The 43rd
World Cup season began in late October 2008 in
Sölden, Austria, and concluded in mid-March 2009, at the World Cup finals in
Åre, Sweden.
Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway won the overall title by two points over
Benjamin Raich of Austria. Svindal returned from a season-ending injury in December 2007, and also took the season title in super-G.
Lindsey Vonn of the U.S. repeated as women's overall champion, taking the title by a substantial 384 points over
Maria Riesch of Germany. Vonn also repeated as the season downhill champion, and added the season title in super-G.
No pre-
Olympic World Cup alpine events were run at
Whistler Mountain, Canada, during the 2009 season. In late February
2008, a women's downhill and super-combined were run on Franz's Run, the women's Olympic course. The most recent men's World Cup events on the Dave Murray Downhill course were held in late February
1995. The World Cup races in North America were switched to the early part of the season in the fall of
1995, and the men's speed events at Whistler were canceled three consecutive years (December
1996–
98) due to weather issues, which prompted the switch to
Lake Louise in Alberta in December
1999.