Olympic Alpine Skiing 2010

2010 Olympic Alpine Skiing was held at Whistler Creekside in Vancouver, British Columbia from February 13 through February 27. It is held every four years at the site of the Winter Olympics. Alpine skiers race down steep vertical slopes at speeds surpassing 130 kilometers (78 miles) per hour. They must also navigate through gates, which they must pass through. In the downhill event, skiers face the steepest slope and have one run through the course. The fastest time is the winner.

The super-G or super giant slalom, involves a course that is shorter than the giant slalom but longer than the downhill. Each competitor runs through the course once with the fastest time winning. The slalom and giant slalom are similar, the differences being the number and the precision of the turns involved. The slalom and giant slalom times are combined and the fastest time is the winner. In the super combined event, each skiier must complete a downhill run followed by a shorter slalom run. The times are combined to determine the winner.http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-alpine-skiing/additional-information/about-the-sport_144454QC.html Competitors to watch include Ted Ligety, Bode Miller and Julia Mancuso of the United States, Benjamin Raich and Marlies Schild of Austria, Ivica Kostelic of Croatia, Marco Buchel of Liechtenstein and Carlo Janka and Didier Defago of Switzerland.http://www.nbcolympics.com/alpine-skiing/athletes/index.html

Alpine skiing combines techniques of downhill and cross country skiing. It started in the Alps more than 150 years ago and became increasingly popular in the 20th century. If first became an Olympic sport in 1936. Downhill and slalom races were added in 1948 and the giant slalom was added in 1952. It wasn't until the 1988 Winter Olympics at Calgary that the super-G event was added.http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-alpine-skiing/additional-information/about-the-sport_144454QC.html There are ten events in alpine skiing for the Olympics. They are the downhill, super-G, giant slalom, slalom and super combined.http://www.nbcolympics.com/alpine-skiing/insidethissport/index.html Legendary alpine skiers include Toni Sailer, Franz Klammer, Herman Maier and Michaela Dormeister of Austria. Germany has had notable alpine skiers in Rosi Mittermaier and Katja Seizinger. Norway's Stein Eriksen, Lasse Kjas and Kjetil Andre Aamodt have had great Olympic success. Other noteworthy alpine skiers include Hanni Wenzel of Liechtenstein, Alberto Tomba of Italy and Picabo Street of the United States.http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-alpine-skiing/athletes/legendary-athletes/index_cf-p1-TN.html?

Winners

February 15

The men's downhill was held at 10:30 am. Fifty-nine skiers posted times, four did not finish and Marco Sullivan of the United States was disqualified. The times of the three medal winners were just .09 seconds apart. Didier Defago won the gold medal with a time of 1:54.31. Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway won the silver medal, just .07 second behind Defago. Bode Miller of the United States won the bronze with a time of 1:54.40.http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-alpine-skiing/schedule-and-results/mens-downhill_asm010101PX.html

February 17

The women's downhill was held at 11:00 am. Thirty-seven skiers posted times, eight did not finish. Lindsey Vonn of the United States won the gold with a time of 1:44.19. She defeated teammate Julia Mancuso by 0.56 seconds, who won the silver medal. Elisabeth Goergl of Austria won the bronze with a time of 1:45.65.http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-alpine-skiing/schedule-and-results/ladies-downhill_asw010101BI.html

February 18

The women's super combined was held at 9:30 am. Thirty-four skiers completed the course, three did not finish. Lindsey Vonn of the United States finished first with a time of 1:24.16. She was 0.33 seconds ahead of Maria Reisch of Germany and 0.80 seconds ahead of teammate Julia Mancuso. Fabienne Suter of Switzerland was fourth, Marie Marchand-Arvier of France was fifth and Gina Stechert of Germany was sixth.http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-alpine-skiing/schedule-and-results/ladies-super-combined-downhill_asw105a01aT.html

The women's super combined concluded with the slalom which started at 12:30 pm. Lindsey Vonn who finished first earlier in the downhill run did not finish. Gina Stechert and Mari Belen Simari Birkner of Argentina also did not finish. Maria Reisch won the gold with a slalom run of 44.65 seconds and combined time of 2:09.14. She won by 0.94 seconds of Julia Mancuso, who won the silver. Anja Paerson of Sweden came from seventh in the downhill portion of the competition to win the bronze with a slalom run time of 44.62 seconds.http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-alpine-skiing/schedule-and-results/ladies-super-combined-slalom_asw105b01PH.html

February 19

The men's super-g was held at 11:30 am. Sixty-four skiers were scheduled to compete. Cristian Javier Sigurgeirsson of Iceland did not start. Fifteen did not finish and three were disqualified. Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway won the gold with a time of 1:30.34. That was his second medal of this year's Olympics. Bode Miller of the United States won the silver medal for his second medal this year. His time of 1:30.62 was 0.03 seconds ahead of teammate Andrew Weibrecht, who won the bronze. Werner Heel of Italy finished fourth and Erik Guay of Canada finished fifth.http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-alpine-skiing/schedule-and-results/mens-super-g_asm040101FU.html

February 20

The women's super-g was held at 10:00 am. Fifty-three skiers started and thirty-eight finished. Andrea Fischbacher of Norway won the gold with a time of 1:20.14. Tina Maze of Slovenia finished 0.49 seconds behind Fischbacher to win the silver medal. Lindsey Vonn of the United States won the bronze with a time of 1:20.88. That was her second medal of this year's Olympics. Johanna Scharf of Italy finished fourth.http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-alpine-skiing/schedule-and-results/ladies-super-g_asw040101gR.html

