Alpine skiing at the Olympics: a short history

About Alpine skiing at the Olympics: a short history

By the ULTIMATE Ski Resorts Editorial Team

Editor-in-Chief: Jai Michael

Alpine skiing arrived at the Winter Olympics in 1936 with just one event, and has grown into one of the great spectacles of the Games. Its champions have become the sport’s legends.

1936: the first event

Alpine skiing made its Olympic debut at Garmisch-Partenkirchen in 1936 with one event for men and one for women: the combined, a downhill and a slalom together. Downhill and slalom became separate events in 1948, giant slalom followed in 1952, and the combined returned in 1988.

The champions

Sweden’s Ingemar Stenmark won both slalom events at Lake Placid in 1980 and retired in 1989 with a record 86 World Cup wins. Lindsey Vonn became the first American woman to win the Olympic downhill, at Vancouver 2010. Austria’s Marcel Hirscher won two golds at PyeongChang 2018, in the combined and the giant slalom, and won eight consecutive World Cup overall titles.

Alpine skiing made its Olympic debut at Garmisch-Partenkirchen in 1936 with a single event, the combined (olympics.com).

Milano Cortina 2026

At Milano Cortina 2026, the women’s alpine events were held on the Tofane above Cortina d’Ampezzo. Mikaela Shiffrin won the slalom on 18 February 2026, her third Olympic gold, and ended the 2025-26 season with 110 World Cup wins and a record-equalling sixth overall title (olympics.com).

Our advice: ski the Olympic slopes yourself. Cortina’s Tofane and Sarajevo’s mountains are open to everyone.

Opening hours, prices and seasonal openings change, so please check with Alpine skiing at the Olympics: a short history before you go.