Figures for 46 World Ski Championships
The unlucky ones, the gold hoarders, the dream podiums
Pay please! Here you can find out everything about previous alpine world championships and the achievements of the Swiss ski aces.
Published: 02/01/2023 at 00:02
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Departure from Crans-Montana in 1987 – a picture for eternity: 1st Müller (centre), 2nd Zurbriggen (right) and 3rd Alpiger.
daniel louBlattmacher Sport
The most beautiful Swiss podiums
Twice so far a World Championship podium has been completely in Swiss hands, both times in the men’s downhill. The first time at the World Cup premiere in 1931, the second time at the home World Cup in 1987 in Crans-Montana. The special thing about it: Franz Heinzer was in 4th place and Daniel Mahrer in 6th place.
- Departure 1931: 1. Walter Prager (†), 2. Otto Furrer (†), 3. Fritz Steuri (†)
- Departure 1987: 1. Peter Müller, 2. Pirmin Zurbriggen, 3. Karl Alpiger
The eternal medal table
Only 23 nations have been able to win at least one World Championship medal so far. The Soviet Union/Russia is in last place with two bronze medals, Austria is in first place undisputedly. In the duel with Switzerland, they are clearly in the lead with 302:204 medals.
- Austria: 101 Gold/104 Silber/97 Bronze
- Switzerland: 69/70/65
- France: 47/52/37
- Deutschland: 34/38/46
- USA: 29/26/91
Nicole Schmidhofer (l., gold) and Lara Gut-Behrami (bronze) 2017 in St. Moritz. Austria and Switzerland are at the top of the all-time medal table.
The most successful World Cup participants
A great shadow hangs over the numerous successes of the German Christl Cranz, because after the Second World War she was imprisoned for eight months because of her membership in the NSDAP. What is amazing: Although Mikaela Shiffrin is only 27, she is already in 6th place. If she now wins double gold in France, she would already be the second most successful World Cup ski racer of all time.
- Christl Cranz (De, †): 12 Gold/3 Silver/0 Bronze
- Marielle Goitschel (Fr): 7/4/0
- Marcel Hirscher (Ö): 7/4/0
- AnjaPerson (Sd): 7/2/4
- Toni Sailer (Ö, †): 7/1/0
- Mikaela Shiffrin (USA): 6/2/3
- ErikaHess (Sz): 6/0/1
- Jean-Claude Killy (Fr): 6/0/0
- Kjetil André Aamodt (No): 5/4/3
- Aksel Lund Svindal (No): 5/2/2
The host countries
18 of the 46 world championships so far have taken place either in Switzerland or in Austria. France is now hosting a World Cup for the fifth time. Between 1948 St. Moritz and Lake Placid 1980, the World Ski Championships took place every four years as part of the Olympic Games.
- 9 times Switzerland: Mürren (1934, 1935), St. Moritz (1934, 1948, 1974, 2003, 2017), Engelberg (1938), Crans-Montana (1987)
9 times Austria: Innsbruck (1933, 1936, 1964, 1976), Bad Gastein (1958), Schladming (1982, 2013), Saalbach-Hinterglemm (1991), St. Anton (2001) - 7 times Italy: Cortina d’Ampezzo (1932, 1956, 2021), Gröden (1970), Bormio (1985, 2005), Sestriere (1997)
- 6-mal USA: Aspen (1950), Squaw Valley (1960), Lake Placid (1980), Vail/Beaver Creek (1989, 1999, 2015)
- 4 times France: Chamonix (1937, 1962), Grenoble (1968), Val d’Isere (2009)
- 3 times Sweden: Are (1954, 2007, 2019)
- 2-mal Japan: Sapporo (1972), Morioka (1993)
2 times Germany: Garmisch-Partenkirchen (1978, 2011) - 1-mal Chile: Portillo (1966)
1 time Poland: Buried (1939)
1 time Norway: Oslo (1952)
1 time Spain: Sierra Nevada (1996)
the disciplines
At the first World Championships in 1931 there were only two disciplines: downhill and slalom. In the decades that followed, more and more were added. Most recently in 2021, when parallel individual races were held for the first time in Cortina d’Ampezzo. In 2023 there are a total of 13 sets of medals to be awarded.
- Departure: since 1931
- Slalom: since 1931
- Combination: since 1932
- giant slalom: since 1950
- Super-G: since 1987
- Team competition: since 2005
- Parallel Individual Races: since 2021
Loïc Meillard in the parallel giant slalom at the World Championships in Cortina d’Ampezzo.
Our most successful world championships
It doesn’t get much better than this: in 1987, Switzerland won 14 out of a possible 30 medals. The dominance of the women was particularly impressive: all five World Cup titles went to the Swiss.
- Crans Montana 1987: 14 medals
- Vail 1989: 11 medals
- St. Moritz 1934 and Cortina d’Ampezzo 2021: your 9 Medals
- Innsbruck 1936 and Bormio 1985: your 8 Medals
Our most unsuccessful world championships
Switzerland has only returned five times from a World Cup without medals, most recently in 2005 in Bormio. Back then, fifth place for Bruno Kernen (downhill) and Silvan Zurbriggen (station wagon) was the highest of emotions.
- Oslo 1952
- Chamonix 1962
- Innsbruck 1964
- Portillo 1966
- Bormio 2005
Our most successful discipline
We are departure! Switzerland won a third of all gold medals in the supreme discipline. Swiss men won the downhill 13 times, Swiss women 10 times.
- Departure: 23-mal Gold
- Combination: 16-mal Gold
- giant slalom: 13-mal Gold
- Slalom: 11-mal Gold
- Super-G: 5-mal Gold
The Swiss unlucky ones
Rank 4, it is the most thankless place at a World Cup. A Swiss person has already raced on the leather course 80 times at a World Cup. This fate befell six skiing aces three times each.
- Didier Cuché: 3-mal Rank 4
- Elvira Osirnig (†): 3-mal Rank 4
- Franz Heinzer: 3-mal Rank 4
- Nini von Arx-Zogg (†): 3-mal Rank 4
- Paul Accola: 3-mal Rank 4
- Willi Forrer: 3-mal Rank 4
The origin of our gold treasures
From Aargau (Urs Lehmann) to Zurich (Peter Müller): The Swiss world champions come from a wide variety of cantons. Undisputed number 1: Graubünden.
- Grisons: 16-mal Gold
- Wallis: 9-mal Gold
- Bern: 7x Gold
- Glarus: 6-mal Gold
Nidwalden: 6-mal Gold
The tightest gold decisions
When hundredths make the difference between gold and non-gold. In the history of the World Ski Championships there have always been tight decisions. In 2021 in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Kriechmayr won the downhill by just a hundredth of a second.
- 0.01 second lead:
Departure 2021: Vincent Kriechmayr (Austria) ahead of Andreas Sander (De) - 0.02 second lead:
Slalom 1972: Barbara Cochran (USA) before Danièle Debernard (Fr)
Super-G 2003: Michaela Dorfmeister (Austria) in front of Kirsten L. Clark (USA)
Departure 2015: Tina Maze (Sln) in front of Anna Veith Fenninger (Austria)
Super-G 2019: Mikaela Shiffrin (USA) vor Sofia Goggia (It)
Abfahrt 2019: Kjetil Jansrud (No) vor Aksel Lund Svindal (No)
Giant Slalom 2021: Lara Gut-Behrami (Sz) in front of Mikaela Shiffrin (USA)
“A dream came true”: Vonn races down the Streif in the middle of the night(04:23)
