Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license.
Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat.
We can research this topic together.
The International Ski Federation (FIS) Alpine Ski World Cup, the premier circuit for alpine skiing competition, began in January 1967, and the 2019–20 season marked the 54th consecutive year for the FISWorld Cup. As it had every year since 2006 (when the Sölden races were cancelled by a snowstorm), the season began in Sölden, Austria in October. The season was supposed to end with the World Cup finals in March, which were to be held in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy for the first time since they began in 1993, but the finals were cancelled due to the COVID-19 outbreak in Italy.
As part of an effort to control the expansion of the World Cup circuit while fighting increased specialization, the city events were dropped this season, to be replaced by more parallel events at regular venues, while the Alpine combined was expanded. Due to the recent dominance of slalom specialists in the Alpine combined races, the format for that discipline was changed this season. As was previously the case, the first run continued to be the speed discipline (with Super-G having the preference over downhill). However, instead of the slalom run starting in reverse order of finish in the speed run, which allowed the slalom specialists (who tended to be slower in the speed run) to tackle fresh snow for their slalom run, while the speed specialists had to face the more challenging rutted snow at the end of the day, the skiers in the slalom run now started in the same order as the finish of the speed run, with the leader after the speed run becoming the first to race on the fresh slalom course.
Parallel format was also changed to make the race more TV-friendly. Parallel races now began with one classic qualification run with a single competitor on the slope (which was shown in the live TV broadcast), after which the top 32 qualifiers by time advanced to the elimination phase of the main competition. The round of 32 used the current run and re-run format, so that each competitor got to start from each side, but from the round of 16 forward, there was only one run per race and a direct knockout system. However, the new format immediately became controversial, as making two giant slalom courses equal in a single-run format proved impossible, and both the first men's and women's parallel giant slalom races suffered from "the luck of the draw" becoming determinative—in the men's race, all eight round-of-16 matches were won by the racer on the same randomly-selected course, and in the women's race, 17 of 20 winners came from the same course.
In addition, a new sixth discipline—parallel events (which combined parallel giant slalom and parallel slalom in points distribution)—was introduced, joining downhill, Super-G, giant slalom, slalom, and combined. A small crystal globe was to be awarded to the winner.
On 1 February 2020, then-women's World Cup overall leader (and 3-time defending champion) Mikaela Shiffrin's father Jeff suffered grave injuries in an accident, and Shiffrin immediately left the World Cup tour. His injuries proved fatal, and Shiffrin remained off the tour for the rest of the season.
GS was originally scheduled on 14 December, but switched with Slalom to 15 December due to heavy snow on Friday. It was finally canceled after Slalom was canceled on 14 December due to strong wind and rescheduled on 15 December.
Slalom was originally scheduled on 15 December, then switched with GS to 14 December, but due to strong wind again re-switched on 15 December.
Super-G in Val Gardena/Gröden on 20 December 2019, was postponed three times due heavy fog in mid-section. Official final results after 48 of 64 competitors in finish. Last 16 didn't start, again due to fog.
Canceled Downhill in Val Gardena/Gröden on 21 December 2019 is rescheduled to Bormio on 27 December 2019.
Canceled Downhill in Yanqing on 15 February 2020 is rescheduled to Saalbach-Hinterglemm on 13 February 2020.
Canceled Alpine combined from Hinterstoder on 28 February 2020 is rescheduled on 1 March 2020.
Canceled giant slalom from Val d'Isere on 15 December 2019 is rescheduled to Hinterstoder on 2 March 2020.
Ladies' downhill in Val d'Isere was rescheduled from 21 to 22 December 2019 due to heavy snowfall, and was scheduled to be replaced by the alpine combined (cancelled) on 22 December 2019 due to tight schedule.
Canceled downhill from Val d'Isere on 22 December 2019 was rescheduled to Bansko on 24 January 2020.
Canceled giant slalom from Maribor on 15 February 2020 is rescheduled to Kranjska Gora due to warm weather forecast.
Canceled giant slalom from Maribor on 16 February 2020 is rescheduled to Kranjska Gora due to warm weather forecast.
Canceled downhill from Rosa Khutor on 1 February 2020 is rescheduled to Crans-Montana on 21 February 2020.
Aleksander Aamodt Kilde
Federica Brignone
Beat Feuz
Petra Vlhová
Alexis Pinturault.jpg)
Aleksander Aamodt Kilde became the first Norwegian to win an overall World Cup title since Aksel Lund Svindal in 2008–09._2018.jpg)
Federica Brignone became the first Italian to win an overall World Cup title since Alberto Tomba in 1994–95.
Sölden
Alice Robinson
Mikaela Shiffrin
Levi
Anna Swenn-Larsson
Lake Louise
Ester Ledecká
Viktoria Rebensburg
Zagreb
Bansko
Rosa Khutor
Maribor
