• The FIS World Cup spans more than four decades, starting with the 1966-67 season.

• Three men were responsible for starting the World Cup by coordinating existing races into a new global ‘World Cup’ format: French journalist Serge Lang, French Coach Honore Bonnet and U.S. Coach Bob Beattie, the New Hampshire native who went from Middlebury College to the University of Colorado, and became the first full-time U.S. Ski Team head coach in 1965 (and moved to Aspen in 1970).

• This winter, the Café de Colombia World Cup tour will include more than 75 races for men and women, including two combined events apiece. The World Championships (Jan. 29-Feb. 10 in St. Anton, Austria) are not part of the World Cup.

• World Cup racers have earned cash prizes since the 1990-91 season when, thanks to a U.S. initiative, FIS approved cash prizes. This season, there will be about $6 million (10 million Sfr) in cash prizes at races.

• World Cup titles are awarded each season in four disciplines - downhill, super G, giant slalom (GS), and slalom - plus the overall title.

• The downhill and super G events are generally known as ‘speed’ events, while giant slalom and slalom are generally known as ‘technical’ events. Some racers specialize towards either speed or technical events, while other racers - ‘all-rounders’ - may be competitive across the entire range of disciplines.

• The combined event is essentially a mathematical calculation totaling the time from both a downhill and a slalom – testing skiers’ abilities on the two opposite ends of the discipline spectrum.

• Starting with the 1991-92 season, World Cup points are awarded to the top 30 finishers in each race. First place is worth 100 points, 80 for second, 60 for third, 50 for fourth, 45 for fifth, 40 for sixth, 36 for seventh, 32 for eighth, 29 for ninth, 26 for 10th, 24 for 11th, 22 for 12th, 20 for 13th, 18 for 14th, 16 for 15th, 15 for 16th, and 14-13-12-11-10-9-etc., progressively, down to one point for 30th place.

• Points earned in every race in a discipline are credited towards the discipline title, with all races going towards the overall title. There are no ‘throwaway’ races.

• Closest margins of victory? In 1980, Andreas Wenzel of Liechtenstein (whose sister Hanni Wenzel, the Olympic double-gold medalist in Lake Placid, was women’s overall champion) edged Ingemar Stenmark of Sweden by four points for the men’s overall title. In 1975, Italian Gustavo Thoeni defeated Stenmark by five points; in 1981, American Phil Mahre nipped Stenmark by six points for the overall championship. (Mahre won the Aspen GS that year with Stenmark second.)

• Among the women, Swiss icon Vreni Schneider nipped German great Katja Seizinger by six points to win the overall crown in 1995; Switzerland’s Maria Walliser beat teammate Vreni Schneider by seven points to win in 1987; Erika Hess of Switzerland edged Hanni Wenzel by nine points to win in 1984.

• The Nations Cup, founded and still presented by the USA’s Ski Magazine, is awarded to the nation accumulating the most points for men and women.

• France dominated the early years of the World Cup, winning five of the first six overall titles (Jean-Claude Killy and Guy Perillat dominated the men’s side while the Goitschel sisters - Christine and Marielle - plus Annie Famose and Isabel Mir owned the women’s podiums). Switzerland dominated the Eighties, winning every year from 1981 to ’89, except when Austria won in ’82.

• But the runaway most dominant nation has been Austria, winning 19 overall titles, including every year since the 1990 season. In 1998, Austria scored more World Cup points than the second-place nation (Germany) and third-place nation (Italy) combined! Austrians also swept every men’s World Cup individual title! But they topped themselves a year later when, in 1999, Austria scored more World Cup points than the second-place nation (Norway), the third-place nation (Switzerland) and the fourth-place nation (Italy)! And they took all the women’s individual crowns.

