Alpine racing is occasionally considered overly serious and dated in the freeskiing space. The spandex, the jock stereotypes, the lack of tricks—it all culminates in a picture that, if you didn't know any better, might make you think that racing isn't where the action's happening these days.
Racing fans, of course, would obviously take issue with that assessment—as would racers themselves—who know there's nothing boring about soaring down a bulletproof course at 85 miles per hour.
The FIS recently released a video compiling the "best stunts" from the 2023-2024 World Cup competitive season that proves, without a doubt, that racing is melt-your-face gnarly. Thrown in a little New Order, and you have the perfect recipe for a good time.
Feast your eyes below.
See? Style points and racing aren't mutually exclusive. You just have to almost crash, end up backward while riding a pair of sticks that have more in common with two-by-fours than consumer skis, and, through a combination of luck and skill, somehow remain standing.
This season, Marco Odermatt and Lara Gut-Behrami won the men's and women's overall World Cup titles, respectively. Odermatt racked up points by winning a stupid number of giant slalom races in a row, and Gut-Behrami dominated in her respective disciplines.
Sadly, Mikaela Shiffrin—the winningest racer of all time—was sidelined by an injury for part of the season, hamstringing her bid for the overall title.
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