The 43rd

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

season began in late October 2008 in

Sölden Sölden () is a municipality in the Ötztal valley of Tyrol, Austria. Geography At c. , it is the largest municipality in the country. The population of 3,449 (as of 2003) is outnumbered by tourists, of which 15,000 can be accommodated. Wit ...

, Austria, and concluded in mid-March 2009, at the World Cup finals in

Åre Åre () is a Urban areas in Sweden, locality and one of the leading Scandinavian ski resorts situated in Åre Municipality, Jämtland County, Sweden with 3,200 inhabitants in 2018. It is, however, not the seat of the municipality, which is Järpe ...

, Sweden.

Aksel Lund Svindal Aksel Lund Svindal (born 26 December 1982) is a Norwegian former World Cup alpine ski racer. Born in Lørenskog in Akershus county, Svindal is a two-time overall World Cup champion (2007 and 2009), an Olympic gold medalist in super-G at the 20 ...

of Norway won the overall title by two points over

Benjamin Raich Benjamin Raich (born 28 February 1978 in Arzl im Pitztal, Tyrol) is an Austrian former World Cup champion alpine ski racer and Olympic gold medalist. With 14 medals won at Winter Olympics and World Championships, 36 World Cup race victories (in ...

of Austria. Svindal returned from a season-ending injury in December 2007, and also took the season title in super-G.

Lindsey Vonn Lindsey Caroline Vonn ( ; born October 18, 1984) is an American FIS Alpine Ski World Cup, World Cup Alpine skiing, alpine ski racer. She won four World Cup overall championships – third amongst female skiers to Annemarie Moser-Pröll and Mika ...

of the U.S. repeated as women's overall champion, taking the title by a substantial 384 points over

Maria Riesch Maria may refer to: People * Mary, mother of Jesus * Maria (given name), a popular given name in many languages Place names Extraterrestrial * 170 Maria, a Main belt S-type asteroid discovered in 1877 * Lunar maria (plural of ''mare''), large, ...

of Germany. Vonn also repeated as the season downhill champion, and added the season title in super-G. Being an odd-numbered year, a break in the World Cup schedule was for the biennial

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

. The 2009 World Championships were held 2–15 February in

Val-d'Isère Val-d'Isère (, literally ''Valley of Isère (river), Isère'') is a Communes of France, commune of the Tarentaise Valley, in the Savoie Departments of France, department (Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region) in southeastern France. It ...

, Savoie, France. No pre- Olympic World Cup alpine events were run at

Whistler Mountain Whistler Mountain ( Lillooet/Ucwalmícwts: Nsqwítsu) is a mountain in the Fitzsimmons Range of the Pacific Ranges of the Coast Mountains, located on the northwestern edge of Garibaldi Provincial Park. It is the location of the Whistler-Blac ...

, Canada, during the 2009 season. In late February

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

, a women's downhill and super-combined were run on ''Franz's Run'', the women's Olympic course. The most recent men's World Cup events on the ''Dave Murray Downhill'' course were held in late February

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

. The World Cup races in North America were switched to the early part of the season in the fall of

, and the men's speed events at Whistler were canceled three consecutive years (December

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

– 98) due to weather issues, which prompted the switch to Lake Louise in Alberta in December

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

Calendar

Men

Ladies

Nations team event

Men's standings

Overall

Downhill

Super-G

Giant slalom

Slalom

Super combined

Ladies' standings

Overall

Downhill

Super-G

Giant slalom

Slalom

Super combined

Nations Cup

Overall

Men

Ladies

Footnotes

References

External links

FIS-ski.com
– World Cup standings
Ski Racing.com
– U.S.-based magazine – alpine racing news
U.S. Ski Team.com
– alpine news FIS Alpine Ski World Cup

{{DEFAULTSORT:2008-09 FIS Alpine Ski World Cup