World Cup Finals Courchevel-Meribel 2022: Preview, schedule and stars to watch

The alpine skiing World Cup finals are here.

From 16 to 20 March 2022 the world's elite alpine skiers will gather in Courchevel-Meribel in the beautiful French Alps as the World Cup season comes to a thrilling conclusion. Courchevel-Meribel will also be the hosts of the World Ski Championships from 6 to 19 February 2023.

Last season saw Slovakia's Petra Vlhova clinch the women's crystal globe to become the first skier from her nation to win either a men's or women's overall title, and she looks up for it again after she gained her first giant slalom win for a year under the lights at Are, Sweden this past weekend.

On the men's side, it was France's most successful skier in World Cup history Alexis Pinturault who finally claimed the crystal globe for the first time last season. The local crowd will certainly be rooting for him.

There's been a lot of fluctuation since then with the crowning of new Olympic champions at Beijing 2022.

Team USA star Mikaela Shiffrin and Beijing 2022 men's giant slalom gold medallist, Switzerland's Marco Odermatt, are the current overall leaders.

For the complete standings, click here for the men's table and here for the women's table.

We break down the top things to know including the daily schedule, rules, stars to watch and what's at stake.

World Cup Finals Courchevel-Meribel 2022 - Daily schedule

16 March 2022 - Courchevel

10:00 CET (04:00 EST/01:00 PST): Men's Downhill

11:30 CET (05:30 EST/02:30 PST): Women's Downhill

17 March 2022 - Courchevel

10:00 CET (04:00 EST/01:00 PST): Women's Super-G

11:30 CET (05:30 EST/02:30 PST): Men's Super-G

18 March 2022 - Meribel

12:00 CET (06:00 EST/03:00 PST): Team Parallel Event

19 March 2022 - Meribel

09:00 CET (03:00 EST/00:00 PST): Men's Giant Slalom

10:30 CET (04:30 EST/01:30 PST): Women's Slalom

20 March 2022 - Meribel

09:00 CET (03:00 EST/00:00 PST): Women's Giant Slalom

10:30 CET (04:30 EST/01:30 PST): Men's Slalom

Rules

The scoring system for World Cups has changed several times throughout history. Today's format gives points in each race to the top 30 finishers.

However, since the inaugural World Cup finals in 1993, there has been a limit on the amount of skiers invited to compete.

Only the top 25 in the World Cup standings in each discipline, the current junior World Champions in each discipline, and skiers with at least 500 points in the general classification rankings will take part in the finals in Courchevel-Meribel.

Due to the condensed field of skiers, World Cup points are only awarded to the top 15 finishers of each race.

Stars to watch

We're set for a thrilling finish to the women's title as Shiffrin leads Petra Vlhova by just 56 points, while Odermatt has practically sealed the men's title after his weekend's work at Kranjska Gora, coming second and third in back-to-back giant slalom races.

Vlhova, Beijing 2022 alpine combined bronze medallist Federica Brignone, her compatriot and Beijing 2022 downhill silver medallist Sofia Goggia, and giant slalom gold medallist, Sweden's Sara Hector, currently make up the top five on the women's side.

Norway's Aleksander Aamodt Kilde is the only one who can potentially catch the Swiss leader, but with a 329 point lead, Odermatt looks to be assured of the big Crystal Globe.

Kilde secured the Super G crystal globe in Kvitfjell on 6 March, but had to sit out racing in Kranjska Gora due to a sore knee.

Kilde's fellow Norwegian Henrik Kristoffersen recorded an impressive giant slalom double in Slovenia this past weekend and now sits third in the overall standings.

Olympic champions Matthias Mayer of Austria and Beat Feuz of Switzerland complete the top five for the men going into the finals.

World Cup Finals Courchevel-Meribel 2022: What globes are at stake?

Along with the overall crystal globes to be awarded, there are three disciplines that are yet to be decided as well: men's and women's downhill, women's giant slalom and men's slalom.

Here are the World Cup standings ahead of the Finals. In bold are highlighted the winners of the globes already decided. 100 points are awarded to winner of the last race, 80 to the second-placed, 60 to the third, 50 to the fourth, 45 to the fifth. The 15th-place will earn 16 points.

Overall men

Marco Odermatt (SUI): 1,379 points

Aleksander Aamodt Kilde (NOR): 1,050 points

Henrik Kristoffersen (NOR): 874 points

Overall women

Mikaela Shiffrin (USA): 1,245 points

Petra Vlhova (SVK): 1,189 points

Federica Brignone (ITA): 931 points

Downhill men

Aleksander Aamodt Kilde (NOR): 570 points

Beat Feuz (SUI): 547 points

Matthias Mayer (AUS): 486 points

Downhill women

Sofia Goggia (ITA): 482 points

Corinne Suter (SUI): 407 points

Ramona Siebenhofer (AUT): 311 points

Super G men

Aleksander Aamodt Kilde (NOR): 480 points

Matthias Mayer (AUS): 350 points

Marco Odermatt (SUI): 322 points

Super G women

Federica Brignone (ITA): 506 points

Elena Curtoni (ITA): 374 points

Sofia Goggia (ITA): 332 points

Slalom men

Henrik Kristofferensen (NOR): 371 points

Lucas Braathen (NOR): 323 points

Linus Strasser (GER): 307 points

Manuel Feller (AUT): 301 points

Daniel Yule (SUI): 283 points

Slalom women

Petra Vlhova (SVK): 710 points

Mikaela Shiffrin (USA): 469 points

Katharina Liensberger (AUT): 372 points

GS men

Marco Odermatt (SUI): 620 points

Henrik Kristoffersen (NOR): 453 points

Manuel Feller (AUT): 326 points

GS women

Sara Hector (SWE): 522 points

Tessa Worley (FRA): 517 points

Mikaela Shiffrin (USA): 471 points

Parallel men

Christian Hirschbuehl (AUT): 100 points

Dominik Raschner (AUT): 80 points

Atle Lie McGrath (NOR): 60 points

Parallel women

Andreja Slokar (SLO): 100 points

Thea Louise Stjernesund (NOR): 80 points

Kristin Lysdahl (NOR): 60 points