Alpine Skiing at the 2006 Winter Olympics

Most of the 2006 Alpine events were conducted in Sestriere, an Alpine village near the French border and 60 km. west of Torino. The women’s downhill, Super G and combined downhill were held in the smaller village of San Sicario, another 8 km. west of Sestriere along SR-23. The Sestriere events were held on Borgata Sestriere and Colle Sestriere, slopes slightly closer to Torino on the outskirts of the main village. Sestriere is famous as an athletic venue. It regularly hosts World Cup ski events, is a famous climb and mountaintop finish in both the Tour de France and Giro d’Italia, where in the 1999 Tour de France Lance Armstrong dropped Richard Virenque and Alex Zülle, to take the maillot jaune, and truly confirm his comeback from cancer, and hosts an annual international track & field athletics meet, known for its fast sprint times and long horizontal jumps, because of the altitude. Weather was a problem for several events in 2006. The men’s Super G was started, but in heavy snow, and after 15 skiers, the run was cancelled and held later in the day, and the women’s Super G had to be postponed one day because of snow. In the women’s combined, the downhill was postponed from 17 February, and the slalom was held first, the women completing the downhill portion of the combined the next day.