The women's overall competition in the 2023 FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup consisted of 38 events in four disciplines: downhill (DH) (9 races), super-G (SG) (8 races), giant slalom (GS) (10 races), and slalom (SL) (11 races). The fifth and sixth disciplines, parallel (PAR). and Alpine combined (AC), had all events in the 2022–23 season cancelled, either due to the schedule disruption cased by the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

(AC) or due to bad weather (PAR). The original schedule called for 42 races, but in addition to the parallel, two downhills and a super-G were cancelled during the season. The season was interrupted by the 2023 World Ski Championships in the linked resorts of

Courchevel Courchevel () is a French Alps ski resort located in the Tarentaise Valley. It is a part of Les Trois Vallées, the largest linked ski areas in the world. Courchevel also refers to the towns of Courchevel 1300 (Le Praz), Courchevel 1550, Co ...

and Méribel, France, which are located in

Les Trois Vallées Les Trois Vallées (; "The Three Valleys") is a ski region in the Tarentaise Valley in the Savoie department of Southeastern France, to the south of the town of Moûtiers, partly in Vanoise National Park. Since 1971, it has been possible to sk ...

, from 6–19 February 2023.

Season summary

From the very first race of the season, defending champion (and four-time overall champion)

Mikaela Shiffrin Mikaela Pauline Shiffrin (born March 13, 1995) is an American FIS Alpine Ski World Cup, World Cup Alpine skiing, alpine skier who has the most World Cup wins of any alpine skier in history (men or women) and is considered one of the greatest alp ...

of the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

seized the lead in the standings due to her abilities in all four disciplines. After the first thirteen races, she had built over a 300-point lead over 2021 overall champion

Petra Vlhová Petra Vlhová (born 13 June 1995) is a Slovak FIS Alpine Ski World Cup, World Cup Alpine skiing, alpine ski racer who specialises in the technical events of Slalom skiing, slalom and giant slalom. Vlhová won the World Cup overall title in 2021 a ...

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

. In addition, with her victory in a slalom at

Semmering, Austria Semmering is a town in the district of Neunkirchen in the Austrian state of Lower Austria. It is noted for its skiing, and has hosted the Alpine skiing World Cup The FIS Alpine Ski World Cup is the top international circuit of alpine skiing ...

on December 29, Shiffrin, 27, became only the third skier (and second woman) to win 80 World Cup races, as well as the first ever to win 50 races in a single discipline. After 24 races, almost two-thirds of the season, Shiffrin held a lead of over 500 points over Vlhová, with 2016 overall champion Lara Gut-Behrami of Switzerland close behind in third; however, the focus of the moment was on Shiffrin's quest to break

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 ...

's all-time women's record of 82 World Cup victories (which she had already tied) and then

Ingemar Stenmark Jan Ingemar Stenmark (; born 18 March 1956) is a Swedish former FIS Alpine Ski World Cup, World Cup Alpine skiing, alpine ski racer. He is regarded as a legendary skier and one of the most prominent Swedish athletes ever, having won several Oly ...

's all-time overall record of 86 such victories. She shattered Vonn's record with victories in back-to-back giant slaloms in

Kronplatz The Kronplatz ( Ladin and Italian: ''Plan de Corones'') is a mountain of the Dolomites in South Tyrol, northern Italy, with a summit elevation of above sea level. ''Kronplatz'' is not only the name of the mountain but of the whole holiday regio ...

on 24–25 January, increasing her overall lead (now with Gut-Behrami in second) to over 600 points. By the end of January, which was the time for the break for the 2023 World Ski Championships, Shiffrin had 11 wins on the season (1 in super-G and 5 each in giant slalom and slalom) and 85 wins for her career. Shiffrin's fifth-place finish in a downhill at

Kvitfjell Kvitfjell () is a ski resort in Norway, located in the municipality of Ringebu. Developed for the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, it is one of the most modern resorts in the world, with snowmaking on 80% of the alpine pistes. Based near ...

on 4 March was sufficient to clinch the season championship, although there were still seven races left in the season. The overall title represented Shiffrin's fifth, tying her with Luxembourg's

Marc Girardelli Marc Girardelli (born 18 July 1963) is an Austrian–Luxembourgish former alpine ski racer, a five-time World Cup overall champion who excelled in all five alpine disciplines. Biography Born in Lustenau, Austria into a family originally from ...

, who also won five, and placed her behind only two Austrians:

Annemarie Moser-Pröll Annemarie Moser-Pröll (born 27 March 1953) is a former World Cup alpine ski racer from Austria. Born in Kleinarl, Salzburg, she was the most successful female alpine ski racer during the 1970s, with an all-time women's record of six overall ...

, who won six in the 1970s, and

Marcel Hirscher Marcel Hirscher (born 2 March 1989) is an Austrian-Dutch FIS Alpine Ski World Cup, World Cup Alpine skiing, alpine ski racer. Hirscher made his World Cup debut in March 2007. He competed primarily in slalom and giant slalom, as well as combined ...

, who won eight in a row in the 2010s. Shiffrin's later victories in both a giant slalom and a slalom at

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 (her sixth of the season in each discipline) enabled her to equal and then break

's all-time overall record of 86 World Cup wins (with 87), as well as tying

Vreni Schneider Verena "Vreni" Schneider (born 26 November 1964) is a retired ski racer from Switzerland. She is the most successful alpine ski racer of her country, the fourth most successful female ski racer ever (after Lindsey Vonn, Annemarie Moser-Pröll a ...

's all-time women's record of 20 giant slalom victories (to go along with her all-time record 53 slalom wins, plus 5 super-Gs, 5 parallels, 3 downhills, and 1 combined). And to top the season off a week later, Shiffrin won the giant slalom at finals, breaking Schneider's women's career victory record in that discipline with 21 and also breaking

's record for career World Cup podiums with 138 (in only her 249th World Cup start). Indicative of the degree of specialization in the World Cup this season (despite the end of the COVID separation between the speed skiers and the technical skiers) is that Shiffrin was the only skier, male or female, to place in the top 25 in all four disciplines, and only four women and one man even scored points in all four disciplines: Shiffrin, Federica Brignone (#4), Michelle Gisin (#13), and Franziska Gritsch (#23) among the women, and Marco Schwarz (#7) among the men.

Finals

The last events of the season took place at the World Cup finals, Wednesday, 15 March 2023 through Sunday, 19 March 2023 in

Soldeu Soldeu () is a village and ski resort in Andorra in the Pyrenees mountains, located in the parish of Canillo. Overview It comes alive in the winter months as a ski town, and is part of the Grand Valira ski resort, the largest in the Pyrenee ...

Andorra Andorra, officially the Principality of Andorra, is a Sovereignty, sovereign landlocked country on the Iberian Peninsula, in the eastern Pyrenees in Southwestern Europe, Andorra–France border, bordered by France to the north and Spain to A ...

. Only the top 25 in each specific discipline for the season and the winner of the Junior World Championship in each discipline were eligible to compete in the finals, with the exception that any skier who has scored at least 500 points in the overall classification was eligible to participate in any discipline, regardless of her standing in that discipline for the season.

Standings

* * * *

References

External links

Alpine Skiing
at FIS website {{DEFAULTSORT:2023 Alpine Skiing World Cup - Women's overall Women's overall FIS Alpine Ski World Cup overall titles

Season summary

Finals

Standings

See also

References

External links