The World Cup is what they call the highest circuit of Alpine Ski Racing. It is a full season made up of 40-50 individual races. The other major events are the Olympics (obviously, every 4 years) and the World Championships (every odd year).

The world cup is the series, so all these races add up for points towards the world cup every year. There's also the world cup finals at the end of the year, although often the world cup itself is already decided by that point.

World cup series' are common in wintersports, and other sports as well. They award overall world cup titles made up from individual events.