February 21

The men's super combined downhill was held at 9:30 am. Fifty-two skiers started and forty-six finished. Aksel Lund Svindal finished first with a time of 1:53.15. Dominik Paris of Italy finished 0.39 seconds behind. Carlo Janka and Didier Defago of Switzerland finished third and fourth. Hans Olsson of Sweden finished fifth with a time of 1:53.83.http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-alpine-skiing/schedule-and-results/mens-super-combined-downhill_asm105a01jG.html

The men's super combined slalom was held at 12:15 pm. Forty-six skiers competed and thirty-four finished. Bode Miller of the United States had a run time of 1:53.91 and overall time of 2:44.92 to win the gold medal. That was his third medal of this year's Olympics. Ivica Kostelic of Croatia was 0.33 behind Miller to win the silver. Silvan Zurbriggen of Switzerland won the bronze with an overall time of 2:45.32. Carlo Janka of Switzerland finished fourth and Ted Ligety of the United States finished fifth.http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-alpine-skiing/schedule-and-results/mens-super-combined-slalom_asm105b01pm.html

February 23

The first round of the men's giant slalom was held at 9:30 am. One hundred three skiers were scheduled to participate. Ninety posted times, nine did not finish, which included Bode Miller of the United States. Danko Marinelli of Croatia was disqualified and Hans Olsson of Sweden and Killan Albrecht of Bulgaria did not start. Carlo Janka of Switzerland finished first with a time of 1:17.27. Romed Baumann of Austria finished just 0.02 behind Janka. Askel Lund Svindal was third and Massimiliano Blardone of Italy finished fourth.http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-alpine-skiing/schedule-and-results/mens-giant-slalom-1st-run_asm030101zn.html

The men's giant slalom final was held at 1:00 pm. Eighty-one skiers started, seven did not finish and Gauthier De Tessieres of France did not start. Carl Janka had a second run of 1:20.56 and an overall time of 2:37.83 to win the gold medal. Kjetil Jansrud of Norway moved from eleventh after the first round to win the silver medal after a second run time of 1:20.15. Askel Lund Svindal won the bronze, 0.22 seconds behind Jansrud. Marcel Hirscher of Austria finished fourth.http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-alpine-skiing/schedule-and-results/mens-giant-slalom-2nd-run_asm030102t7-rM.html

February 24

The first run of the women's giant slalom was held at 10:00 am. Sixty-eight of the eighty-six scheduled skiers completed the course. Anastasiya Skryabina of Ukraine was disqualified. One notable that did not finish was Lindsey Vonn of the United States. Elisabeth Goergl of Austria finished first with a time of 1:15.12. Tiana Barioz of France finished in second, just 0.02 seconds behind Goergl. Kathrin Zettel and Eva-Marie Brem of Austria finished third and fourth. Tina Maze of Slovenia was sixth with a time of 1:15.39. http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-alpine-skiing/schedule-and-results/ladies-giant-slalom-1st-run_asw030101Kk.html

February 25

The second and final run of the women's giant slalom was held at 9:30 am. Viktoria Rebensburg of Germany had a run of 1:15.47 and a combined time of 2:27.11 to win the gold by 0.04 over Tina Maze of Slovenia, who won the silver medal. First round leader Elisabeth Goergl of Austria slipped to third and held off Fabienne Suter of Switzerland to win the bronze.http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-alpine-skiing/schedule-and-results/ladies-giant-slalom-2nd-run_asw030102lV.html

February 26

The first run of the ladies' slalom was held at 10:00 am. Eighty-seven skiers competed and seventy-one finished. Kristen McGarry of Ireland was disqualified. Lindsey Vonn of the United States, a favorite for a medal, did not finish. Maria Riesch of Germany finished first with a time of 50.75 seconds. Sarka Zahrobska of the Czech Republic finished 0.40 seconds behind in second place. Marlies Schild of Austria was in third with a time of 51.40.http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-alpine-skiing/schedule-and-results/ladies-slalom-1st-run_asw020101Hv.html

The final run of the ladies' slalom was held at 1:30 pm. Seventy skiers competed, fifty-five finished and Jelena Lolovic of Serbia did not start. Maria Riesch had a run time of 52.14 and overall time of 1:42.89 to win the gold. Marlies Schild, who was third after the first run, had a time of 51.92 and overall time of 1:43.32 to win the silver. Sarka Zahrobska had an overall time of 1:43.90 to win the bronze. Maria Pietilae-Holmner of Sweden finished fourth and Sadrine Aubert of France finished fifth.http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-alpine-skiing/schedule-and-results/ladies-slalom-2nd-run_asw020102ig.html

February 27

The first round of the men's slalom was held at 10:00 am. One-hundred two skiers competed, fifty-four posted times and four were disqualified. Giuliano Razzoli of Italy finished first with a time of 47.79 seconds. Mitja Valencic of Slovenia was second 0.43 seconds behind Razzoli. Benjamin Raich of Austria was third and Ivica Kostelic of Croatia was fourth.http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-alpine-skiing/schedule-and-results/mens-slalom-1st-run_asm020101Je.html

The final run of the men's slalom was held at 1:45 pm. Fifty-four skiers competed, three did not finish and two were disqualified. Giuliano Razzoli won the gold with second run time of 51.53 and overall time of 1:39.32. Ivica Kostelic moved from fourth to second win the silver, 0.16 seconds behind Razzoli. Andre Myhrer of Sweden, ranked tenth after the first run, had a second run time of 50.73 to finish third and win the bronze.http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-alpine-skiing/schedule-and-results/mens-slalom-2nd-run_asm020102kP.html