The World Para Alpine Skiing World Cup (previously called the IPC Alpine Skiing World Cup) is an annual circuit of elite disabled alpine skiing competitions, regulated by the

International Paralympic Committee The International Paralympic Committee (IPC; german: Internationales Paralympisches Komitee) is an international non-profit organisation and the global governing body for the Paralympic Movement. The IPC organizes the Paralympic Games and fun ...

(IPC) and the

International Ski Federation The ''Fédération internationale de ski et de snowboard'' (FIS; en, International Ski and Snowboard Federation) is the highest international governing body for skiing and snowboarding. Founded on 2 February 1924 in Chamonix, France during the ...

(FIS). Held at ski areas across

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

, and

East Asia East Asia is the eastern region of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The modern states of East Asia include China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan. China, North Korea, South Korea and ...

, the World Cup consists of timed races in five disciplines:

slalom To slalom is to zigzag between obstacles. It may refer to: Sports ;Alpine skiing and/or snowboarding * Slalom skiing, an alpine skiing and alpine snowboarding discipline * Giant slalom, an alpine skiing and alpine snowboarding discipline * Super-G ...

giant slalom Giant slalom (GS) is an alpine skiing and alpine snowboarding discipline. It involves skiing between sets of poles ("gates") spaced at a greater distance from each other than in slalom but less than in Super-G. Giant slalom and slalom make up t ...

super G Super giant slalom, or super-G, is a racing discipline of alpine skiing. Along with the faster downhill, it is regarded as a "speed" event, in contrast to the technical events giant slalom and slalom. It debuted as an official World Cup event ...

downhill Downhill may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Downhill'' (1927 film), a British film by Alfred Hitchcock * ''Downhill'' (2014 film), a British comedy directed by James Rouse * ''Downhill'' (2016 film), a Chilean thriller directed by Patrici ...

, and super combined. Medals are awarded to the top three men's and women's finishers in each of the three disability categories: standing, sitting, and visually impaired. After each race, points are awarded to the top 30 skiers in each disability category who finish within a certain percentage of the winning time. 100 points are awarded to the winner, 80 for second place, 60 for third, and so on, down to one point for 30th place. In each disability category, the male and female athlete with the most points at the end of the season wins the overall World Cup title and a large glass trophy, the ''crystal globe''. Smaller globes are also awarded for athletes with the highest point totals in each of the five disciplines. Additionally, a ''Nations Cup'' trophy is awarded to the country that accumulates the highest point total. The World Cup is held every year, and is considered one of the premier competitions in disabled ski racing, along with the

Winter Paralympics The Winter Paralympic Games is an international multi-sport event where athletes with physical disabilities compete in snow and ice sports. The event includes athletes with mobility impairments, amputations, blindness, and cerebral palsy. Th ...

(held every four years, concurrently with the Winter Olympics) and the World Championships (held every two years since 2009, but irregularly before that). Disabled ski racers who aspire one day to compete on the World Cup attempt to qualify on one of the ''Continental Cup'' circuits: the ''Europa Cup'' (or "European Cup") in

and the ''Nor-Am Cup'' in

History

Although disabled ski competitions date to the mid-20th century and the first

were held in

1976 Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 Phila ...

, the Disabled Alpine World Cup is relatively new. An unofficial circuit began in the late 1990s, and the first

FIS FIS or fis may refer to: Science and technology * '' Fis'', an ''E. Coli'' gene * Fis phenomenon, a phenomenon in linguistics * F♯ (musical note) * Flight information service, an air traffic control service * Frame Information Structure, a ...

-sanctioned World Cup race was held in Breckenridge,

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

, United States in December 1999, with the first World Cup titles awarded in the spring of 2000. In 2004, the administration of the World Cup circuit, and disabled ski racing in general, passed from the

to the

IPC IPC may refer to: Computing * Infrastructure protection centre or information security operations center * Instructions per cycle or instructions per clock, an aspect of central-processing performance * Inter-process communication, the sharin ...

, although the FIS is still involved in some aspects of the tour. For example, a FIS technical delegate still oversees each race.

Winners

Men

Women

Nations Cup

References

{{reflist

External links

World Para Alpine Skiing
- Schedule, results, rules and more Alpine skiing competitions Skiing world competitions Parasports competitions