Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 Preview: Alpine Skiing

Alpine skiing made its Olympic debut at the 1936 Garmisch-Partenkirchen Olympic Winter Games. Both men and women competed in slalom and downhill, but the only medals awarded were for the downhill and slalom combined.

When the Olympic Winter Games resumed after World War II, alpine medals were awarded in slalom and downhill, as well as combined. Team USA’s Gretchen Fraser put U.S. skiing on the map when she won gold at the Olympic Winter Games in 1948.

Giant slalom was added for the 1952 Olympic Winter Games in Oslo. Andrea Mead Lawrence claimed the discipline’s first Olympic gold medal, as well as a second gold in slalom. Mead Lawrence remains the only U.S. alpine skier to have won two Olympic gold medals at the same Games.

Super-G became an Olympic alpine discipline in 1988, and a mixed team event was added in 2018.

For the first time in Olympic Winter Games history, alpine skiing in Milano Cortina 2026 will be held at two different ski resorts. The men will compete at the Stelvio Ski Centre in Bormio. The downhill course has been a fixture on the men's world cup tour since the mid-1980s. The women will race at Tofane Ski Centre in Cortina d'Ampezzo, five hours east of Bormio. The Tofane has hosted women's world cups for over 50 years and is a favorite stop on the women's tour.

With the men’s and women’s venues located so far apart, the mixed team event was dropped from the Olympic program this year. The combined has also been dropped. In place of these two races, countries will compete in a single gender team combined at the 2026 Winter Games. In this team combined event, a downhill (speed) skier will race a downhill in the morning. Then in the afternoon, a tech skier from the same country will compete in a one-run slalom. The team with the lowest combined time wins.

At the 2025 world championships, Breezy Johnson, who had just won the downhill world title, and Mikaela Shiffrin won a gold medal in team combined, while Ryan Cochran-Siegle and Ben Ritchie, both Vermont skiers, finished fourth in the men’s team combined.

Cochran-Siegle has done well on the Stelvio course in the past. He won his first world cup (a super-G) there in 2020. The Stelvio is known as one of the toughest downhills on the men’s world cup tour. It is long, dark (shaded), and bumpy. But the world cup usually stops at Bormio in December, when the sun is low in the sky. By February, the sun should shine on much of the course.

Cochran-Siegle is the last American man to win an Olympic medal — silver in super-g at the 2022 Beijing Games. His mom, Barbara Ann Cochran, won her Olympic medal — gold in slalom — 50 years earlier at the 1972 Games.

The women have not won an Olympic medal in alpine since 2018, when Shiffrin won gold in giant slalom and silver in combined, while Vonn claimed bronze in downhill that same year. Both Shiffrin and Vonn have won three Olympic medals each: Two gold and one silver for Shiffrin, while Vonn has one gold and two bronze.

Downhill: Bill Johnson was the first U.S. man to win an Olympic downhill (1984). A decade later, Tommy Moe won a downhill Olympic gold medal (1994). Bode Miller is the last American man to win an Olympic medal in downhill: bronze in 2010. The U.S. women have won eight Olympic medals in downhill, but Vonn was the first to win gold (2010). Penny Pitou’s silver at the 1960 Winter Games was the first Olympic medal in downhill for the U.S. women. Most recently, Vonn won bronze at the 2018 Winter Games.

Super-G: Over the past 38 years, the U.S. men have won six Olympic medals in super-g but no gold. Moe got things started with a silver medal in 1994. Notably, Miller and Andrew Weibrecht shared the super-g podium at both the 2010 and 2014 Olympic Winter Games, taking silver and bronze, then bronze and silver, respectively. Cochran-Siegle’s silver (in 2022) was the last time a U.S. man stood on the Olympic podium in super-G. Only three American women have won Olympic medals in super-G: Diann Roffe (gold in 1994), Picabo Street (gold in 1998), and Vonn (bronze in 2010).

Giant Slalom: Miller and Ted Ligety are the only U.S. men to have won Olympic medals in GS. Miller took silver in 2002 and Ligety won gold in 2006. The U.S. women have collected eight Olympic medals in GS to date — tied for the most of any nation. Mead Lawrence won gold in 1952, the year GS made its Olympic debut. Since then, Debbie Armstrong (1984), Julia Mancuso (2006), and Shiffrin (2018) have all won gold.

Slalom: Over the years, the U.S. men have won five Olympic medals in slalom, only one of them gold (Phil Mahre in 1984). Billy Kidd and Jimmy Heuga shared the podium in 1964 (silver and bronze), Mahre also shared the podium with a teammate in 1984; his brother Steve Mahre won silver. Phil Mahre also won silver in slalom at the 1980 (in Lake Placid). It has been 42 years since an American man stood on the slalom podium at the Olympic Winter Games.

With six Olympic medals, the U.S. women are also tied atop the slalom standings for most medals of any nation. Fraser kicked off the U.S.’s slalom success with her gold in 1948. Mead Lawrence followed with another gold four years later (1952). Betsy Snite and Jean Saubert won silver medals in 1960 and 1964, respectively. Then Cochran claimed gold in 1972. When Shiffrin won slalom gold at the 2014 Sochi Games, it was the first Olympic slalom medal for the U.S. women in 42 years.

Combined: Miller and Ligety are the only Olympic medalists for the U.S. in men’s combined. Miller took silver in 2002, then gold in 2010, while Ligety claimed gold in 2006. The U.S. women have won four Olympic medals in the history of the combined: Fraser won silver in 1948, Mancuso took home a silver in 2010 and then bronze in 2014, and Shiffrin earned a silver medal in 2018.

The U.S. women head to the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 with a stacked team in both tech (slalom and GS) and speed (downhill and super-g). At age 41, Vonn is aiming for a second Olympic gold medal on a course that she loves. Reigning world downhill champion Johnson is also a medal favorite.

After two seasons spent coming back from injuries, Shiffrin has been dominant in slalom this season, once again winning by large margins. She will be a favorite to win her second Olympic gold medal in slalom. She also plans to compete in giant slalom and is still finding her speed again after a crash in a November 2025 world cup GS. She is the 2018 Olympic gold medalist in GS and 2023 GS world champion.

Paula Moltzan has been on fire in GS. The 31-year-old won a world championship bronze medal in GS last winter and has made the world cup podium several times in the past year.

After a horrifying crash at the 2022 Olympic Games, Nina O’Brien is skiing fast this year and could also make a run for the Olympic podium in giant slalom.

Alpine ski racing begins on February 7 with men’s downhill. Medals will be awarded on:

February 7 (Men’s Downhill)

February 8 (Women’s Downhill)

February 9 (Men’s Team Combined)

February 10 (Women’s Team Combined)

February 11 (Men’s super-G)

February 12 (Women’s super-G)

February 14 (Men’s Giant Slalom)

February 15 (Women’s Giant Slalom)

February 16 (Men’s Slalom)

February 18 (Women’s Slalom)