1980–81 FIS Alpine Ski World Cup
The 15th World Cup season began in December 1980 in France and concluded in March 1981 in Switzerland. Phil Mahre became the first American to win an overall title, the first of his three consecutive overall titles. Marie-Theres Nadig of Switzerland won the women's overall title.
| FIS Alpine Ski World Cup 1980/81 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Discipline | Men | Women | |
| Overall | Phil Mahre | Marie-Theres Nadig | |
| Downhill | Harti Weirather | Marie-Theres Nadig | |
| Giant slalom | Ingemar Stenmark | Tamara McKinney | |
| Slalom | Ingemar Stenmark | Erika Hess | |
| Combined | Phil Mahre | Marie-Theres Nadig | |
| Nations Cup | Austria | Switzerland | |
| Nations Cup overall | Switzerland | ||
| Competition | |||
| Locations | 20 | 18 | |
| Individual | 36 | 33 | |
Six-time ladies overall champion Annemarie Moser-Pröll of Austria, who first competed on the World Cup tour in 1969 at age 16, and four-time men's overall champion Gustav Thöni of Italy, who first competed on the World Cup tour in 1970 at age 18, both retired at the end of the 1980 season. After winning the overall title this year, Nadig, who had joined the tour in 1971, also retired. In part to stop this exodus of talent, the International Ski Federation decided to offer a new kind of license to its athletes, called a "B license", which permitted holders to receive sponsorship payments directly (instead of through their federation) but still retain their World Cup eligibility.