How much money do ski racers make?

By Published On: May 25th, 2015Comments Off on How much money do ski racers make?

This past season’s overall World Cup winners Anna Fenninger and Marcel Hirscher, both hailing from Austria, may have topped the 2014-15 prize money rankings by substantial margins, but the sport still lags behind most in total payouts to competitors.

Hirscher concluded his 2014-15 campaign as the top earner with 482,790 CHF (roughly $511,600 USD), courtesy of his 14 podiums, eight of which were victories. Fenninger was the only other skier to top the 400,000 CHF mark as her six victories and 15 podium finishes added up to prize money earnings of 431,701 CHF ($457,100 USD).

Norway’s Kjetil Jansrud was the only other male skier to break the 300,000 CHF mark. The winner of both the super G and downhill discipline globes finished the season with 394,507 CHF ($418,100 USD) in prize money. On the ladies’ side, three more skiers were able to reach that threshold – Tina Maze of Slovenia took home 377,702 CHF while Americans Lindsey Vonn and Mikaela Shiffrin claimed 321,546 CHF ($340,500 USD) and 303,783 CHF ($321,650 USD), respectively.

Screen Shot 2015-05-25 at 11.06.02 AM

Serena Williams at the 2015 Miami Open. (GEPA)

Serena Williams at the 2015 Miami Open. (GEPA)

These earnings tables, of course, only account for prize money awarded at races and do not factor in sponsorships or endorsements, which can far surpass competition winnings for top professional athletes. But as a point of comparison, Serena Williams walked away with $3.9 million in prize money following her 2014 US Open victory alone and has already earned over $4 million since the start of the 2015 season. In 2013, she shattered the single season record for prize money in women’s tennis by collecting a whopping $12.4 million for her efforts on the court.

For female athletes ranked 30th in the world in earnings in both sports, the disparity continues. Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova earned $865,828 in the 2014 tennis season while Switzerland’s Dominique Gisin earned closer to $20,000 in her 2014-15 ski racing pursuits.

A 2014 Wall Street Journal graphic indicates that the prize earnings in ski racing fall short of cricket, bull riding, and the payout for jockeys, and they are most closely aligned with the earnings of professional dart players – who actually earn slightly more than ski racers. But the prize money in alpine ski racing, on a whole, still beats out surfing and bowling, so there’s no need to trade in the mountains for the ocean or alley just yet.

Prize money information for alpine ski racing as reported by the FIS

Share This Article

About the Author: C.J. Feehan

Christine J. Feehan is a USSA Level 300 coach who spent more than a decade training athletes at U.S. ski academies - Burke, Sugar Bowl, and Killington - before serving as Editor in Chief at Ski Racing Media through 2017. She worked for the FIS on the World Cup tour for three years and then settled into her current home in Oslo, Norway.