In Alpine skiing, there are two speed events and two technical events.

The speed events, the downhill and super-G, are on longer courses with more space between each gate. Because of the space in between gates, skiers can gain more speed on the race course, with velocities reaching upward of 80 miles per hour and turns resulting in G-forces upward of 3.5 Gs (an astronaut feels 3.0 Gs in a space shuttle launch). The super-G adds some technical elements with a shorter course and greater turns than the downhill.

The technical events, the slalom and giant slalom, are on shorter courses with shorter distances in between race gates, creating an emphasis on precise turns through numerous direction changes. The slalom has the most gates out of the four disciplines on a race course, with the giant slalom offering a longer course and looser turns on the race course. Giant slalom skiers typically hit speeds of 50 mph, whereas slalom skiers hit speeds closer to 40 mph.

Henrik Kristoffersen during the Alpine skiing men's slalom second run of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.

© Andrew P. Scott-Imagn Images

In the speed events (downhill and super-G) for the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics, each skier gets one run that determines their position among racers, with the fastest time determining the winner.

In the technical events (slalom and giant slalom) each racer does two runs on the course on the same day. The two times are added up to determine a racer's total time. The skier with the fastest total time is the event winner.

The men's and women's combined events involve teams of two skiers, one to perform each discipline of the combined: downhill and slalom. The two times determine a team's total time, with the fastest time determining the winning team.

If a skier misses a gate during a run in Alpine skiing, unless they reenter by hiking back through the gate they missed, they must exit the course and cannot continue through any gates, resulting in a "DNF" or "Did Not Finish" for the run and is known as "skiing out." 

A skier can also receive a "DSQ" for missing a gate and failing to hike back and correct it, meaning a skier is "disqualified" for violating the rules and is excluded from the race results entirely.

If a skier fails to complete the course properly in the first run of the men's or women's combined event, the second skier is not permitted to race in their event. 

Alpine skiing events at the 2026 Winter Olympics will determine starting order via a bib draw, which will make a random order for the first run of all disciplines. The downhill and super-G only have one run to determine the winner of the competition.

For the technical events, the starting order of the second run is determined by the times of the first run. The top-30 athletes ski in inverse order based on the time of the first run. For example: the fastest time of the first run is set to go 30th in the starting order, followed by the second-fastest time going 29th, the third fastest time going 28th and so forth until the 30th fastest time, which is the first skier to complete their second run.

After the top-30 athletes ski in inverse order, the order reverts to fastest times of the first run, with the 31st fastest time of the first run going 31st in the second run and so forth until all athletes have completed both runs of their respective event.

The same rules apply for the men's and women's combined event; a teammate's first run will correlate with their teammate's starting order in the second race. Typically, the downhill is the first event to be completed in the combined, but in rare cases, the slalom may be first instead.

Weather and course conditions drastically can affect the times, including snow, temperature, wind and more.

At the 2022 Beijing Olympics, artificial snow made up the race courses due to the lack of snow in Yanqing, the district in China that hosted the Alpine skiing events, which receives less than 10 inches of snowfall per year. Artificial and natural snow create different conditions and surface textures on the race course.

Freshly groomed snow on a race course tends to be preferred by skiers, but fresh powder can also slow down races due to the softer surface and make technical turns more difficult to navigate through with the edges of the skis. Icier conditions require skiers to make precise turns to avoid losing control of their skis.

Humidity and temperature also affect the surface of a race course. Typically, colder and drier weather keeps snow compact and easier to make turns on, whereas warmer and humid weather loosens snow on the course and makes the surface more difficult to predict.