# 1978–79 FIS Alpine Ski World Cup

The 13th World Cup season began in December 1978 in Austria and concluded in March 1979 in Japan.
The overall winners were Peter Lüscher of Switzerland, his first overall win, and Annemarie Moser-Pröll of Austria, her sixth (which remained the record until 2017–18, when Austria's Marcel Hirscher won his seventh overall title). Although Ingemar Stenmark did not win the overall title due to restrictions on the number of races that counted for overall championship points, he won 13 races during the season (including the last four in a row and six of the last seven) to break Jean-Claude Killy's record of 12 race wins during the inaugural season of the World Cup, which (as of 2018) still stands as the record for most wins by a male skier in a World Cup season.
The World Cup race scoring system, which had remained unchanged since the start of the World Cup in 1967 as a "Top 10" points system (ranging from 25 points for first, 20 for second, 15 for third, and down to 1 point for tenth), was amended this season for the final two downhills and the final three giant slaloms and slaloms to a "Top 25" system (ranging from 25 points for first to 1 point for 25th). This system was abandoned after the end of the season, and a new "Top 15" system was introduced beginning in 1980.

## Men
### Overall

see complete table
In men's overall World Cup 1978/79 the best 3 results of each discipline count; best three downhills, best three giant slaloms, best three slaloms and best three combined. 37 racers had a point deduction. Ingemar Stenmark had 260 (!) points deduction and won 13 races.
| Place | Name | Country | Total | DH | GS | SL | KB |
| 1 | Peter Lüscher | Switzerland | 186 | 0 | 64 | 57 | 65 |
| 2 | Leonhard Stock | Austria | 163 | 57 | 50 | 17 | 39 |
| 3 | Phil Mahre | United States | 155 | 0 | 27 | 72 | 56 |
| 4 | Piero Gros | Italy | 152 | 0 | 58 | 57 | 37 |
| 5 | Ingemar Stenmark | Sweden | 150 | 0 | 75 | 75 | 0 |
| 6 | Andreas Wenzel | Liechtenstein | 148 | 0 | 59 | 34 | 55 |
| 7 | Anton Steiner | Austria | 107 | 10 | 33 | 36 | 28 |
| 8 | Bojan Križaj | Yugoslavia | 106 | 0 | 66 | 40 | 0 |
| 9 | Gustav Thöni | Italy | 92 | 0 | 26 | 54 | 12 |
| 10 | Steve Mahre | United States | 86 | 0 | 25 | 47 | 14 |
| 11 | Leonardo David | Italy | 85 | 0 | 25 | 60 | 0 |
| 12 | Hans Enn | Austria | 81 | 0 | 63 | 18 | 0 |
| 13 | Jacques Lüthy | Switzerland | 79 | 0 | 52 | 27 | 0 |
| 14 | Christian Neureuther | West Germany | 74 | 0 | 0 | 74 | 0 |
| 15 | Peter Wirnsberger | Austria | 72 | 70 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| | Peter Müller | Switzerland | 72 | 69 | 2 | 0 | 1 |

### Downhill

see complete table
In men's downhill World Cup 1978/79 the best 5 results count. Seven racers had a point deduction, which are given in brackets. Peter Müller won the cup with only one win. There were 8 different winners in 9 races. Leonardo David crashed in the race No. 29. He died after being in a coma for nearly six years.
| Place | Name | Country | Total | 2AUT | 5ITA | 6ITA | 9FRA | 12SUI | 16AUT | 20GER | 23SUI | 29USA |
| 1 | Peter Müller | Switzerland | 109 | - | 20 | 20 | (2) | 20 | - | (4) | 25 | 24 |
| 2 | Peter Wirnsberger | Austria | 89 | 8 | (2) | 11 | - | - | 20 | 25 | - | 25 |
| 3 | Toni Bürgler | Switzerland | 80 | - | 11 | - | - | 25 | 2 | - | 22 | 20 |
| 4 | Uli Spieß | Austria | 75 | - | - | 4 | 15 | - | 15 | 20 | (2) | 21 |
| | Ken Read | Canada | 75 | 25 | - | 15 | - | 15 | 1 | - | - | 19 |
| 6 | Leonhard Stock | Austria | 67 | - | - | - | - | 6 | 4 | 11 | 24 | 22 |
| 7 | Herbert Plank | Italy | 65 | 11 | (4) | - | 20 | - | 8 | 15 | - | 11 |
| 8 | Werner Grissmann | Austria | 63 | - | - | - | 6 | 11 | 6 | (6) | 23 | 17 |
| | Sepp Ferstl | West Germany | 63 | (1) | - | - | 3 | - | 25 | 8 | 14 | 13 |
| 10 | Dave Murray | Canada | 52 | 20 | - | 3 | - | 2 | - | - | 4 | 23 |
| | Steve Podborski | Canada | 52 | 2 | (1) | - | 25 | 4 | 3 | - | - | 18 |
| 12 | Erik Håker | Norway | 41 | - | - | 25 | - | - | - | - | - | 16 |
| 13 | Josef Walcher | Austria | 40 | - | 25 | - | - | - | - | - | 15 | - |

