Super giant slalom, orsuper-G, is a racing discipline ofalpine skiing. Along with the fasterdownhill, it is regarded as a "speed" event, in contrast to the technical eventsgiant slalom andslalom. It debuted as an officialWorld Cup event during the1983 season and was added to the official schedule of theWorld Championships in1987 and theWinter Olympics in1988.
Much like downhill, a super-G course consists of widely set gates that racers must pass through. The course is set so that skiers must turn more than in downhill, though the speeds are still much higher than in giant slalom (hence the name). Each athlete only has one run to clock the best time. In the Olympics, super-G courses are usually set on the same slopes as the downhill, but with a lower starting point.
Super-G was run as aWorld Cup test event during the1982 season, with two men's races and a women's race that did not count in the season standings.[1]
Approved by theInternational Ski Federation (FIS) that summer, it was first officially run at the World Cup level in December1982 atVal-d'Isère,France; the winner wasPeter Müller of Switzerland. The first official women's super-G was run a month later in early January 1983, with consecutive events atVerbier, Switzerland. The first winner wasIrene Epple ofWest Germany, andCindy Nelson of theUnited States won the next day on a different course.[2]
These were the only two races for women in super-G during the 1983 season; the men had three. The event was not universally embraced during its early years,[3] which included a boycott by two-time defending overall championPhil Mahre in December 1982.[4][5]
For the first three seasons, super-G results were added into the giant slalom discipline for the season standings; it gained separate status for a crystal globe for the1986 season with five events for both men and women; the first champions wereMarkus Wasmeier andMarina Kiehl, both ofWest Germany.
It was added to theWorld Championships in1987, held atCrans-Montana, Switzerland. Swiss skiersPirmin Zurbriggen andMaria Walliser won gold medals to become the first world champions in the event. Super-G made itsOlympic debut in1988 inCalgary, whereFranck Piccard of France andSigrid Wolf of Austria took gold atNakiska.
Hermann Maier of Austria (nicknamed 'The Herminator') is widely regarded as the greatest male super-G racer, with 24 World Cup victories and five World Cup titles (1998–2001,2004). He won the world championship in1999 and an Olympic gold medal in1998, three days after a crash in the downhill.
Maier's proficiency in super-G was attributed to his thorough course inspection and his aggressive course tactics; he opted for the most direct and dangerous line down the hill. A serious motorcycle accident in August 2001 nearly resulted in an amputation of his lower right leg and sidelined him for the2002 season, including the2002 Olympics. After his return to the World Cup circuit in January2003, Maier won eight more World Cup super-G events and his fifth season title in 2004.
Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway is second on the list with 17 wins in World Cup super-G races,Kjetil Jansrud third with his 13 wins. Svindal won Olympic gold in2010 and his fifth season title in2014
Pirmin Zurbriggen won four consecutive season titles (1987–90) and was the first world champion of this discipline in 1987.
Kjetil André Aamodt of Norway, a triple gold medalist in Olympic super-G races, winning in1992,2002 and2006. Aamodt won five World Cup races and two world championship medals (silver and bronze) in the discipline.
Marc Girardelli ofLuxembourg, a five-time overall World Cup champion, won nine World Cup super-G events. He won season titles in every discipline except super-G, where he was a runner-up three times. Girardelli was the silver medalist in the super-G at the 1987 World Championships and the1992 Olympics.
Lindsey Vonn of the U.S. leads with 28 World Cup victories in super-G and has won five season titles (2009–2012,2015).
Lara Gut-Behrami of Switzerland has won 24 World Cup races, six season titles (2014,2016,2021,2023,2024,2025), and a Gold medal in the event at the2022 Winter Olympics.
Katja Seizinger of Germany won five season titles in the 1990s, with 16 World Cup wins in the discipline.
Neither Vonn and Seizinger have won gold in the super-G at theOlympics (both won a bronze) while Gut-Behrami has. However all three of them have won aworld title, Vonn in2009, Gut-Behrami in2021 and Seizinger in1993.
Renate Götschl of Austria won 17 World Cup events in super-G, three season titles, and two medals (silver and bronze) in the world championships.
The vertical drop for a Super-G course must be between 350–650 m (1,150–2,130 ft) for men, 350–600 m (1,150–1,970 ft) for women, and 250–450 m (820–1,480 ft) for children.
In the Olympic Winter Games, FIS World Ski Championships, and FIS World Cups, minimums are raised to 400 m (1,300 ft) for both men and women. Courses are normally at least 30 m (98 ft) in width, but sections with lower widths are permissible if the line and terrain before and after allow it. Higher widths can also be required if deemed necessary. Gates must be between 6 m (20 ft) and 8 m (26 ft) in width for open gates, and between 8 m (26 ft) and 12 m (39 ft) in width for vertical gates. The distance between turning poles of successive gates must be at least 25 m (82 ft). The number of direction changes must be at least 7% of the course drop in meters (6% for Olympic Winter Games, FIS World Ski Championships and FIS World Cups).[6]
In an attempt to increase safety, the2004 season saw theFIS impose minimum ski lengths for the super-G for the first time: to 205 cm (80.7 in) for men and 200 cm (78.7 in) for women. The minimum turning radius was increased to 45 m (148 ft) for the2014 season.
Men
The following table contains the men's Super-G (from 2007 Super combined) World Cup podiums since the first edition in 1986.
Women
Men
Women
WOG - Winter Olympic Games, WCH - FIS World Ski Championships
| Nordic skiing |
| ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alpine skiing |
| ||||||
| Other skiing | |||||||
| Freestyle skiing | |||||||
| Snowboarding | |||||||
| Technique / learning | |||||||
| Equipment | |||||||
| Resort amenities |
| ||||||
