Alpine Skiing

Alpine ski racing is the newer form of ski racing, as Nordic or cross-country competitions were held in the Scandinavian countries for many years before Alpine racing was developed. The first known Alpine skiing race was in 1911, at Montana, Switzerland, when the British organized a downhill race for a challenge cup given by Lord Roberts, of Kandahar. The first slalom style race was held in 1922 at Mürren, Switzerland.

Alpine skiing was first placed on the Olympic Program at Garmisch-Partenkirchen 1936. The only events that year were a combined competition of downhill and slalom, for both men and women. In 1948, this was held again along with separate downhill and slalom races. In 1952, the giant slalom was added as an event, and in 1988, the super giant slalom became a fourth separate event. Alpine combination, originally a point-scored mix of downhill and slalom, returned to the Olympic Winter Games in 1988, after not being contested from 1952-1984. It was later switched to being decided on time rather than points.

Events for both sexes were held in 1936, and have been at all Olympics since. Men and women contest Alpine skiing separately, but interestingly, the program for men and women has been identical at all Olympics, one of the few Olympic sports that can make that claim. The sport is governed by the Fédération internationale de ski (FIS) which was founded on 2 February 1924 during the Chamonix Olympics. The FIS succeeded the Internationale Skikommission (CIS) which was formed on 18 February 1910 in Christiania (today Oslo). FIS not only governs Alpine skiing, but also cross country skiing, freestyle skiing, Nordic combined, ski jumping, and snowboarding. As of 2022 the FIS has 136 member nations.

Austria, Switzerland, and the United States have been the top nations in Olympic Alpine skiing, with France, Italy and Germany not far behind. The greatest alpine skiers among the men have been Toni Sailer of Austria and Jean-Claude Killy of France, both of whom won all three gold medals available, in 1956 and 1968, respectively, and Kjetil André Aamodt of Norway, who won a record eight medals and four gold medals in the sport. Italian Alberto Tomba and Austrian Matthias Mayer have both also won three gold medals.

Two women, Croatia’s Janica Kostelić and Sweden’s Anja Pärson both have six Olympic medals, a record for women, with Kostelić equaling Aamodt with four golds. Kostelić leads the women’s gold count, with four golds, followed by Swiss Vreni Schneider, Italian Deborah Compagnoni, and Germans Maria Höfl-Riesch and Katja Seizinger, all with three golds.