### Giant slalom

see complete table
In men's giant slalom World Cup 1978/79 the best 5 results count. Nine racers had a point deduction, which are given in brackets. Ingemar Stenmark won the cup with maximum points by winning ALL 10 events. He won his fourth Giant slalom World Cup.
| Place | Name | Country | Total | 1AUT | 8YUG | 10FRA | 15SUI | 19AUT | 24TCH | 27SWE | 30USA | 31USA | 33JPN |
| 1 | Ingemar Stenmark | Sweden | 125 | 25 | 25 | 25 | 25 | 25 | (25) | (25) | (25) | (25) | (25) |
| 2 | Peter Lüscher | Switzerland | 104 | 20 | 20 | 20 | - | (20) | - | (2) | 23 | 21 | (19) |
| 3 | Bojan Križaj | Yugoslavia | 96 | - | 15 | 15 | (6) | - | 20 | - | 22 | 24 | (15) |
| 4 | Heini Hemmi | Switzerland | 86 | (2) | 11 | (8) | (11) | (11) | 15 | (8) | 21 | 15 | 24 |
| 5 | Jacques Lüthy | Switzerland | 75 | (1) | - | - | 15 | (1) | 8 | 15 | - | 16 | 21 |
| 6 | Andreas Wenzel | Liechtenstein | 74 | - | - | - | 20 | 15 | - | - | 19 | 20 | - |
| | Piero Gros | Italy | 74 | 8 | 8 | - | (4) | - | (1) | - | 16 | 22 | 20 |
| 8 | Jean-Luc Fournier | Switzerland | 73 | 11 | (2) | 11 | (8) | - | - | - | 18 | 10 | 23 |
| 9 | Hans Enn | Austria | 70 | - | - | - | - | 3 | - | 4 | 24 | 23 | 16 |
| 10 | Leonhard Stock | Austria | 69 | - | - | (3) | - | 8 | (2) | 11 | 20 | 13 | 17 |

### Slalom

see complete table
In men's slalom World Cup 1978/79 the best 5 results count. Six racers had a point deduction, which are given in brackets. Ingemar Stenmark won his fifth Slalom World Cup in a row.
| Place | Name | Country | Total | 4ITA | 7YUG | 11SUI | 13SUI | 17AUT | 21GER | 25TCH | 26NOR | 28SWE | 32JPN |
| 1 | Ingemar Stenmark | Sweden | 119 | - | 25 | - | (15) | 20 | (11) | (15) | 24 | 25 | 25 |
| 2 | Phil Mahre | United States | 107 | - | - | (8) | (2) | 15 | 20 | 25 | 23 | 24 | - |
| 3 | Christian Neureuther | West Germany | 97 | 15 | - | 25 | 8 | 25 | - | - | - | - | 24 |
| 4 | Petar Popangelov | Bulgaria | 96 | (11) | - | 20 | - | - | 15 | (3) | 19 | 20 | 22 |
| 5 | Paul Frommelt | Liechtenstein | 92 | - | 20 | (3) | 25 | 11 | - | - | - | 13 | 23 |
| 6 | Peter Lüscher | Switzerland | 72 | 20 | - | - | (3) | - | 25 | 4 | - | 11 | 12 |
| 7 | Piero Gros | Italy | 71 | 6 | (4) | (6) | - | (3) | 8 | - | 21 | 19 | 17 |
| 8 | Leonardo David | Italy | 70 | 4 | 15 | - | - | 6 | - | 20 | 25 | - | - |
| 9 | Gustav Thöni | Italy | 64 | (3) | - | (1) | - | 6 | 4 | - | 18 | 23 | 13 |
| 10 | Martial Donnet | Switzerland | 63 | 25 | 1 | 11 | 6 | - | - | - | - | - | 20 |

