Alpine skiing
What are the main types of Alpine skiing events?
When was Alpine skiing first included in the Olympic Winter Games?
Who are some notable Alpine skiing athletes?
Alpine skiing, skiing technique that evolved during the late 19th and early 20th centuries in the mountainous terrain of the Alps in central Europe.
Events
Modern Alpine competitive skiing is divided into the so-called speed and technical events, the former comprising downhill skiing and the supergiant slalom, or super-G, and the latter including the slalom and giant slalom. The speed events are contested in single runs down long, steep, fast courses featuring few and widely spaced turns. The technical events challenge the skier’s ability to maneuver over courses marked by closely spaced gates through which both skis must pass; winners are determined by the lowest combined time in two runs on two different courses. The Alpine combined event consists of a downhill and a slalom race, with the winner having the lowest combined time.
Organization and Olympic Games
What is now the Fédération Internationale de Ski et de Snowboard (FIS; International Ski and Snowboard Federation), the world governing body of the sport, first recognized downhill racing in 1930, and the first world championships for men’s downhill and slalom events were held in 1931. Women’s events were added in 1950. The first Alpine event to be included in the Olympic Winter Games was the combined (one downhill and two slaloms), which made its debut in 1936 at Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. The first giant slalom Olympic competition took place at the 1952 Games in Oslo, Norway, and the super-G was added at the 1988 Games in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. That same year the combined, which had last appeared at a Winter Olympics in 1948, returned as an official event; it later underwent various changes in format.
Para Alpine skiing was introduced as a Paralympic sport in 1976. The sport has categories for standing, sitting, and vision impairments across five events: downhill, slalom, giant slalom, super-G, and super combined.
Notable athletes
Athletes from European countries have traditionally dominated Alpine skiing events, some of the most notable being Ingemar Stenmark (Sweden), Marcel Hirscher (Austria), Annemarie Moser-Pröll (Austria), Vreni Schneider (Switzerland), and Marc Girardelli (Luxembourg). However, in the 21st century Americans have frequently been among the best performers, including Lindsey Vonn, Mikaela Shiffrin, Ted Ligety, and Bode Miller.
