Alpine skiing combined

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 a "super combined" (with a downhill as the speed event) or an "Alpine 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

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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

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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

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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

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

Men's World Cup podiums

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In the following table men's combined (super combined from 2007) World Cup podiums in the World Cup since first edition in 1976.[5]

Season 1st 2nd 3rd
1975 not awarded
1976 Switzerland Walter Tresch Italy Gustav Thöni Canada Jim Hunter
1977
not awarded
1978 not contested
1979 not awarded
1980 United States Phil Mahre Liechtenstein Andreas Wenzel Austria Anton Steiner
1981 United States Phil Mahre Liechtenstein Andreas Wenzel Switzerland Peter Müller
1982 United States Phil Mahre Liechtenstein Andreas Wenzel Norway Even Hole
1983 United States Phil Mahre Switzerland Peter Lüscher Luxembourg Marc Girardelli
1984 Liechtenstein Andreas Wenzel Switzerland Pirmin Zurbriggen Austria Anton Steiner
1985 Liechtenstein Andreas Wenzel Switzerland Franz Heinzer Switzerland Peter Müller
1986 Switzerland Pirmin Zurbriggen Luxembourg Marc Girardelli West Germany Markus Wasmeier
1987 Switzerland Pirmin Zurbriggen Liechtenstein Andreas Wenzel
1988 Austria Hubert Strolz Austria Günther Mader France Franck Piccard
1989 Luxembourg Marc Girardelli West Germany Markus Wasmeier Switzerland Pirmin Zurbriggen
1990 Switzerland Pirmin Zurbriggen Switzerland Paul Accola West Germany Markus Wasmeier
1991 Luxembourg Marc Girardelli Norway Lasse Kjus Austria Günther Mader
1992 Switzerland Paul Accola Austria Hubert Strolz Germany Markus Wasmeier
1993 Luxembourg Marc Girardelli Austria Günther Mader Norway Kjetil André Aamodt
1994 Norway Kjetil André Aamodt Norway Lasse Kjus Norway Harald Strand Nilsen
1995 Luxembourg Marc Girardelli Norway Harald Strand Nilsen Norway Lasse Kjus
1996 Austria Günther Mader Luxembourg Marc Girardelli Italy Alessandro Fattori
1997 Norway Kjetil André Aamodt Norway Lasse Kjus
Austria Günther Mader
1998 Austria Werner Franz Norway Kjetil André Aamodt
Austria Hermann Maier
1999 Norway Kjetil André Aamodt
Norway Lasse Kjus
Austria Werner Franz
2000 Norway Kjetil André Aamodt Austria Hermann Maier Sweden Fredrik Nyberg
2001 Norway Lasse Kjus Norway Kjetil André Aamodt
Austria Michael Walchhofer
2002 Norway Kjetil André Aamodt Norway Lasse Kjus Slovenia Andrej Jerman
2003 United States Bode Miller Norway Kjetil André Aamodt
Austria Michael Walchhofer
2004 United States Bode Miller Austria Benjamin Raich Norway Lasse Kjus
2005 Austria Benjamin Raich Norway Lasse Kjus Switzerland Didier Défago
2006 Austria Benjamin Raich United States Bode Miller
Austria Michael Walchhofer
2007 Norway Aksel Lund Svindal Switzerland Marc Berthod Croatia Ivica Kostelić
2008 United States Bode Miller Croatia Ivica Kostelić Switzerland Daniel Albrecht
2009 Switzerland Carlo Janka Switzerland Silvan Zurbriggen Austria Romed Baumann
2010 Austria Benjamin Raich Switzerland Carlo Janka Croatia Ivica Kostelić
2011 Croatia Ivica Kostelić Italy Christof Innerhofer Norway Kjetil Jansrud
2012 Croatia Ivica Kostelić Switzerland Beat Feuz Austria Romed Baumann
2013 Croatia Ivica Kostelić
France Alexis Pinturault
France Thomas Mermillod Blondin
2014 United States Ted Ligety
France Alexis Pinturault
France Thomas Mermillod Blondin
2015 Switzerland Carlo Janka France Alexis Pinturault France Victor Muffat-Jeandet
2016 France Alexis Pinturault France Thomas Mermillod Blondin Norway Kjetil Jansrud
2017 France Alexis Pinturault Switzerland Niels Hintermann Norway Aleksander Aamodt Kilde
2018 Italy Peter Fill Norway Kjetil Jansrud France Victor Muffat-Jeandet
2019 France Alexis Pinturault Austria Marco Schwarz Switzerland Mauro Caviezel
2020 France Alexis Pinturault Norway Aleksander Aamodt Kilde Austria Matthias Mayer

References

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  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. ^ "CUP STANDING ALPINE SKIING WORLD CUP 1976 MEN - COMBINED". fis-ski.com. Retrieved 11 February 2018.