FIS Alpine World Ski Championships explained

FIS Alpine World Ski Championships
Status:	active
Genre:	sporting event
Date:	January–February
Frequency:	biennial
Location:	various
Organised:	FIS

The FIS Alpine World Ski Championships is an alpine skiing competition organized by the International Ski Federation (FIS).

History

The inaugural world championships in alpine skiing were held in 1931. During the 1930s, the event was held annually in Europe, until interrupted by the outbreak of World War II, preventing a 1940 event. An event was held in 1941, but included competitors only from nations from the Axis powers or nations not at war with them. The results were later cancelled by the FIS in 1946 because of the limited number of participants, so they are not considered official.^[1]

Following the war, the championships were connected with the Olympics for several decades. From 1948 through 1982, the competition was held in even-numbered years, with the Winter Olympics acting as the World Championships through 1980, and a separate competition held in even-numbered non-Olympic years. The 1950 championships in the United States at Aspen were the first held outside of Europe and the first official championships separate of the Olympics since 1939.

The combined event was dropped after 1948 with the addition of the giant slalom in 1950, but returned in 1954 as a "paper" race which used the results of the three events: downhill, giant slalom, and slalom. During Olympic years from 1956 through 1980, FIS World Championship medals were awarded in the combined, but not Olympic medals. The combined returned as a separately run event in 1982 with its own downhill and two-run slalom, and the Super-G was added to the program in 1987. (Both were also added to the Olympics in 1988.)

There were no World Championships in 1983 or 1984 and since 1985, they have been scheduled in odd-numbered years, independent of the Winter Olympics. A lack of snow in southern Spain in 1995 caused a postponement to the following year.

Summary

Year	Place	Country	Year	Official FIS designation^[2]	Events
1931			FIS Alpine World Ski Championships 1931	1st Alpine World Ski Championships	4
1932				2nd Alpine World Ski Championships	6
1933				3rd Alpine World Ski Championships	6
1934				4th Alpine World Ski Championships	6
1935				5th Alpine World Ski Championships	6
1936				6th Alpine World Ski Championships	6
1937				7th Alpine World Ski Championships	6
1938				8th Alpine World Ski Championships	6
1939				9th Alpine World Ski Championships	6
1941	Cortina d'Ampezzo		FIS Alpine World Ski Championships 1941	none	align=center	-
1948				10th Alpine World Ski Championships	6
1950				11th Alpine World Ski Championships	6
1952				12th Alpine World Ski Championships	6
1954				13th Alpine World Ski Championships	8
1956				14th Alpine World Ski Championships	6
1958				15th Alpine World Ski Championships	6
1960	Squaw Valley, California			16th Alpine World Ski Championships	6
1962				17th Alpine World Ski Championships	8
1964				18th Alpine World Ski Championships	6
1966				19th Alpine World Ski Championships	6
1968				20th Alpine World Ski Championships	6
1970				21st Alpine World Ski Championships	8
1972				22nd Alpine World Ski Championships	6
1974				23rd Alpine World Ski Championships	8
1976				24th Alpine World Ski Championships	6
1978				25th Alpine World Ski Championships	6
1980				26th Alpine World Ski Championships	6
1982				27th Alpine World Ski Championships	8
1985				28th Alpine World Ski Championships	10
1987				29th Alpine World Ski Championships	10
1989				30th Alpine World Ski Championships	10
1991				31st Alpine World Ski Championships	10
1993				32nd Alpine World Ski Championships	9
1996				33rd Alpine World Ski Championships	10
1997				34th Alpine World Ski Championships	10
1999	Vail/Beaver Creek, CO			35th Alpine World Ski Championships	10
2001				36th Alpine World Ski Championships	10
2003				37th Alpine World Ski Championships	10
2005				38th Alpine World Ski Championships	11
2007				39th Alpine World Ski Championships	11
2009				40th Alpine World Ski Championships	10
2011				41st Alpine World Ski Championships	11
2013				42nd Alpine World Ski Championships	11
2015				43rd Alpine World Ski Championships	11
2017				44th Alpine World Ski Championships	11
2019				45th Alpine World Ski Championships	11
2021				46th Alpine World Ski Championships	13
2023				47th Alpine World Ski Championships	13
2025				48th Alpine World Ski Championships	13
2027				49th Alpine World Ski Championships	13
2029				50th Alpine World Ski Championships	?
2031				51st Alpine World Ski Championships	?

