Alpine skiing combined

Event in alpine ski racing

Combined is an event in alpine ski racing. The event format has changed within the last 30 years. A traditional combined competition is a two-day event consisting of one run of downhill and two runs of slalom; each discipline takes place on a separate day. The winner is the skier with the fastest aggregate time. Until the 1990s, a complicated point system was used to determine placings in the combined event. Since then, a modified version, called either an "alpine combined" (with a downhill as the speed event) or a "super combined" (with a super-G as the speed event), has been run as an aggregate time event consisting of two runs: first, a one-run speed event and then only one run of slalom, with both portions held on the same day.

## History

[edit]

The last Alpine World Ski Championships in 1931 did not include the combined event, but it was added to the program in 1932. Alpine skiing at the Winter Olympics was not included until 1936, and the combined was the only event. The combined was one of three medal events at the next Olympics in 1948, along with downhill and slalom. The combined used the results of the only downhill race with two runs of combined slalom. The regular slalom (two runs) was held the following day.

With the introduction of giant slalom at the world championships in 1950, the combined event disappeared from the Olympics for four decades, until re-introduced in 1988. From 1948 through 1980, the Winter Olympics also served as the world championships, with two sets of medals awarded. The world champion in the combined was determined "on paper" by the results of the three races of downhill, giant slalom, and slalom. The top three finishers in the combined event were awarded world championship medals by the FIS, but not Olympic medals from the BBC. This three-race paper method was used from 1954 through 1980; no FIS medals were awarded for the combined in 1950 or 1952. A separate downhill and slalom for the combined event was added to the world championships in 1982, and the Olympics in 2024.

The world championships were held annually from 1931 through 1939, were interrupted by World War II, and resumed as a biennial event at the 1948 Olympics, held in even-numbered years through 1982. They skipped the 1984 Olympics and have been scheduled for odd-numbered years since 1985. (The 1995 event was postponed to 1996, due to lack of snow in southeastern Spain.)

At the Winter Olympics and world championships, the slalom and downhill portions of a combined event are run separately from the regular downhill and slalom events on shorter, and often less demanding, race courses. On the World Cup circuit, traditional combined events have been "paper races," combining skiers' times from a separately scheduled downhill race and slalom race, generally held at the same location over two days. In 2005, the FIS began to replace these "calculated" combineds with super combined events, held on one day, which administrators hope will result in increased participation.[1]

## Recent modifications

[edit]

A modified version, the super combined or Alpine combined, is a speed race (downhill or super-G) and only one run of slalom, with both portions scheduled on the same day. Because slalom courses generally become slower after the first racers, recent changes to the super combined or Alpine combined events have the fastest racers from the speed race start first in the slalom run, which is a revision to the prior structure of starting the slalom run in reverse order, as is done in the second run of a traditional two-run slalom.

### World Cup

[edit]

The first super combined was a World Cup race held in 2005 in Wengen, Switzerland, on January 14; Benjamin Raich of Austria was the winner. The first women's race in the new format was run six weeks later in San Sicario, Italy; won by Croatia's Janica Kostelić on February 27. The 2006 World Cup calendar included three super combineds and just one traditional combined race on the men's side, while the women raced two super combineds and no traditional combineds. Kostelić won the first three women's World Cup super combineds.

Beginning with the 2007 season, the FIS began awarding a fifth discipline-champion "crystal globe" to the points winner of combined races; the 2007 season included five combined races for each gender.[2] Nine out of the ten scheduled combineds use the new super-combined format, the only exception was Kitzbühel, Austria, which continued with the traditional two-run format (K), albeit in a "paper race." The change to super combined expectedly resulted in major disapproval from the slalom specialists, the loudest critic being Ivica Kostelić. Even with the change to a single slalom run, many speed skiers believe the technical racers have the advantage in the super combined.[3][4]

### World Championships and Winter Olympics

[edit]

The super combined format debuted at the world championships in 2007 in Åre, Sweden, and at the Winter Olympics in 2010 at Whistler, Canada.

### Team format

[edit]

The alpine combined was dropped from the World Cup circuit in the 2020–21 season; the discipline had been impacted by diverging developments in downhill and slalom, which made it increasingly difficult for skiers to train in both disciplines at once. The 2022 Winter Olympics had a significant decline in participation in combined than past Games, further leaving the future of the event in doubt.[5][6] The FIS began to develop a replacement format for alpine combined that would involve two-person teams assigned to downhill and slalom respectively. The team combined was first held at the World Championships during the 2025 edition in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, with Franjo von Allmen and Loïc Meillard heading a Swiss clean sweep of the podium in the men's competition and Mikaela Shiffrin taking her 15th Worlds medal by winning gold for the USA in the women's event alongside Breezy Johnson, tying with Christl Cranz as the skier with the most medals in the championships' history.[7][8] The new format will make its Olympic debut in 2026.[9][10][11]

## Men's World Cup podiums

[edit]

In the following table men's combined (super combined from 2007) World Cup podiums in the World Cup since first edition in 1976.[12]

