There is one World Cup circuit every year. There is an overall trophy and a trophy for each discipline (type of race).

There is usually between 30 and 35 individual races a year. While Shiffrin is competitive in all events she focuses on the technical events, Slalom and Giant Slalom, which accounts for roughly half the yearly races. Eight of her wins come from speed events (Super-G and Downhill), which constitutes roughly the other half of the races (not counting combines and parallel events, which are not contested very often).

Alpine skiing is a very high variance sport, so when it comes to determining who the best athlete is individual world cup races and overall and discipline season wins are what people use. The "big events" like the Olympics and the World Championships are more prestigious but less of an indicator of who the best athletes are.