The 9th World Cup season began in December 1974 in France and concluded in March 1975 in Italy. Gustav Thöni of Italy would regain the overall title, his fourth overall title in five seasons. Annemarie Moser-Pröll of Austria won the women's overall title, her fifth consecutive. Three major changes took place on the World Cup circuit this season. First, Alpine combined races were recognized as World Cup events for the first time; both the men's and women's seasons included three combined races, all of which were won by the overall winners (Thöni and Moser-Pröll); in fact, Thöni's three combined wins were directly responsible for his edging out Ingemar Stenmark for the title. Second, a parallel slalom race was held at the end of the season, as parallel slalom had become popular on the professional skiing tour due to the visible head-to-head competition. Although parallel slalom skiing was used a few more times in World Cup competition, beginning in 1976 it became a permanent part of the season-ending Nations Cup events. Third, and more importantly, the new head of the International Olympic Committee, Lord Killanin, reached a compromise to preserve the "amateur" status of skiers receiving endorsements, manufacturer's fees, and other payments, as long as the payments were made to the skier's national association or Olympic committee and not directly to the skier, that also eliminated the prohibition on year-round training and competition in a sport. While further criticism of this rule, known as Olympics Rule 26, would continue and would lead to future problems, such as the banning of World Cup champions Stenmark and Hanni Wenzel from the 1984 Winter Olympics, the immediate impact of this change was to check the steady migration of World Cup skiers to the professional circuit. Partially as a result, World Cup races this season took place in Europe, North America, and Asia. Calendar Men Ladies Men Overall The Men's Overall World Cup 1974/75 was also divided into three periods with only a part of the results from each period being retained for the Overall standings. Downhill In Men's Downhill World Cup 1974/75 the best 5 results count. Five racers had a point deduction, which are given in (). Franz Klammer won 6 races in a row and won the cup with maximum points. He won 8 races out of 9, but at the downhill of Megève one of his bindings opened and he did