Alpine skiing in its Olympic form dates back more than a century and the sport made its debut at the 1936 Games in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. Events have been modified over the years, but the individual competitions familiar to most fans like downhill and slalom remain. Here is what to know for the Winter Olympics in Italy next month.
There are five different events in Alpine skiing at these Olympics for both the men and women. The individual events are: downhill, super-G, giant slalom and slalom. Then there is the team combined event, which will be making its Olympic debut.
In downhill and super-G, otherwise known as the “speed events,” each competitor gets only one run. Giant slalom and slalom are contested over two runs, with the top 30 finishers from the opening leg starting in reverse order for the second leg. The team combined features two-person teams with one racer competing in a downhill run and the other in a slalom run, with their combined times producing the results.
Americans Mikaela Shiffrin and Lindsey Vonn are the two of the most accomplished skiers of all time. Shiffrin excels in slalom and giant slalom while the 41-year-old Vonn excels in downhill and super-G. It’s possible that they could pair with each other in team combined. The American squad also includes downhill world champion Breezy Johnson and defending super-G silver medalist Ryan Cochran-Siegle.
The host Italians have a strong squad with Sofia Goggia and Federica Brignone — if she returns in time from injury — and Dominik Paris. Swiss standout Marco Odermatt is the top men’s racer.
Men’s events at these Olympics will be held in Bormio and women’s events in Cortina d’Ampezzo. The schedule features the men’s downhill on Feb. 7, the women's downhill Feb. 8; the men's giant slalom is Feb. 14, the women Feb. 15; and the men's slalom is Feb. 16, with the women's slalom on Feb. 18 the final Alpine event.
French standout Jean-Claude Killy swept gold in all three men’s events on home snow at the 1968 Grenoble Games.
Shiffrin became the youngest slalom gold medalist as an 18-year-old at the 2014 Sochi Games.
Austria’s Hermann Maeir bounced back from a horrific crash in downhill at the 1998 Nagano Games to win gold in super-G and giant slalom.
Alberto Tomba is the most decorated Italian skier in Olympic history with five medals: three golds and two silvers, won at Calgary in 1998, Albertville in 1992 and Lillehammer in 1994. While he’s from the Bologna area, Tomba spent many winters training in Cortina before he became a star.
Deborah Compagnoni, who was born in Bormio and raised just up the road in Santa Caterina di Valfurva, won skiing golds at three straight Olympics: 1992, 1994 and 1998.
Combined is the oldest skiing event at the Olympics, having featured when the sport made its debut in 1936 Garmisch-Partenkirchen. But the event’s format has changed multiple times over the years.
AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
FILE - United States' Lindsey Vonn speeds down the course during an alpine ski, women's World Cup super-G in Val d'Isere, France, Sunday, Dec. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Pier Marco Tacca, File)
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas (AP) — Families of students killed in the Uvalde, Texas, school massacre are among those who could testify at the trial of a police officer who was part of the hesitant law enforcement response and is charged with failing to protect children from the teenage gunman.
Opening statements were set to begin Tuesday, a day after a judge seated a jury in what is a rare case of charges being brought against an officer who is accused of not doing more to save lives. Authorities waited more than an hour to confront the shooter.
Adrian Gonzales, a former Uvalde schools officer who was among the first to respond to what was one of the worst school shootings in U.S. history, has pleaded not guilty. His attorney has said the officer tried to save children that day.
Gonzales faces 29 counts of child abandonment or endangerment and could be sentenced to a maximum of two years in prison if he’s convicted.
He and former Uvalde schools police chief Pete Arredondo are the only two officers to face criminal charges over the response. Arredondo’s trial has not been scheduled.
Some families of the victims were upset that more officers were not charged given that nearly 400 federal, state and local officers converged on the school soon after the 2022 attack.
Terrified students inside the classrooms called 911 and parents outside begged for intervention by officers, some of whom could hear shots being fired while they stood in a hallway. A tactical team of officers eventually went into the classroom and killed the shooter.
The gunman killed 19 students and two teachers at Robb Elementary.
An investigation found 77 minutes passed from the time authorities arrived until the tactical team breached the classroom and killed Salvador Ramos, who was obsessed with violence and notoriety in the months leading up to the shooting.
The trial for Gonzales was expected to last about two weeks, Judge Sid Harle said. Before seating the jury Monday, he told several hundred potential jurors that the court was not looking for those who know nothing about the shooting but wants jurors who can be impartial.
Close to 100 people were dismissed after saying they already formed opinions.
Among the potential witnesses are FBI agents, Texas Rangers, emergency dispatchers and school employees.
At the request of Gonzales’ attorneys, the trial was moved to Corpus Christi after they argued Gonzales could not receive a fair trial in Uvalde.
The indictment accuses Gonzales of putting children in “imminent danger” of injury or death by failing to engage, distract or delay the shooter and by not following his training. The allegations also say he did not go toward the gunfire despite hearing shots and being told the shooter’s location.
State and federal reviews of the shooting cited cascading problems in law enforcement training, communication, leadership and technology, and questioned why officers waited so long.
According to the state review, Gonzales told investigators that once police realized there were students still sitting in other classrooms, he helped evacuate them.
Prosecutors likely will face a high bar to win a conviction. Juries are often reluctant to convict law enforcement officers for inaction, as seen after the Parkland, Florida, school massacre in 2018.
Sheriff’s deputy Scot Peterson was charged with failing to confront the shooter in that attack. It was the first such prosecution in the U.S. for an on-campus shooting, and Peterson was acquitted by a jury in 2023.
Associated Press writers Jim Vertuno in Austin, Texas, Juan A. Lozano in Houston and John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio, contributed to this report.
A man enters the Nueces County Courthouse in Corpus Christi, Texas, as jury selection continues in the trial for former Uvalde school district police officer Adrian Gonzales, Monday, Jan. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
FILE - Crosses with the names of shooting victims are placed outside Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, May 26, 2022. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)
People enter the Nueces County Courthouse in Corpus Christi, Texas, as jury selection continues in the trial for former Uvalde school district police officer Adrian Gonzales, Monday, Jan. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
A line forms at the Nueces County Courthouse in Corpus Christi, Texas, as jury selection continues in the trial for former Uvalde school district police officer Adrian Gonzales, Monday, Jan. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
FILE - This booking image provided by the Uvalde County, Texas, Sheriff's Office shows Adrian Gonzales, a former police officer for schools in Uvalde, Texas. (Uvalde County Sheriff's Office via AP, File)
FILE - Flowers are placed around a welcome sign outside Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, May 25, 2022, to honor the victims killed in a shooting at the school. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)