• Held as part of the Winter Olympics (9).
• Was Unofficial (1).

List of host countries

A total of twelve countries have hosted the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships, including those which were shared with the Winter Olympics. All of the top-7 on the list of nations which have won FIS World Cup races have been selected as host at least twice. The World Championships have been held only once in the Southern Hemisphere, in August 1966 at Portillo, Chile. The list is complete through 2021 and does not include the unofficial 1941 event.

Country	World Championships hosted			Earliest year	Latest   year	Future
	Total number	Independent	Shared with Olympics
	align=center	9	align=center	8	align=center	1	align=center	1931	2017	align=center style="background:#EFDFBB"	2027
	align=center	9	align=center	7	align=center	2	align=center	1933	align=center	2013	align=center style="background:#EFDFBB"	2025
	align=center	7	align=center	6	align=center	1	align=center	1932	2021	align=center style="background:#EFDFBB"	2031
	align=center	6	align=center	4	align=center	2	align=center	1950	align=center	2015
	align=center	5	align=center	4	align=center	1	align=center	1937	align=center	2023
	align=center	3	align=center	3	align=center	0	align=center	1954	2019
	align=center	2	align=center	2	align=center	0	align=center	1978	align=center	2011
	align=center	2	align=center	1	align=center	1	align=center	1972	align=center	1993
	align=center	1	align=center	1	align=center	0	align=center colspan=2	1939
	align=center	1	align=center	1	align=center	0	align=center colspan=2	1966
	align=center	1	align=center	1	align=center	0	align=center colspan=2	1996
	align=center	1	align=center	0	align=center	1	align=center colspan=2	1952	align=center style="background:#EFDFBB"	2029
Totals	align=center	47	align=center	38	align=center	9	align=center	1931	align=center	2023

Events

Event																																															23
		•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•			•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•
	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•
	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•
											•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•
																													•	•	•		•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•
Men's parallel event																																														•	•
		•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•			•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•
	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•
	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•
											•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•
																													•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•
Women's parallel event																																														•	•
Mixed Nations Team Event																																						•	•		•	•	•	•	•	•	•
Total Events	4	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	10	10	10	9	10	10	10	10	10	11	11	10	11	11	11	11	11	13	13

Note: The men's super-G in 1993 and the team event in 2009 were cancelled due to adverse weather conditions, and no medals were awarded.

Skiers with most victories

See also: List of alpine skiing world champions.

Top 10 skiers who won more gold medals at the Alpine Skiing World Championships (including at team events) are listed below. Boldface denotes active skiers and highest medal count among all skiers (including these who not included in these tables) per type.

Men

Rank	Skier	Country	From	To	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1			2013	2019	7 **	4	–	11 **
2			1956	1958	7	1	–	8
3			1966	1968	6	–	–	6
4			1991	2003	5	4	3	12
5			2005	2019	5	2	2	9
6			1972	1976	5	2	–	7
7			1976	1982	5	1	1	7
8			2009	2015	5	–	2	7
9			1985	1996	4	4	3	11
10			1985	1989	4	4	1	9

Women

Rank	Skier	Country	From	To	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1			1934	1939	12	3	–	15
2	Mikaela Shiffrin		2013	2023	7	4	3	14
3			1962	1968	7	4	–	11
4			2001	2011	7	2 *	4 *	13 **
5			1980	1987	6	–	1	7
6			1970	1980	5	2	2	9
7			2003	2005	5	–	–	5
8			2009	2015	4	5	–	9
9			1974	1980	4	3	2	9
10			1991	1999	4	1	1	6

* Including one medal in the Mixed team event
** Including two medals in the Mixed team event

Skiers with most individual medals

See also: List of alpine skiing world champions.

