The 2008–09 FIS Cross-Country World Cup is a multi-race tournament over the season for cross-country skiers. The season began on 22 November 2008 with 15 km freestyle races for women in Gällivare, won by Charlotte Kalla of Sweden. The World Cup is organised by the FIS who also run world cups and championships in ski jumping, snowboarding and alpine skiing amongst others.
Both men's and women's events tend to be held at the same resorts over a 2 or 3 day period. Listed below is a list of races which equates with the points table further down this page.
The Tour de Ski is a series of events which count towards the World Cup. This starts with the meet at Oberhof and concludes at Val di Fiemme.
The table shows the number of points won in the 2008–09 Cross-Country Skiing World Cup for men and women.
A skier's best results in all distance races and sprint races counts towards the overall World Cup totals.
All distance races, included individual stages in Tour de Ski and in World Cup Final (which counts as 50% of a normal race), count towards the distance standings. All sprint races, including the sprint races during the Tour de Ski and the first race of the World Cup final (which counts as 50% of a normal race), count towards the sprint standings.
The Nations Cup ranking is calculated by adding each country's individual competitors' scores and scores from team events. Relay events count double (see World Cup final positions), with only one team counting towards the total, while in team sprint events two teams contribute towards the total, with the usual World Cup points (100 to winning team, etc.) awarded.