• ’00 World Cup men’s champions: Overall – Hermann Maier/AUT, Downhill – Maier, super G – Maier, GS – Maier, Slalom –Kjetil Andre Aamodt/NOR

• ’00 World Cup women’s champions: Overall – Renate Goetschl/AUT, Downhill –Regina Haeusl/GER, super G – Goetschl, GS – Michaela Dorfmeister/AUT, Slalom – Spela Pretnar/SLO

• Swedish legend Ingemar Stenmark is the most successful racer of all time, having won 86 World Cup races (46 GS/40 SL). His last victory came at Aspen in March 1989. (Runnerup? Italy’s Alberto Tomba, with 50 wins.)

• The most successful woman racer of all time is Austrian great Annemarie Moser-Proell, who won 62 times in the era before super G became an event (36 DH/16 GS/3 SL/7 Combined)(Runnerup? Vreni Schneider of Switzerland won 55 times.)

• The top American World Cup winners: Men – Phil Mahre (27 wins, including two in Aspen - 7 GS/9 SL/11 Combined) and Tamara McKinney (18 wins - 9 GS/9 SL).

Alpine World Cup Fact Sheet - 2001 Season

• Most overall titles? Moser-Proell won six women’s crowns and Marc Girardelli of Luxembourg won five men’s overall titles.

• Phil Mahre and Tamara McKinney are the lone U.S. overall champions. Mahre won the overall titles three times (1981, ’82, ’83) while McKinney was the 1983 women’s overall World Cup champion.

• Ties: There were two ties last season alone - Spela Pretnar and Christelle Saioni/FRA tied in the Chevy Truck Women’s World Challenge slalom at Breckenridge, Colo., and Austrian teammates Werner Franz and Fritz Strobl deadlocked in a pre-Worlds SG in St. Anton.

• Closest margin of victory: 30 World Cup races (16 men’s events, 14 women’s races) have been decided by one-hundredth of a second (.01). Hilary Lindh won a downhill by .01 – coincidentally, the 100th World Cup triumph by a U.S. racer – at Sierra Nevada, Spain, (over Melanie Suchet/FRA) in 1994. Other notables: American Kiki Cutter won by .01 at Mt. Ste. Anne, Que., in 1969; Abbi Fisher edged Perrine Pelen/FRA by .01 at Piancavallo in 1978 for her lone World Cup victory; and in the lone women’s GS decided by .01, American Karen Budge lost by .01 to Berni Rauter/AUT at Waterville Valley, NH, in 1969. In all, 10 women’s slaloms have been decided for one-hundredth of a second - Tamara McKinney lost to Maria Epple-Beck/GER in Arosa, SUI in 1985. One women’s super G has been decided by .01 - Austrian Renate Goetschl nipping German great Katja Seizinger at Flachau in 1995. In addition, two women’s DHs have been that close - Lindh’s win in ’94 and Heidi Zurbriggen/SUI winning her first World Cup in Kvitfjell, NOR, in 1996.

• Among the men, four men’s SLs have been decided by .01 (including Andrej Miklavz/SLO at Park City in 1995 and Jean-Noel Augert/FRA at Waterville Valley in 1969); four men’s giant slaloms have seen someone win by .01 (including Phil Mahre over Max Julen/SUI at Furano, Japan, in 1983 and Alberto Tomba by .01 over Ole-Kristian Furuseth/NOR at Waterville Valley in 1991); eight men’s DHs have been won by .01, including Franz Klammer/AUT winning by .01 over Gustavo Thoeni at Kitzbuehel in 1975. Until last season’s tie in St. Anton between Franz and Strobl, no men’s super G has been closer than .03, and that had taken place six times.

• Think of it: Waterville Valley, NH has had three of the closest races, including two in 1969!

• It’s easy to look at the World Cup as a mini-Olympics but there are two major differences: the Olympics are once-every-four-years races and teams are limited to four entries in each race. On the World Cup, nations may start far more than four; in other words, you can face eight or 10 Austrian men in each race, or perhaps a half-dozen Austrian women — all of which makes the World Cup the toughest competition, race after race.