Overview

Alpine Skiing is a fast-paced, beat the clock event held on a downhill course with sharp turns and soaring jumps. With no ramps or awkward bumps alpine skiers are able to reach speeds as fast as 160 km/h.

Australia’s alpine skiing squad at Beijing 2022 features Greta Small, Katie Parker and Louis Muhlen-Schulte.

Zali Steggall won Australia’s first and only alpine skiing medal at Nagano 1998, achieving bronze in the women’s slalom. Forty-five athletes have represented Australia in Alpine Skiing at the Olympics since Oslo 1952.

Greta is set to carry Australia’s hopes in women’s downhill, women’s super-g and women’s alpine combined - held on Friday 11 February, Tuesday 15 February and Thursday 17 February respectively.

Katie will be Australia’s first alpine skier in action, contesting the women’s Giant Slalom on Monday 7 February which is followed by the women’s Slalom on Wednesday 9 February. Louis can be seen on Sunday 13 February in the men’s giant slalom and Wednesday 16 February in the men’s slalom.

The entire competition will take place between 6-19 February at the Yanqing National Alpine Skiing Centre.

What’s the story?

• Almost two years post her third ACL tear, Australia’s top female alpine skier Greta Small is primed to make an impact at her third Olympics.
• Katie Parker and Louis Muhlen-Schulte are representing Australia at the Olympics for the first time.

Ones to watch

The Aussies

Watch for Greta Small’s perseverance as she will compete with the strength it has taken to come back from five knee surgeries. Greta, Australia's Flag Bearer at the inaugural Winter Youth Olympic Games, set a personal best in alpine combined at the 2021 World Championships. At PyeongChang 2018 she achieved Australia’s best women’s downhill result in history when she finished in 20th place.

Read more about Greta’s resilient journey to Beijing 2022 here.

Katie Parker is set to make her Olympic debut following an encouraging run of form in 2021. The Melbourne-raised skier has been selected for the women’s slalom and women’s giant slalom events after finishing the last calendar year with a top-10 placing in the Nor-Am Cup’s women’s slalom and women’s giant slalom.

Louis Muhlen-Schulte is one of 19 Australians making their Winter Olympic debut at Beijing 2022. He has had 24 top-10 finishes all over the world across Interntaional Ski Federation events, National Championships and University events since December 2020.

The competition

Greta’s top competition in the women’s downhill and super-g events will be the defending downhill Olympic champion Sofia Goggia (ITA) and the 2021 super-g world champion Lara Gut-Behrami (SUI).

With the PyeongChang 2018 men’s giant slalom and alpine combined champion Marcel Hirscher (AUT) now retired, plenty of athletes are eyeing off the top spots. Those include Alexis Pinturault (FRA) who finished on the podium with Hirscher twice at PyeongChang 2018 and Mathieu Faivre (FRA) who is the men's giant slalom 2021 world champion.

Four years on from the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, Mikaela Shiffrin (USA) is still one of the very best alpine skiers. She will be the defending Olympic champion in the women’s Slalom and women’s Giant Slalom, while also hoping to improve on her silver medal in the women’s Alpine Combined.

The reigning men’s world champion in super-g and downhill Vincent Kriechmayr (AUT) will be keen on securing an Olympic medal for the first time.

Competition format

Downhill, Super-G

Downhill and super-g features the longest and least winding alpine course. The course is marked by red flags, with each skier making a single run down the course and the fastest time determines the winner.

Slalom, Giant Slalom, Alpine Combined

Slalom demands the sharpest turns of all alpine events and is contested on the shortest course. A skier must pass through a set number of gates which mark the course or is disqualified from the event. Each skier makes two runs down two different courses on the same slope. Both runs take place on the same day. The times are added and the fastest total time wins.

Mixed Team Parallel

Mixed teams go head-to-head as four athletes from both teams will have a one-on-one race. The team with the winning competitor in each run is awarded one point, while the team of the losing competitor receives zero points.

In each phase of the competition - 1/8 final, quarter-final, semi-finals, small final, big final - two women and two men must compete for each team. The team with the most points won in a phase is determined the winner. The line-up for each phase may be different. If there is a tie at the end of a phase, the team with the lowest combined time of the best individual woman's run and the best individual man's run will win the heat.

#HaveAGo at Alpine Skiing