Switzerland is Best Alpine skiing nation – for the fourth time in a row

For the fourth consecutive year and the sixth time in the last seven years, Switzerland secured its status as the top alpine skiing nation in the 2025/26 World Cup winter season. Swiss-Ski has been the number one men's team continuously since 2020.

After a total of 73 races, the 2025/26 Alpine Ski World Cup season came to a close in Kvitfjell and Hafjell – the two venues for the 1994 Winter Olympics. In addition to winning the Nations Cup, Switzerland celebrated one large and two small World Cup crystal globes – all of which went to Marco Odermatt.

With 16 World Cup globes, the Nidwalden native already has two more than the previous Swiss record holders Vreni Schneider and Pirmin Zurbriggen (14 each). Furthermore, Odermatt now boasts 54 victories and 102 podium finishes at the World Cup level. This surpasses both Vreni Schneider and Lara Gut-Behrami (101 each) in terms of podium finishes, making him the Swiss record holder in this statistic as well.

Marco Odermatt sets new records season after season, yet he has remained the team player he was before his great successes.

“Marco Odermatt not only won the overall title for the fifth time in a row, but also secured at least three crystal globes for the fourth consecutive winter. These are achievements that are unparalleled in our sport. He sets new records season after season and yet has remained the team player he was even before his great successes,” says Hans Flatscher, Alpine Director of Swiss-Ski. “Sometimes one gets the impression that Marco’s exceptional achievements are almost taken for granted – but they are anything but. All the more reason why his impressive successes deserve our full admiration and highest recognition.”

On their way to first place in the nation ranking for the 2025/26 season, Swiss alpine skiers amassed 9,110 points, averaging 124.8 points per race. A total of 23 female and 21 male athletes earned World Cup points for Swiss-Ski since the season opener in Sölden at the end of October. In 75% of all men's races last season, Switzerland was represented in the top 10 at least twice, while for women this figure was 32.4%. Six times, four Swiss-Ski athletes finished in the top ten in a single men's race, and four times a Swiss one-two finish was celebrated.

"The best people in key positions"

Switzerland won the overall Nations Cup title for the 14th time this year – and for the sixth time in the last seven years. The men's team secured first place for the seventh consecutive year; the Swiss women finished fourth in the absence of Lara Gut-Behrami. "The high degree of personnel continuity in the alpine division has been paying off for several years now. We have the best people in key positions – and that's crucial," said a delighted Peter Barandun, President of Swiss-Ski.

Total dominance: Switzerland achieved a clean sweep of the podium in the giant slalom in Val d'Isère – Loïc Meillard won ahead of Luca Aerni and Marco Odermatt. | Photo: Keystone-SDA

No other nation celebrated as many victories in the World Cup season that concluded in Norway as Switzerland. Marco Odermatt (9), Loïc Meillard (2), Camille Rast (2), Franjo von Allmen (2), Malorie Blanc (1), and Corinne Suter (1) accounted for a total of 17 Swiss wins this season. Austria and Italy each achieved 12 triumphs. After five maiden victories last winter, there was only one Swiss win this time around – Malorie Blanc's victory in the Super-G in Crans-Montana.

Swiss-Ski celebrated at least one victory in seven of the two sets of four disciplines. Only in the men's slalom did no Swiss-Ski athlete stand atop the podium in the 2025/26 World Cup season – although they did at the Olympic Games, where Loïc Meillard secured gold a year after his World Championship title (more on the Olympics below).

In the women's overall World Cup standings, Camille Rast finished third behind Mikaela Shiffrin (USA) and Emma Aicher (GER). In the men's competition, in addition to the dominant overall winner Marco Odermatt, two other Swiss-Ski athletes, Loïc Meillard (4th place) and Franjo von Allmen (7th place), finished among the top seven.

In total:

• 17 wins (last season: 22)

• 50 podium finishes (last season: 64)

Men:

• 13 wins (last season: 17)

• 33 podium finishes (last season: 44)

• Downhill: 13 podium finishes (6|5|2)

• Super-G: 7 podium finishes (2|3|2)

• Giant slalom: 9 podium finishes (5|3|1)

• Slalom: 4 podium finishes (0|3|1)

Women:

• 4 wins (last season: 5)

• 17 podium finishes (last season: 20)

• Downhill: 2 podium finishes (1|0|1)

• Super-G: 3 podium finishes (1|1|1)

• Giant slalom: 4 podium finishes (1|2|1)

• Slalom: 8 podium finishes (1|4|3)

Podium finishes of Swiss athletes

• Marco Odermatt – 14 podium finishes (9x 1st place | 3x 2nd place | 2x 3rd place)

• Camille Rast – 8 (2|5|1)

• Loïc Meillard – 8 (2|5|1)

• Franjo von Allmen – 7 (2|3|2)

• Corinne Suter – 4 (1|1|2)

• Wendy Holdener – 3 (0|1|2)

• Alexis Monney – 2 (0|2|0)

• Malorie Blanc – 1 (1|0|0)

• Luca Aerni – 1 (0|1|0)

• Lara Gut-Behrami – 1 (0|0|1)

• Stefan Rogentin – 1 (0|0|1)

Nations Cup

Total

1. Switzerland 9110

2. Austria 8404

3. Italy 6680

4. USA 5519

5. Norway 4762

Women

: 1. USA 4548

2. Austria 4083

3. Italy 3567

4. Switzerland 3477

Men

:1. Switzerland 5633

2. Austria 4321

3. Norway 3457

9x Olympic medals in Northern Italy

For the first time, Swiss alpine skiers have won more medals at the Winter Games than in Bormio and Cortina – 11 in Calgary in 1988. This time, the Swiss ski aces collected nine Olympic medals, matching their tally from four years ago in China. With Franjo von Allmen, Swiss-Ski boasts one of the standout athletes of this year's Winter Games – across all disciplines. The Bern native won gold in the downhill, two days later in the team combined alongside Tanguy Nef, and two days after that in the Super-G! With three gold medals at his first Winter Games, von Allmen immediately took first place in the all-time Swiss Olympic medal count for alpine skiing. Switzerland is also the first nation to have both men's speed event Olympic champions at the same Winter Games.

Loïc Meillard and Marco Odermatt also collected three medals each in Bormio. Meillard crowned himself Olympic champion in the slalom exactly one year to the day after his World Championship slalom title. The Swiss skier is thus the first Swiss Olympic slalom champion since Edy Reinalter in St. Moritz in 1948. He ultimately returned home with a complete set of medals, having won silver in the team combined (together with Marco Odermatt) and bronze in the giant slalom. Marco Odermatt, the dominant winner of the overall World Cup title, also completed his Olympic medal collection in northern Italy. After winning gold four years ago in the giant slalom, the skier from Nidwalden earned silver in the same discipline. He also won silver in the team combined and bronze in the Super-G, which was won by Franjo von Allmen.

Overall, the Swiss skiers won four out of five gold medals and achieved 53% of the possible podium finishes. For the first time ever, a nation has simultaneously held all the major titles in speed skiing (gold at the World Championships and the Olympics in downhill and Super-G).

Camille Rast was ultimately responsible for the ninth and final medal of the Winter Games in northern Italy. The 26-year-old from Valais won her first Olympic medal, a silver, in the slalom, one year after her World Championship gold.

The Swiss alpine skiers narrowly missed out on further podium finishes three times. Marco Odermatt (downhill), Thomas Tumler (giant slalom), and Wendy Holdener (slalom) all had to settle for fourth place, a result so dreaded at major events.