### Combined

see complete table
There was no special discipline world cup for Combined awarded. The best three results only count for the Overall World Cup. However, Peter Lüscher's strong performance in this discipline was the critical factor in his victory in the Overall.
| Place | Name | Country | Total | 3AUT | 14SUI | 18AUT | 22GER |
| 1 | Andreas Wenzel | Liechtenstein | 70 | 15 | 20 | 20 | 15 |
| 2 | Peter Lüscher | Switzerland | 69 | 25 | 4 | 15 | 25 |
| 3 | Phil Mahre | United States | 60 | 11 | 25 | 4 | 20 |
| 4 | Piero Gros | Italy | 41 | 4 | 15 | 11 | 11 |
| 5 | Leonhard Stock | Austria | 39 | 20 | 11 | - | 8 |
| 6 | Anton Steiner | Austria | 28 | - | 3 | 25 | - |
| 7 | Bohumír Zeman | Czechoslovakia | 18 | 8 | - | 6 | 4 |
| 8 | Steve Mahre | United States | 14 | - | 8 | - | 6 |
| | Herbert Plank | Italy | 14 | 3 | - | 8 | 3 |
| 10 | Gustav Thöni | Italy | 12 | 6 | 6 | - | - |

## Women
### Overall

see complete table
In women's overall World Cup 1978/79 the best 3 results of each discipline count; best three downhills, best three giant slaloms, best three slaloms and best three combined. 25 racers had a point deduction. Annemarie Moser-Pröll won her sixth Overall World Cup - this record is still unbeaten.
| Place | Name | Country | Total | DH | GS | SL | KB |
| 1 | Annemarie Moser-Pröll | Austria | 243 | 75 | 40 | 58 | 70 |
| 2 | Hanni Wenzel | Liechtenstein | 240 | 40 | 71 | 74 | 55 |
| 3 | Irene Epple | West Germany | 189 | 66 | 70 | 17 | 36 |
| 4 | Cindy Nelson | United States | 168 | 67 | 43 | 12 | 46 |
| 5 | Marie-Theres Nadig | Switzerland | 156 | 63 | 68 | 0 | 25 |
| 6 | Fabienne Serrat | France | 151 | 6 | 61 | 49 | 35 |
| 7 | Regina Sackl | Austria | 112 | 0 | 39 | 73 | 0 |
| 8 | Christa Kinshofer | West Germany | 110 | 0 | 75 | 35 | 0 |
| 9 | Perrine Pelen | France | 100 | 0 | 32 | 65 | 3 |
| 10 | Claudia Giordani | Italy | 98 | 3 | 23 | 55 | 17 |
| 11 | Lea Sölkner | Austria | 95 | 0 | 29 | 66 | 0 |
| 12 | Regine Mösenlechner | West Germany | 85 | 0 | 31 | 46 | 8 |
| 13 | Maria Rosa Quario | Italy | 84 | 0 | 19 | 65 | 0 |
| 14 | Daniela Zini | Italy | 82 | 0 | 28 | 54 | 0 |
| 15 | Erika Hess | Switzerland | 76 | 0 | 43 | 33 | 0 |

### Downhill

see complete table
In women's downhill World Cup 1978/79 the best 5 results count. Five racers had a point deduction, which are given in brackets. Annemarie Moser-Pröll won 6 races out of 7 and five races in a row. She won the World Cup with maximum points. Together with the last two downhill races last season 1977/78, she won 7 downhill races in a row. She won her seventh Downhill World Cup - this record is still unbeaten.
| Place | Name | Country | Total | 1ITA | 4FRA | 9SUI | 10SUI | 14AUT | 18GER | 22USA |
| 1 | Annemarie Moser-Pröll | Austria | 125 | 25 | 25 | 25 | 25 | 25 | - | (25) |
| 2 | Bernadette Zurbriggen | Switzerland | 90 | - | 15 | - | 15 | 19 | 18 | 23 |
| 3 | Marie-Theres Nadig | Switzerland | 89 | (8) | 11 | 15 | (6) | 22 | 17 | 24 |
| 4 | Cindy Nelson | United States | 82 | (1) | - | 11 | 4 | 24 | 25 | 18 |
| 5 | Irene Epple | West Germany | 81 | (4) | (1) | 8 | 20 | 23 | 23 | 7 |
| 6 | Evi Mittermaier | West Germany | 67 | - | 20 | 20 | - | 18 | 9 | - |
| 7 | Edith Peter | Austria | 64 | 8 | 6 | (6) | 8 | 21 | - | 21 |
| 8 | Caroline Attia | France | 55 | 2 | 3 | - | 11 | - | 24 | 15 |
| 9 | Annemarie Bischofsberger | West Germany | 49 | - | - | - | - | 9 | 20 | 20 |
| 10 | Cornelia Pröll | Austria | 41 | - | - | - | - | - | 19 | 22 |
| | Hanni Wenzel | Liechtenstein | 41 | - | - | - | 1 | 13 | 15 | 12 |
| | Brigitte Totschnig | Austria | 41 | - | - | - | - | 20 | 12 | 9 |