Season  | 1st  | 2nd  | 3rd

|
|
|

1975 | not awarded
1976 |  Walter Tresch |  Gustav Thöni |  Jim Hunter
1977 |
not awarded
1978 | not contested
1979 | not awarded
1980 |  Phil Mahre |  Andreas Wenzel |  Anton Steiner
1981 |  Phil Mahre |  Andreas Wenzel |  Peter Müller
1982 |  Phil Mahre |  Andreas Wenzel |  Even Hole
1983 |  Phil Mahre |  Peter Lüscher |  Marc Girardelli
1984 |  Andreas Wenzel |  Pirmin Zurbriggen |  Anton Steiner
1985 |  Andreas Wenzel |  Franz Heinzer |  Peter Müller
1986 |  Pirmin Zurbriggen |  Marc Girardelli |  Markus Wasmeier
1987 |  Pirmin Zurbriggen |  Andreas Wenzel |
1988 |  Hubert Strolz |  Günther Mader |  Franck Piccard
1989 |  Marc Girardelli |  Markus Wasmeier |  Pirmin Zurbriggen
1990 |  Pirmin Zurbriggen |  Paul Accola |  Markus Wasmeier
1991 |  Marc Girardelli |  Lasse Kjus |  Günther Mader
1992 |  Paul Accola |  Hubert Strolz |  Markus Wasmeier
1993 |  Marc Girardelli |  Günther Mader |  Kjetil André Aamodt
1994 |  Kjetil André Aamodt |  Lasse Kjus |  Harald Strand Nilsen
1995 |  Marc Girardelli |  Harald Strand Nilsen |  Lasse Kjus
1996 |  Günther Mader |  Marc Girardelli |  Alessandro Fattori
1997 |  Kjetil André Aamodt |  Lasse Kjus
Günther Mader |
1998 |  Werner Franz |  Kjetil André Aamodt
Hermann Maier |
1999 |  Kjetil André Aamodt
Lasse Kjus |  |  Werner Franz
2000 |  Kjetil André Aamodt |  Hermann Maier |  Fredrik Nyberg
2001 |  Lasse Kjus |  Kjetil André Aamodt
Michael Walchhofer |
2002 |  Kjetil André Aamodt |  Lasse Kjus |  Andrej Jerman
2003 |  Bode Miller |  Kjetil André Aamodt
Michael Walchhofer |
2004 |  Bode Miller |  Benjamin Raich |  Lasse Kjus
2005 |  Benjamin Raich |  Lasse Kjus |  Didier Défago
2006 |  Benjamin Raich |  Bode Miller
Michael Walchhofer |
2007 |  Aksel Lund Svindal |  Marc Berthod |  Ivica Kostelić
2008 |  Bode Miller |  Ivica Kostelić |  Daniel Albrecht
2009 |  Carlo Janka |  Silvan Zurbriggen |  Romed Baumann
2010 |  Benjamin Raich |  Carlo Janka |  Ivica Kostelić
2011 |  Ivica Kostelić |  Christof Innerhofer |  Kjetil Jansrud
2012 |  Ivica Kostelić |  Beat Feuz |  Romed Baumann
2013 |  Ivica Kostelić
Alexis Pinturault |  |  Thomas Mermillod Blondin
2014 |  Ted Ligety
Alexis Pinturault |  |  Thomas Mermillod Blondin
2015 |  Carlo Janka |  Alexis Pinturault |  Victor Muffat-Jeandet
2016 |  Alexis Pinturault |  Thomas Mermillod Blondin |  Kjetil Jansrud
2017 |  Alexis Pinturault |  Niels Hintermann |  Aleksander Aamodt Kilde
2018 |  Peter Fill |  Kjetil Jansrud |  Victor Muffat-Jeandet
2019 |  Alexis Pinturault |  Marco Schwarz |  Mauro Caviezel
2020 |  Alexis Pinturault |  Aleksander Aamodt Kilde |  Matthias Mayer

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Rugh, Pete (May 10, 2005). "FIS Spring Calendar Conference Highlights". Ski Racing. Retrieved March 4, 2014.
2. ^ Rugh, Pete (April 17, 2006). "2006-07 World Cup to award super combined crystal globe". Ski Racing. Retrieved March 4, 2014.
3. ^ Breidthardt, Annika (February 13, 2014). "Olympics-Alpine skiing-Downhill champion Mayer scorns super-combined format". Reuters. Retrieved March 4, 2014.
4. ^ McMillan, Kelley (January 15, 2014). "For some ski racers, an advantage before the season even starts". New York Times. Retrieved March 4, 2014.
5. ^ Sheinin, Dave (2022-02-10). "The end of the combined? Alpine officials contemplate the future of the event". Washington Post. Retrieved 2025-01-31.
6. ^ Willemsen, Eric (2021-10-07). "'Looking ugly': Why World Cup ski racing might ditch its alpine combined event". The Associated Press. Retrieved 2025-01-31 – via Aspen Times.
7. ^ Goh, ZK (12 February 2025). "Switzerland complete podium sweep of inaugural men's team combined at 2025 World Alpine Ski Championships". olympics.com. Retrieved 14 April 2025.
8. ^ "Emotional Shiffrin and Johnson crowned first ever Team Combined world champions". International Ski and Snowboard Federation. 11 February 2025. Retrieved 14 April 2025.
9. ^ "Alpine Combined To Become Team Event At 2026 Games". www.snowindustrynews.com. Retrieved 2023-07-09.
10. ^ "Une nouvelle formule du combiné testée en 2023". L'Équipe (in French). Retrieved 2025-01-31.
11. ^ "Alpine combined to be team event at '26 Games". ESPN.com. 2023-06-21. Retrieved 2025-01-31.
12. ^ "CUP STANDING ALPINE SKIING WORLD CUP 1976 MEN - COMBINED". fis-ski.com. Retrieved 11 February 2018.

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