The exciting events of Alpine Skiing involve a skier going down a snow-covered slope at extremely high speeds.
source: Getty Images
There are 4 events for men and women each, a combined event each, as well as a mixed team event. This discipline contains a good blend of speed and technicality.
The Downhill is the least complicated event. Here, the gates only flank the course and aren’t obstacles to the skiers. They only define the boundaries of the course. The skier must go down the course as fast as they can, and the skier with the fastest time after one run down the course is the winner.
The Slalom is the most technical event as the gates are like obstacles that must be navigated in the centre of the course. They are the closest together and in the most complicated arrangements on the Slalom course. There are two runs and the skier with the fastest combined time over the two runs is the winner.
The Giant Slalom is similar to the slalom but the distance between the gates is greater, so it is a faster event. The winner is based on the combined times over two runs.
source: Olympic Channel
Although the Super-G is also similar to the slalom, in terms of the use of gates, it is still classified as a speed event like the Downhill as the distance between gates is,greater. Here, the athletes only get a single run.
In the Alpine Combined, a single Downhill run is followed by a single Slalom run and the combined time determines the rankings.
In the Team Event, a team is comprised of 2 men and women. Two short Giant Slalom courses are set up, identical and parallel to one another.Teams compete in a knockout format, where two teams race each other. A member from one team goes down one course at the same time as a member from the other team goes down the other course. The skier who finishes their course first wins a point for their team. This is repeated for each of the remaining skiers. Then the teams swap courses and race again. At the end of this process, the team with more points advances to the next round.