### Giant slalom

see complete table
In women's giant slalom World Cup 1978/79 the best 5 results count. Four racers had a point deduction, which are given in brackets. Christa Kinshofer won five races in a row. She won the World Cup with maximum points.
| Place | Name | Country | Total | 3ITA | 5FRA | 7FRA | 20GER | 23USA | 24USA | 26JPN |
| 1 | Christa Kinshofer | West Germany | 125 | - | 25 | 25 | 25 | 25 | 25 | (14) |
| 2 | Hanni Wenzel | Liechtenstein | 112 | 25 | 20 | (20) | (6) | 22 | 24 | 21 |
| 3 | Irene Epple | West Germany | 105 | 15 | - | (1) | 20 | 24 | 23 | 23 |
| 4 | Marie-Theres Nadig | Switzerland | 94 | 20 | 15 | 11 | (4) | 23 | - | 25 |
| 5 | Fabienne Serrat | France | 65 | - | - | 4 | - | 21 | 21 | 19 |
| 6 | Heidi Preuss | United States | 58 | - | - | - | - | 19 | 17 | 22 |
| 7 | Cindy Nelson | United States | 46 | - | 3 | - | - | 13 | 10 | 20 |
| | Viki Fleckenstein | United States | 46 | - | - | - | - | 14 | 14 | 18 |
| 9 | Regina Sackl | Austria | 45 | - | 6 | 15 | 11 | - | 13 | - |
| 10 | Erika Hess | Switzerland | 43 | - | - | - | - | 20 | 22 | 1 |

### Slalom

see complete table
In women's slalom World Cup 1978/79 the best 5 results count. Six racers had a point deduction, which are given in brackets.
| Place | Name | Country | Total | 2ITA | 8FRA | 11SUI | 13AUT | 16AUT | 17GER | 21YUG | 25JPN |
| 1 | Regina Sackl | Austria | 105 | (1) | 25 | 25 | - | (8) | 23 | 22 | 10 |
| 2 | Annemarie Moser-Pröll | Austria | 87 | (4) | 15 | - | 15 | 20 | 14 | - | 23 |
| 3 | Lea Sölkner | Austria | 84 | - | 2 | - | 25 | - | 22 | 19 | 16 |
| 4 | Perrine Pelen | France | 82 | 20 | 20 | 2 | - | 15 | - | - | 25 |
| 5 | Hanni Wenzel | Liechtenstein | 81 | - | (1) | - | 4 | 3 | 25 | 25 | 24 |
| | Claudia Giordani | Italy | 81 | 15 | (8) | 20 | 20 | (4) | 13 | - | 13 |
| 7 | Maria Rosa Quario | Italy | 69 | - | 4 | - | - | 25 | 17 | 23 | - |
| 8 | Fabienne Serrat | France | 63 | (2) | 11 | 3 | - | 11 | 24 | - | 14 |
| 9 | Daniela Zini | Italy | 61 | - | 6 | - | 11 | 1 | 21 | - | 22 |
| 10 | Christa Zechmeister | West Germany | 51 | 6 | - | (1) | 6 | - | 8 | 11 | 20 |
| 11 | Regine Mösenlechner | West Germany | 50 | - | - | 4 | 8 | - | - | 21 | 17 |
| 12 | Pamela Behr | West Germany | 46 | - | - | - | 4 | - | 21 | - | 21 |
| 13 | Abbi Fisher | United States | 40 | 25 | - | - | - | - | 25 | - | - |

