FIS Alpine Ski World Cup

Alpine Ski World Cup
Seidlalm, a gasthaus at "Streif" (Kitzbühel) where
World Cup was founded by Lang, Bonnet, and Beattie.
GenreAlpine skiing
Location(s)Europe and North America; occasionally in Japan, Russia, Australia, Argentina, South Korea, New Zealand
Inaugurated5 January 1967 (1967-01-05) (men)
7 January 1967 (7 January 1967) (women)
FoundersFrance Serge Lang
France Honore Bonnet
United States Bob Beattie
Organised byInternational Ski Federation
(FIS)
PeopleChief Race Directors
Italy Markus Waldner (men)
ItalySlovenia Peter Gerdol (women)
SponsorAudi Quattro

The FIS Alpine Ski World Cup is the top international circuit of alpine skiing competitions, launched in 1966 by a group of ski racing friends and experts which included French journalist Serge Lang and the alpine ski team directors from France (Honore Bonnet) and the USA (Bob Beattie).[1] It was soon backed by International Ski Federation president Marc Hodler during the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships 1966 at Portillo, Chile, and became an official FIS event in the spring of 1967 after the FIS Congress at Beirut, Lebanon.

The inaugural World Cup race was held on 5 January 1967 in Berchtesgaden, West Germany, a slalom won by Heinrich Messner of Austria. Jean-Claude Killy of France and Nancy Greene of Canada were the overall winners for the first two seasons.

  1. ^ Lang, Serge (1986). 21 Years of World Cup Ski Racing. Johnson Books / James Wotton. ISBN 1-55566-009-6. Also available under ISBN 0-246-13116-0.