2024/2025 FIS alpine ski World Cup season preview: Full schedule and how to watch live

Stars to watch in 2024/2025 Alpine World Cup

Men: Marcel Hirscher and Lucas Braathen return under new flags

Odermatt starts the new season as the man to beat, having clinched the title in every discipline he raced in (downhill, super-G, giant slalom) last season.

The Swiss star equalled his record 13 World Cup wins mark last season – matching his 2022/23 total – and is chasing his fourth big Crystal Globe, which would put him tied with compatriot Pirmin Zurbriggen, Italian Gustav Thoeni, and Austrian Hermann Maier in the all-time list.

With Kilde still recovering from injury, the biggest challenge for Odermatt in the overall rankings could come from within his team: Loic Meillard ended last season runner-up after reaching podiums in Super-G, Giant Slalom, and slalom.

“I still need to win the downhill race on the legendary Streif. That is my main goal for the season,” said Odermatt according to Swiss newspaper Blick, referring to the iconic Kitzbuehel race scheduled for 25 January 2025.

At 32 years of age, Austria’s Manuel Feller will try to build upon his best season to date, following a third place overall and a slalom globe, with Olympic medallists Henrik Kristoffersen of Norway and Clement Noel of France aiming to challenge him in the most technical discipline.

“When I was a child, I never thought I would win a globe and I’ve reached more than I ever dreamed about,” recently said Feller in an exclusive interview with Olympics.com.

“But still, that feeling I had so many times last season is addictive, I want to experience it more and more. So, I’m still hungry.”

One of the major talking points of the men’s season will also be the return of two previous stars, who will race under respective different flags: Eight-time overall champion Marcel Hirscher, who last raced in 2019 under the Austrian colours, rejoins the tour at 35 years old, after choosing to represent the Netherlands, his mother’s country. And after just a one-year break, Lucas Pinheiro Braathen – the 2022/23 slalom globe winner – is ready to resume his skiing career after switching from Norway to Brazil.

“The fact that I am bringing the Brazilian flag to World Cup ski racing, a sport that this amazing country is yet to be represented in, I feel as though that is a true representation of my mission of creating a difference,” Braathen recently told Olympics.com. “I just hope that there are some kids out there that can feel inspired to dare to follow their dream, whatever that is.”