The 9 Greatest Ski Racers of All Time

[Updated March 19, 2026]

SnowBrains assembled a list of the ten greatest alpine skiers of all time for our readers. Only one of these ten athletes is still active; the other nine have all retired. To find a numerical measure, we created the ranking by the number of World Cup wins in alpine disciplines.

In reverse order and starting with number nine as we have a tie (ladies first):

9) TIE: Renate Götschl

Nickname: “Wildsau” (Engl.: wild pig after saying about the Cortina World Cup “You have to be a little wild pig, the course can handle it”)

Country: Austria

World Cup Wins: 46 wins

Fun Fact: Renate was immortalized with a wax figure at the famous Madame Tussauds in Vienna for her total of 110 World Cup podiums, which are the third most women’s World Cup podiums (most podiums for women goes to Lindsey Vonn).

9) TIE: Marc Girardelli

Nickname: “The Renegade”

Country: Luxembourg

World Cup Wins: 46 wins

Fun Fact: Even though Marc was born in Austria, he competed for the Duchy of Luxembourg after a falling out with Austrian coaches and was coached by his father for long parts of his career. After retiring from racing, he invested in an indoor ski center in Germany and later started a ski clothing line and a retro ski series. He is the majority shareholder in the company that operates Bansko ski resort in Bulgaria and an honorary citizen of Bansko.

8) Alberto Tomba

Nickname: “Tomba la Bomba”

Country: Italy

World Cup Wins: 50 wins

Fun Fact: Tall and handsome, Alberto always liked to play up his playboy image in the media. When he won his gold medal in the Calgary Olympics, he asked his dad for a red Ferrari live on TV and asked out German ice skater and gold medal winner Katarina Witt (who famously brushed him off).

7) Hermann Maier

Nickname: “The Herminator”

Country: Austria

World Cup Wins: 54 wins

Fun Fact: Hermann Maier has beaten the odds more than once. When he was 15, he was told he was too small to become a successful alpine skier, and he did not debut on the World Cup circuit until he was 23, which is comparably old for an alpine skier. During the 1998 Nagano Olympics, he had a shocking crash during the downhill race, smashing through both b-nets and landing on his head, but came back three days later to win the gold medal in super-G. Then in 2001, Hermann suffered an almost career-ending motorbike accident and nearly had his leg amputated. Doctors saved the leg with extensive reconstructive surgery. Despite missing the 2002 Olympics, he made a successful World Cup comeback in 2003, winning 13 more World Cups until his retirement in 2009.

6) Verena Schneider

Nickname: “Vreni”

Country: Switzerland

World Cup Wins: 55 wins

Fun Facts: This one is not fun but rather sad. Verena, better known by her nickname Vreni, like Hermann Maier, had a late start to the World Cup circuit at age 20. She had to quit school and ski racing at 13 when her mother tragically died of cancer and was forced to look after the household. Vreni is the fourth most successful female skier of all time but probably one of the quietest and unassuming skiers. She also won three Olympic Gold medals and three World Cup Championships. She is the most successful Swiss skier of all time and was awarded “Swiss Sportswoman of the Century.” She retired in 1995. She briefly tried a career as a singer but returned to her passion of skiing and now runs a ski school in her home region Glarus.

5) Annemarie Moser-Pröll

Nickname: “La Pröll” (by the French media)

Country: Austria

World Cup Wins: 62 wins

Fun Fact: Annemarie was the most successful female skier of her time. She held the record of most successful female skier from her retirement in 1980 for 35 years until Lindsey Vonn broke it in 2015. Annemarie had a winning percentage of 34.5%, which Lindsey, with 19%, could not beat. Aside from skiing, Annemarie also raced Porsche cars. She was voted Austrian Sportswoman of the Century and World Female Wintersports Athlete of the Century. She still holds the record for most Overall World Cup Titles by a female skier, winning the Big Crystal Globe six times in total.

4) Marcel Hirscher

Nickname: The Flying Dutchman (a family joke, his mom is Dutch)

Country: Austria

World Cup Wins: 67 wins

Fun Facts: Marcel now owns a ski manufacturing business, a joint venture with Red Bull called Van Deer. The ‘van’ in the name is a nod to his Dutch heritage, and ‘deer’ in German means ‘Hirsch’. Marcel won an incredible eight successive Overall World Cup Titles during his career, making him the most successful champion by that measure. He also won a total of seven World Championships and two Olympic Gold medals. In 2024, Marcel Hirscher announced his comeback to competitive ski racing under the Dutch flag. He suffered an ACL rapture in December 2024 and his comeback is currently on ice until he fully recovers. He did try a comeback in the 2025-26 season, but admitted he did not have the speed yet to be fully competitive.

3) Lindsey Vonn

Nickname: Don Don

Country: USA

World Cup Wins: 84 wins

Fun Facts: Lindsey’s original goal to beat Ingemar Stenmark, was interrupted when Vonn retired in 2019 after many injuries. She stated that she was finding it harder and harder to bounce back from injuries and retired at 34. In 2024 after a partial knee construction surgery, the then 40-year-old announced her comeback to competitive skiing, made in part possible by the introduction of a wildcard system by the International Ski & Snowboard Federation. In December 2025, Vonn claimed her first victory since her comeback in the downhill in St. Moritz Switzerland, and claimed another win in January 2026, qualifying her for her fifth Winter Olympics. Unfortunately, during her Olympic downhill run, the 41-year old crashed and suffered a complicated fracture in her lower left leg.

2) Ingemar Stenmark

Nickname: “The Silent Swede”

Country: Sweden

World Cup Wins: 86 wins

Fun Facts: All Ingemar’s World Cup victories were in either slalom (40) or giant slalom (46). He competed for 16 seasons and podiumed a total of 155 times, which was a record Stenmark held until March 2025, when he was surpassed by Mikaela Shiffrin. Along with tennis player Björn Borg, he is the most prominent Swedish athlete.

1) Mikaela Shiffrin

Nickname: ‘Miki’, ‘La Shiffrin’, her friends call her ‘Sir-Naps-A-Lot’

Country: USA

World Cup Wins: 109 wins

Fun Facts: Mikaela debuted the World Cup series at just 16 years old. In the years since her debut, Mikaela has won not only more than 100 world cup titles but is also the only athlete ever to win across all six World Cup disciplines (slalom, parallel slalom, giant slalom, super-G, downhill, alpine combined). Shiffrin is the youngest Olympic Slalom Winner, she was also the youngest athlete ever to win 50 World Cups at less than 24 years old. In addition, she holds the record for most Alpine podiums. Further she holds the record for most wins in Slalom and the record for the most World Cup podiums.

While we endeavor to update this ranking regularly, we apologize if data is not always the most current. Please check when this article was last updated for the most accurate information.