Alpine skiing explained
Six ways down a mountain
Eleven titles are decided in Crans-Montana, across six disciplines. Here is what sets them apart, one minute each, with the FIS rules drawn to scale.
The six disciplines
- DH · SpeedDownhillThe longest and fastest race: a single run, long curves, jumps, and the clock as the only judge.
- SG · SpeedSuper-GThe speed of the downhill and the turns of the giant slalom, in a single run, with no training on the course.
- GS · TechnicalGiant slalomThe discipline of the perfect turn: two runs, gates closer than in super-G, and the total time decides.
- SL · TechnicalSlalomThe shortest and most nervous discipline: dozens of tightly set gates, two runs, and the smallest mistake knocks you out.
- TC · TeamTeam combinedTwo athletes from the same nation form a team: one skis the speed run, the other the slalom run, and their times are added together.
- PAR · TeamTeam parallelA match between two nations, in four side-by-side duels: the start gates open together, and the finish line tells you at once who scores the point.
Speed versus technique
All of alpine skiing fits on one slider: the further apart the gates, the faster you go.
140km/h
1run
6m
2runs
Speed
In downhill and super-G the gates are far apart, the course is long, racers tuck at up to 140 km/h. One run: no second chance.
Technical
In giant slalom and slalom the gates close in, the course gets shorter, every turn counts. Two runs, and the times are added.
Team
The two team events mix profiles: a speed specialist and a slalom skier in the combined, women's and men's duels in the parallel.
The gates, at the same scale
Minimum distance allowed between two turning poles, under the FIS rules. One grid square is 5 m.
What applies to all of them
- 01
A gate is passed correctly when both ski tips and both feet have crossed its line. If not, it is a disqualification.
- 02
Timing is to the hundredth of a second, truncated, not rounded. Hence the perfect ties.
- 03
In the second run the top 30 from the first start in reverse order: the leader goes last.
How the clock works
What the FIS rules say, article by article, about how a time is taken, shown and separated from the next one.
- 01
Two clocks side by side
Two electronic systems run at once, synchronised but isolated from each other: A, the main one, and B, the back-up. Each has its own contact in the start gate and its own photocell at the finish. Results come from A; B only takes over if A fails.
- 02
And a hand-held one
On top of that, timekeepers take times by hand at the start and the finish, completely independently. Those times are only used if the electronics fail, after a correction worked out from the ten previous racers.
- 03
The hundredth, cut off
The race time is the finish time of day minus the start time of day. It is kept to the hundredth by cutting off what follows, without rounding: a measured 1:41.579 becomes 1:41.57. So two athletes can finish in a dead heat.
- 04
Crossing the line
The clock stops when the athlete breaks the beam between the finish photocells. If they fall at the line without stopping, the time can be taken before both feet are across, provided they then cross it completely straight away, with or without skis.
- 05
In parallel, the gap counts
In a duel, timing can measure either the gap between the two at the finish, or each racer's time from start to finish; then the gap is worked out from those times, to the hundredth. The jury announces the method before the race.
Discipline by discipline
| Start interval | Direction changes | Example | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Downhill | 60 s as a rule, never under 40 s | No set number: the gates mark the line | |
| Super-G | 60 s as a rule, never under 40 s | At least 6% of the vertical drop at the Worlds | 600 m drop: at least 36 |
| Giant slalom | 60 s as a rule, never under 30 s | 11 to 15% of the vertical drop | 400 m drop: 44 to 60 |
| Slalom | Irregular: the next racer may start before the previous one has finished | 30 to 35% of the vertical drop, give or take 3 | 200 m drop: 60 to 70, give or take 3 |
| Team parallel | Both start gates open together | At least 15 per course |
Saalbach 2025, all eleven podiums
The last Worlds, 4 to 16 February 2025 in Austria. The titles won there are back at stake in Crans-Montana. Names and codes as FIS publishes them.
Saalbach 2025 · Defending champions
- 1VENIER Stephanie
- 2BRIGNONE Federica +0.10
- 3MACUGA Lauren +0.24
- 3LIE Kajsa Vickhoff +0.24
1:20.47FIS ↗
- 1JOHNSON Breezy · SHIFFRIN Mikaela
- 2GUT-BEHRAMI Lara · HOLDENER Wendy +0.39
- 3VENIER Stephanie · TRUPPE Katharina +0.53
2:40.89FIS ↗
- 1VON ALLMEN Franjo · MEILLARD Loic
- 2MONNEY Alexis · NEF Tanguy +0.27
- 3ROGENTIN Stefan · ROCHAT Marc +0.43
2:42.38FIS ↗
The short glossary
The words you will hear from the stadium announcer.
- Gate
- A compulsory passage marked by poles (and panels, except in slalom), alternately red and blue.
- Turning pole
- The pole you turn around. The distances in the rules are measured from one to the next.
- Run
- One timed descent on a course. Giant slalom and slalom have two.
- Bib
- The number the athlete wears, which sets the start order.
- Bib draw
- Public draw of the start numbers for the top racers. In 2027, at the Medal Plaza in Ycoor for the super-Gs and giant slaloms.
- Inspection
- The course is inspected before the race, beside the gates or side-slipping, without skiing them as turns.
- Split time
- A time taken at a checkpoint on the way down, to compare the racer on course with the best time.
- Reversed order
- In the second run, 30th starts first and the leader last.
- Straddle
- A slalom fault: one ski passes on each side of the pole. Disqualification.
- Did not finish (DNF)
- The athlete did not finish the run, after a fall or skiing out.
- Disqualified (DSQ)
- Removed from the results, for example for a gate passed incorrectly.
- Tuck
- Crouched, poles under the arms, to cut through the air.
- Finish pitch
- The last steep slope above the finish. In Crans-Montana both pistes end on it, at Barzettes.
- Forerunner
- A skier who runs the course before the competitors to check it is ready.
- Yellow flag
- Waved on the course to stop an athlete, for example after a fall ahead. The jury may grant a re-run.
- World Cup
- The FIS circuit that runs all winter since 1967, with an overall ranking. The World Championships take place every two years.
Photo credits
- 01