The 2022-2023 International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS) Ski World Cup started Oct. 22, 2022, in Soeldon, Austria and will end March 19, 2023 in Soldeu, Andorra. Over the span of five months, there are a variety of races in a multitude of countries. 

The types of races occurring during the world cup are Slalom, Giant Slalom, Super G (Super Giant Slalom), and Downhill. Slalom and Giant Slalom are the more “technical” of the racing events while Super G and Downhill are “speed” events. Slalom is the shortest form of alpine skiing and is a type of race in which downhill skiers navigate back and forth between gates or poles. Giant Slalom is similar to Slalom, but it has fewer and wider turns that result in faster speeds. Super G is a steeper and straighter course compared to the other two Slalom events, and it features longer more-sweeping turns taken at a higher speed. Downhill is the fastest type of race; it emphasizes speed the most, and although there are gates on the outside of the course, they only serve as markers to identify the course. Skiers avoid getting near them since hitting them will make them slow down. A skier’s time is usually the combination of two runs of one race, but skiers only have one run for Super G and Downhill. 

The United States hosted four events for the FIS World Cup: Nov. 26-27 in Killington, Vermont; Nov. 29-Dec. 4 in Beaver Creek, Colorado; Feb. 25-26 in Palisades Tahoe, California; and March 1-5 in Aspen, Colorado. In Killington, Anna Swen Larsson from Sweden and Wendy Holdener from Switzerland tied for first in Women’s Slalom with a time of 1:42.97. In the Women’s Giant Slalom, Lara Gut-Behrami from Switzerland placed first with a time of 1:44.08. Despite not placing first in either race in Killington, U.S. Olympian Mikaela Shiffrin placed first overall. Shiffrin was the only U.S. skier who consistently placed first. In Beaver Creek, Aleksander Aamodt Kilde from Norway placed first in Men’s Downhill with a time of 1:42.09. He also placed first in Men’s Super G with a time of 1:10.73. Although Kilde won both races and placed first in discipline, Marco Odermatt from Switzerland placed first overall. In Palisades Tahoe, Alexander Steen Olsen from Norway placed first in Men’s Slalom with a time of 1:47.47. In Men’s Giant Slalom, Marco Schwarz from Austria placed first with a time of 2:23. Odermatt placed first in both races in Palisades Tahoe. In Aspen, Kilde placed first in Men’s Downhill with a time of 1:31.60. In Men’s Super G, Odermatt placed first with a time of 1:06.80. For both races, the overall placings showed Odermatt in first place and Kilde in second place. 

25 year old Odermatt from Switzerland started his skiing career in 2016 and credits his talent to his parents, he has numerous world cup and skiing wins. 30 year old Kilde from Norway was overall world cup champion in 2020. Kilde and Shiffrin are dating, Kilde often praises and takes inspiration from Shiffrin. “[Shiffrin] works the hardest than all of us… and that makes me also want to give it a little extra,” Kilde said. 28 yearld old Shiffrin from the U.S. grew up in Vail, Colorado and a former teen prodigy who became the youngest American alpine skier ever to win a world championship in 2014. Shiffrin is a highly decorated U.S. athlete. 

The overall World Cup champions were declared, before the season even ended: Shiffrin and Odermatt. Shiffrin is a three time Olympic gold medalist, two gold and one silver. In 2013 she became the first U.S. Slalom world cup champion since 1983. This year she became the successful skier in the modern history of the world championships. As of four days ago, she has won 85 world cup races. Shiffrin broke the modern record for the most individual world championship medals—she also ranks first among the number of races women have won (she beat Lindsey Vonn’s record of 82 World Cup wins) and is only one behind Stenmark (male) who has 86 wins. Shiffrin has openly admitted that grief, from her father’s death, has complicated her relationship with skiing. Shiffrin has been open about her journey with anxiety throughout her whole career, her performance anxiety helped her learn strength and development of skills that helped her come so far in her career. 

“You can create your own miracle, but you do it by never looking past all the little steps along the way,” Shiffrin said. 

Here’s Janhvi’s article on students at the school who ski: https://www.crossedsabres.org/features/2022/04/04/learning-the-slopes-with-our-student-body/

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