Participants with five or more medals in the individual disciplines (not including team events) at the Alpine Skiing World Championships are (boldface denotes active skiers):^{[3] [4]}

Men

Skier	Country	Total	Gold	Silver	Bronze
		12	5	4	3
		11	4	4	3
		11	3	8	0
		9	5	4	0
		9	5	2	2
Pirmin Zurbriggen		9	4	4	1
		8	7	1	0
		8	4	4	0
		7	5	2	0
		7	5	1	1
		7	5	0	2
		7	4	1	2
		7	3	4	0
		7	2	4	1
Alexis Pinturault		7	2	1	4
		6	6	0	0
		6	4	1	1
		6	3	2	1
		6	3	2	1
		6	2	3	1
Marco Schwarz		6	1	1	4
		6	0	1	5
		5	4	1	0
		5	4	1	0
		5	1	2	2
		5	1	2	2

Women

Skier	Country	Total	Gold	Silver	Bronze
	Germany	15	12	3	0
Mikaela Shiffrin		14	7	4	3
		11	7	4	0
		11	7	1	3
		9	5	2	2
		9	4	5	0
		9	4	3	2
Lara Gut-Behrami		8	2	3	3
		8	2	3	3
	Germany	8	1	4	3
		7	6	0	1
		7	2	3	2
	Germany	7	0	1	6
		6	4	1	1
		6	3	3	0
		6	3	2	1
		6	1	2	3
		6	1	2	3
		5	5	0	0
		5	3	2	0
		5	3	1	1
Wendy Holdener		5	2	3	0
		5	2	1	2
		5	2	0	3
		5	1	3	1
Petra Vlhová		5	1	3	1
		5	1	2	2
Corinne Suter		5	1	2	2
		5	1	1	3
		5	0	4	1
		5	0	2	3
		5	0	2	3

Most titles per discipline

Men

Discipline	Skier	Country	Titles
Downhill			2
Slalom			3
Combined			3
Giant slalom			3
Super-G			2
Parallel			1
Mixed team			2

Women

Discipline	Skier	Country	Titles
Downhill			3
Slalom			4
Combined			5
			2
Super-G			2
Parallel			1
Mixed team			3

Multiple individual discipline winners

Only seven skiers (three men and four women) have ever managed to win World championship in four or more different alpine skiing individual disciplines during their career, as listed in the table below. Anja Pärson of Sweden is the only skier in history to win World Championship golds in five individual disciplines.

Men

Skier	Period		Different discipline titles won		Wins		DH	SG	GS	SL	KB
	1956–1958		4		7		2	—	2	1	2
	1966–1968		4		6		2	—	1	1	2
	1985–1987		4		4		1	1	1	—	1

Women

Skier	Period		Different discipline titles won		Wins		DH	SG	GS	SL	KB
	2001–2007		5		7		1	2	2	1	1
	2013–2023		4		7		—	1	1	4	1
	1962–1968		4		7		1	—	2	1	3
	2011–2015		4		4		1	1	1	—	1

Medals by country

The tables for both genders include medals won at the nine Winter Olympics from 1948 through 1980, though these were also World Championships. The mixed team events is not included for both genders, therefore there is special table for these team competitions. Also, there are two cumulative medal tables – the first one includes medals won at the nine Winter Olympics from 1948 through 1980, the second one don't includes these medals. All tables are current through 2023.

Total (not including 1948–1980 Winter Olympics)

See also

• Alpine skiing at the Winter Olympics
• Alpine skiing at the Winter Paralympics
• Alpine skiing at the Youth Olympic Games
• Alpine skiing World Cup
• Italy at the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships
• World Para Alpine Skiing Championships
• World Junior Alpine Skiing Championships

External links

• FIS-ski.com – official results for the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships
• Ski-DB.com – Men's World Champions
• Ski-DB.com – Women's World Champions
• Neveclub.it – FIS World Champions News

See main article: world championships.

Notes and References

1. Web site: FIS History . FIS-Ski . 15 November 2011 . dead . https://archive.today/20120527092813/http://www.fis-ski.com/uk/insidefis/history/fishistory.html . 27 May 2012 .
2. Web site: Alpine World Ski Championships . FIS-Ski . 15 November 2011 . dead . https://archive.today/20120524000713/http://www.fis-ski.com/uk/majorevents/fisworldskichampionships/alpinewsc.html . 24 May 2012 .
3. Web site: Podiums . https://archive.today/20120905011540/http://www.fis-ski.com/uk/604/podiums.html?sector=AL&category=WSC . dead . 5 September 2012 . FIS-Ski . 15 November 2011 .
4. Web site: Podiums . https://archive.today/20130102225134/http://www.fis-ski.com/uk/604/podiums.html?sector=AL&category=WSC&gender=L . dead . 2 January 2013 . FIS-Ski . 15 November 2011 .