . Even Ted Ligety was forced after a training injury in January to a premature end of the season. At the women's final slalom in St. Moritz on March 19, Nastasia Noens suffered a cruciate ligament rupture in the second round, which she missed until mid-December 2016 when she started again in an international European Cup slalom in Andalo .
Cancellations / postponements
The last weekend in January brought cancellations and cancellations due to weather conditions and thus postponements: In Maribor , the first slalom round ended after 25 runners. The warm weather caused the slope to break, the drivers were tossed to and fro in the large holes. At that time, Wendy Holdener was leading ahead of Šárka Strachová . In fact, the majority of the drivers had already spoken out in favor of not taking the event before the start. The men's giant slalom could not be run in Garmisch-Partenkirchen .
The postponements caused by this and also the other cancellations / postponements are detailed in the explanations below on "podium placements men" and "podium placements women".