### Combined

see complete table
There was no special discipline world cup for Combined awarded. The best three results only count for the Overall World Cup.
| Place | Name | Country | Total | 6FRA | 12SUI | 15AUT | 19GER |
| 1 | Annemarie Moser-Pröll | Austria | 70 | 20 | 25 | 25 | - |
| | Hanni Wenzel | Liechtenstein | 70 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 25 |
| 3 | Cindy Nelson | United States | 57 | 11 | 11 | 20 | 15 |
| 4 | Irene Epple | West Germany | 36 | - | 8 | 8 | 20 |
| 5 | Fabienne Serrat | France | 35 | 4 | 20 | - | 11 |
| 6 | Marie-Theres Nadig | Switzerland | 25 | 25 | - | - | - |
| 7 | Claudia Giordani | Italy | 17 | - | 6 | 11 | - |
| 8 | Andrea Haaser | Austria | 10 | 6 | 4 | - | - |
| 9 | Regine Mösenlechner | West Germany | 8 | 8 | - | - | - |
| | Abbi Fisher | United States | 8 | - | - | - | 8 |

## Nations Cup
### Overall

| Place | Country | Total | Men | Women |
| 1 | Austria | 2095 | 1041 | 1054 |
| 2 | Switzerland | 1515 | 944 | 571 |
| 3 | Italy | 1119 | 711 | 408 |
| 4 | United States | 1009 | 369 | 640 |
| 5 | West Germany | 996 | 199 | 797 |
| 6 | Liechtenstein | 677 | 284 | 393 |
| 7 | France | 568 | 110 | 458 |
| 8 | Sweden | 505 | 505 | 0 |
| 9 | Yugoslavia | 297 | 285 | 12 |
| 10 | Czechoslovakia | 242 | 72 | 170 |
| 11 | Canada | 209 | 195 | 14 |
| 12 | Bulgaria | 115 | 115 | 0 |
| 13 | Soviet Union | 83 | 55 | 28 |
| 14 | Norway | 65 | 65 | 0 |
| 15 | Japan | 28 | 28 | 0 |
| 16 | Belgium | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| | Spain | 3 | 3 | 0 |
| 18 | Poland | 1 | 1 | 0 |

### Men

| Place | Country | Total | DH | GS | SL | KB | Racers | Wins |
| 1 | Austria | 1041 | 435 | 277 | 262 | 67 | 18 | 4 |
| 2 | Switzerland | 944 | 320 | 375 | 179 | 70 | 15 | 6 |
| 3 | Italy | 711 | 162 | 187 | 295 | 67 | 16 | 1 |
| 4 | Sweden | 505 | 0 | 296 | 209 | 0 | 5 | 13 |
| 5 | United States | 369 | 33 | 82 | 178 | 76 | 11 | 2 |
| 6 | Yugoslavia | 285 | 0 | 206 | 79 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| 7 | Liechtenstein | 284 | 0 | 81 | 133 | 70 | 3 | 1 |
| 8 | West Germany | 199 | 82 | 8 | 105 | 4 | 5 | 3 |
| 9 | Canada | 195 | 190 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 2 |
| 10 | Bulgaria | 115 | 0 | 5 | 110 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 11 | France | 110 | 18 | 83 | 9 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| 12 | Czechoslovakia | 72 | 0 | 29 | 25 | 18 | 1 | 0 |
| 13 | Norway | 65 | 41 | 0 | 24 | 0 | 4 | 1 |
| 14 | Soviet Union | 55 | 36 | 8 | 9 | 2 | 5 | 0 |
| 15 | Japan | 28 | 0 | 3 | 25 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| 16 | Spain | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 |
| 17 | Poland | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |

### Women

| Place | Country | Total | DH | GS | SL | KB | Racers | Wins |
| 1 | Austria | 1054 | 394 | 178 | 401 | 81 | 16 | 11 |
| 2 | West Germany | 797 | 240 | 306 | 202 | 49 | 10 | 5 |
| 3 | United States | 640 | 168 | 257 | 143 | 72 | 12 | 2 |
| 4 | Switzerland | 571 | 309 | 169 | 61 | 32 | 10 | 2 |
| 5 | France | 458 | 127 | 111 | 173 | 47 | 13 | 1 |
| 6 | Italy | 408 | 14 | 83 | 294 | 17 | 7 | 1 |
| 7 | Liechtenstein | 393 | 49 | 173 | 96 | 75 | 3 | 4 |
| 8 | Czechoslovakia | 170 | 38 | 76 | 50 | 6 | 4 | 0 |
| 9 | Soviet Union | 28 | 0 | 3 | 24 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| 10 | Canada | 14 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 11 | Yugoslavia | 12 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| 12 | Belgium | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |