There are a host of events to look forward to this year-5 alpine events and 6 freestyle events on the Women’s and Men’s side, and a mixed event for both alpine and freestyle, for a grand total of 24 events competed and 72 medals awarded across downhill skiing. Freestyle events continued to proliferate, with the addition of Aerials, Half-pipe, Ski Cross, Slopestyle, and most recently, Big Air, which will see its Olympic debut in Beijing. Four years later, mogul skiing was added as the first freestyle skiing event, marking the beginning of a new era for Olympic skiing. The most significant expansion of downhill events began with the introduction of freestyle events at Calgary 1988 as demonstration sports. Alpine events continued to grow along with the games through the latter half of the 20th century, adding Giant Slalom and Super G. Following a 12 year hiatus during World War II, the Winter Games’ return in 1948 was accompanied by a broadening of the event field for alpine skiing, as the slalom/downhill combined was joined by individual slalom and downhill events. The skiing premiere in 1936 featured a single alpine skiing event-a combined downhill and slalom race.
This delayed introduction means that my home Olympic “city” of Lake Placid, New York has hosted the games twice, in 19, but my beloved Whiteface Mountain has only hosted once as a venue since 1932 was a skiing-less game. The history of skiing at the Olympic Winter Games dates back to almost the beginning: the competition’s 4th occurrence, Garmisch-Partenkirchen 1936.
Downhill skiing makes up a premier portion of the Olympic schedule, divided between freestyle and alpine disciplines.
As a spectator, a large part of my interest and love for the Winter Games comes with following the skiing events. At long last, the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics are here! It’s a very different world since the last iteration, Pyeongchang 2018, yet the excitement, spirit, and hope of the Games are unchanged.
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