There will be a total of five men's and women's Alpine skiing events at the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics:

• Slalom
• Giant slalom
• super-G
• Downhill
• Team combined

The downhill event features the fastest speeds and longest course, creating an exciting race from start to finish. Racers often will hit speeds upwards of 80 miles per hour or higher, depending on the steepness of each race course.

Along with downhill, the super-G is one of two "speed" disciplines that make up Alpine skiing events at the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics.

Super-G stands for "super giant slalom," a hybrid course combining elements of the downhill and giant slalom events. A super-G course is shorter than the downhill course, but adds some technical elements by moving the gates closer together and adding more turns on the course.

The two technical events, giant slalom and slalom, both have sharper turns on a shorter course than the downhill and the super-G. The technical events require skiers to be reactive to the quick turns while maintaining speeds on the tightest lines through gates to emerge victorious. The slalom is the shortest course of the four disciplines with the tightest turns, while the giant slalom features looser turns and a wider distance between gates on the course.

In the speed disciplines (downhill and super-G) of Alpine skiing, skiers record times based on one run through the course, with the fastest time determining the winner.

In the technical events (giant slalom and slalom), racers ski two time trials of the course, with the fastest total time determining the winner of the race.

The men's and women's team combined event consists of one slalom athlete and one downhill athlete doing one run of their respective discipline. The combined scores of the two runs determine the winner.

Alpine skiing at the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics will be held at two venues: the Tofane Alpine Skiing Center and Stelvio Ski Center.

The Tofane Alpine Skiing Center, host of all the disciplines for the women's events, is located in Cortina, a regular stop on the FIS Ski World Cup tour for the speed disciplines and the host of the 2021 Alpine Skiing World Championships. All races will be held on the Olympia delle Tofane slope.

The downhill and super-G courses are the same world championship courses, but the giant slalom and slalom courses will feature slight alterations; for example, the giant slalom course has a new start on a section called "Labirintini." Though the slalom course is different from the world championships, it's the same course as the slalom section of the Alpine combined event where Mikaela Shiffrin won the world title in 2021.

Bormio, host of the men's Alpine events, will feature all races on the Stelvio slope, one of the most challenging slopes in the world for Alpine skiers and some gradients reaching 63% (twice the steepness of an average run for a recreational skier). The slope is a regular stop for men's speed events in the World Cup.

Bormio also hosted the Alpine World Championships in 1985 and more recently 2005, where U.S. men's skier Bode Miller won the downhill and super-G events.

Whereas most freestyle skiing disciplines are based on judged scoring, Alpine skiing is based on one factor: speed.

Freestyle skiing, with events such as slopestyle, moguls, halfpipe and more, does not solely factor in time to their events. Athletes are judged by a panel based on form, technicality and creativity of movements. In Alpine skiing, the goal is to get to the finish line as quickly as possible, as long as skiers stay within the race gates.

While cross-country skiing and ski cross (a freestyle skiing event) are also based on timed races, Alpine skiers do not race with other skiers on the race course and ski additionally at much faster speeds.