The 2024/25 World Cup season from A for downhill to Z for Zurbriggen.
29.03.2025, 09:36
SDA
A for downhill: was clearly the domain of the Swiss men in the 2024/25 World Cup season, winning six of the eight downhill races and taking 17 of the 24 possible podium places. The Swiss downhill skiers won 2132 points, more than the next three best nations (Austria, Italy and Canada) combined.
B for B-team: On February 4 - the opening day of the World Championships, when the parallel team competition also took place - there was talk of a B-team on Austrian radio because Switzerland was competing without Marco Odermatt and Lara Gut-Behrami. The supposed B team of Thomas Tumler and Wendy Holdener secured silver. It was also the first of no less than 13 medals in Saalbach.
C for comebacks: Lindsey Vonn became the oldest woman on a World Cup podium at the age of 40 years and 5 months, finishing second in the super-G in Sun Valley behind Gut-Behrami. Five times on the podium was 24-year-old Lucas Pinheiro Braathen; he was just two hundredths short of the first World Cup victory for Brazil in Adelboden.
D for triple success: Switzerland celebrated several of these. First at the World Championships in the team combined won by the duo Franjo von Allmen/Loïc Meillard, then in the World Cup in the downhill in Crans-Montana and in Kvitfjell (both times with winner Von Allmen) as well as in the giant slalom in Hafjell (Meillard).
E for emotions: Mikaela Shiffrin was very emotional after her 100th World Cup victory at the end of February in Sestriere, her 63rd in a slalom, and shed tears in the winner's interview. Her anniversary victory was all the more remarkable because the 30-year-old had previously had to take a break for almost two months during the winter due to injury.
F for Federica Brignone: The Italian won the overall World Cup for the second time since 2020. With ten victories and six other podium places and 1,594 points, the 34-year-old was on a par with Odermatt.
G for Gut-Behrami Lara: The Ticino native was once again the strongest Swiss racer and Brignone's first runner-up. With 1272 points, she surpassed the thousand mark in a season for the seventh time in her career. Thanks to her ten podium finishes, the 33-year-old now has exactly 100 top 3 classifications in the World Cup.
H for historic embarrassment: Austria's men's team just managed to avoid one in the winter of 2024/25. Thanks to Lukas Feurstein, who won the Super-G at the World Cup final in Sun Valley, the black streak of 40 races without a win came to an end.
I for International: racers from 32 countries collected World Cup points. Thanks to Francesca Baruzzi Farriol's 30th place in the giant slalom in Kranjska Gora, Argentina was one of them.
J for young: Lara Colturi, competing for Albania, was the youngest skier on the podium this season. One week after her 18th birthday, she finished second in the slalom in Gurgl in November, placing in the top 3 for the first time.
K as in closest decision: Brignone celebrated two of her victories this season by just one hundredth of a second. Her compatriot Sofia Goggia came second in both the downhill in Garmisch and the super-G in La Thuile. In the men's super-G in Val Gardena, Mattia Casse won by the narrowest of margins.
L for Liechtenstein: won four points this season. These can be attributed to Marco Pfiffner, who came 27th in the downhill in Val Gardena.
M for Meillard Loïc: Had to withdraw from the season opener in Sölden shortly before the start due to back problems. But with two gold and one bronze at the World Championships, eight World Cup podiums (three victories) and more than 1000 points once again, the 28-year-old Frenchman had his best season ever.
N for Nations Cup: Switzerland won for the twelfth time since the introduction of the World Cup in 1966/67, surpassing the 10,000 mark once again with 10,823 points. The lead over arch-rival Austria was almost 3500 points.
O for Odermatt Marco: As in the previous winter, won three more crystal globes (downhill, super-G and giant slalom) in addition to the overall World Cup, as well as World Championship gold in the super-G. The 1721 points are the third-highest total for the 27-year-old from Nidwalden.
P for premiere victory: From a Swiss perspective, Justin Murisier, Thomas Tumler (both in Beaver Creek), Alexis Monney (Bormio), Von Allmen (Wengen) and Camille Rast (Killington) skied to apremiere victory in the World Cup.
Q for qualification: In Saalbach, two promising downhill racers, Marco Kohler and Lars Rösti, failed to qualify within the team after fulfilling their World Championship limits.
R for shave: Probably the story next to the piste in Saalbach, as the density of bald heads increased exponentially in the Glemmtal valley after the men's World Championship downhill. After gold for Von Allmen and bronze for Monney, practically the entire Swiss Ski speed team had their heads shaved by Odermatt.
S for sensation: Albert Popov's slalom victory in Madonna di Campiglio can be described as such. On January 8th, exactly 45 years to the day after Petar Popangelov, the 27-year-old secured Bulgaria's second World Cup triumph.
T for dream run: This category includes Gut-Behrami's winning run in Sun Valley, where she won the super-G by 1.29 seconds ahead of Vonn and won the discipline classification for the sixth time.
U for uncanny: In 37 men's World Cup races, a Swiss has always finished in the top ten and only three times not in the top 5; this was in the first giant slalom of the season in Sölden (9th Gino Caviezel) and then in the slaloms in Adelboden (8th Tanguy Nef) and Kitzbühel (7th Nef).
V for injuries: As in every winter, there were (too) many. The most prominent racers to suffer injuries this season are Cyprien Sarrazin, whose return to the World Cup is questionable after his horror crash in Bormio, and Marcel Hirscher, who was only able to compete in three races in his comeback season after a five-year absence before tearing his cruciate ligament in training. Two former overall World Cup winners, Aleksander Kilde and Petra Vlhova, were unable to compete at all due to injuries sustained in January 2024.
W for World Championships 2027: The next Alpine title fights will take place in Crans-Montana in just under two years' time. From a Swiss perspective in particular, the Valais ski resort is associated with very positive memories. In 1987, the locals won 14 medals in Crans, eight in gold alone.
X for day X: being ready on this day is the big challenge at title competitions. Raphael Haaser was ready during his World Championship triumph in the giant slalom. The Tyrolean, who has never finished better than seventh in this discipline in the World Cup, prevented a Swiss one-two-three in Saalbach with two sensational runs.
Y for Yule Daniel: With seven victories, he is the most successful Swiss slalom racer in the World Cup. This season, the man from Valais has finished in the points in ten out of twelve slaloms, but never better than 6th place in Wengen. The last time Yule failed to finish in the top 5 was in the winter of 2015/16.
Z for Zurbriggen Pirmin: The Valais native saw himself replaced as the most successful Swiss ski racer this season. With 45 victories, eight of them this winter, Odermatt took the lead ahead of Zurbriggen (40 World Cup victories). In terms of the number of top 3 finishes, the man from Nidwalden leads with 88:86.
