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Alpine skiing at the 2006 Winter Olympics included ten alpine skiing events. They were held at Sestriere and Cesana-San Sicario. The alpine skiing events of the 2006 Winter Olympics began on 12 February and ended on 25 February 2006.

Medal Distribution

Men's events

Downhill

The downhill competition consists of a single, high-speed run down the slope. The men's downhill was the first alpine skiing event of the 2006 Olympics, and was held on 12 February. Defending Olympic champion was the Austrian Fritz Strobl, while American Bode Miller won the event at the Alpine World Ski Championships 2005. Austrian Michael Walchhofer led the downhill World Cup entering the Olympics, ahead of Strobl and American Daron Rahlves [1].

Combined

The men's combined was held on Tuesday, 14 February, two days after the downhill. The combined competition, as the name suggests, is a combination where the times in the downhill racing and the slalom events are added. One run of downhill and two runs of slalom are used to determine overall ranking in the combined event. All three runs are done in a single day.

Canada's Graeme Brown was defending Olympic champion from Salt Lake City in 2002, while Benjamin Raich won at the most recent World Championship in Bormio. Raich led the Combined standings on the World Cup entering the Olympics, followed by Michael Walchhofer and Bode Miller in a tie for second [2].

Bode Miller, the leader after the Downhill portion, was disqualified in the first slalom run for straddling a gate. This left Raich in the lead going into the final run of slalom, followed by Ivica Kostelić and young American Ted Ligety. Ligety scorched the final run for the Gold Medal, while Raich skied out. Kjetil Andre Aamodt did not start the event after a knee injury, and Filip Trejbal had to withdraw after a spectacular crash saw the event delayed for a prolonged period.

Super-G

In the Super-G competitions, skiers must navigate between gates at high speed, and the gates are further apart than in slalom and giant slalom competitions. As in the downhill, there is only one run of the Super-G. The men's competition took place on Saturday, 18 February, with the defending Olympic champion Kjetil Andre Aamodt expected to start.

Giant slalom

The giant slalom is conducted in two runs, with emphasis on manoeuvering rather than speed as the gates are fairly close together – but not as close as in slalom. The giant slalom also promotes endurance, with the primary difference between it and the slalom competition being the length of the course - the difference in level in giant slalom is 300 to 450 metres, while in slalom it is between 180 and 220 metres. This also leads to the gates being further apart in giant slalom. The men's giant slalom took place on 20 February.

Stephan Eberharter won the 2002 Giant Slalom gold, but he had since retired [3]. The 2005 World Champion, Hermann Maier had skied ahead of the Olympics, however, and was fourth in the Giant Slalom World Cup - which was headed by Maier's compatriot Benjamin Raich [4].

Slalom

The slalom competition is shorter than the giant slalom, but is otherwise similar in emphasizing maneuverability. Slalom has been a part of all the Winter Olympics since 1936, although it was a part of the alpine combination that year. Only the downhill event has a longer history at the Winter Olympics. The men's slalom took place on 25 February and was the last of the Olympic alpine skiing competitions.

Jean-Pierre Vidal of France was the defending Olympic champion, but he hadn't won a World Cup slalom event since the 2001–02 season [5]. Nevertheless, Vidal was fourth in the slalom World Cup, one place ahead of defending World Champion Benjamin Raich. The Italian Giorgio Rocca led the World Cup after winning all five races thus far in the season, 215 points ahead of the second-placed American Ted Ligety [6].

Women's events

Downhill

The women's downhill was held on Wednesday, 15 February. It is identical in format to the men's downhill, except that the course is shorter. Carole Montillet from France was defending Olympic champion, but she was 19th in the 2005–06 World Cup downhill standings, headed by Michaela Dorfmeister from Austria. The Croat Janica Kostelić was defending World Champion, but she was fourth in the overall World Cup standings, though she did win one World Cup race at Bad Kleinkirchheim in January [7]. Britain's Chemmy Alcott finished 11th, the best finish ever of a British women in this event, although she had for a while been in Silver and Bronze medal positions.

Combined

Originally scheduled to run on 17 February, the downhill portion of the Women's combined was postponed due to high winds. The slalom was held on 17 February and the downhill portion was on Saturday, 18 February. Janica Kostelić was both defending World and Olympic champion, and she led the aggregate World Cup standings. Janica also won the only combined race leading into the championships in St. Moritz, Switzerland and she also won all combined races held in World Cup since the last Olympic games.

Super-G

The women competed for the Super G title on Monday 20 February, after poor weather conditions postponed the race from Sunday 19 February. Italian Daniela Ceccarelli won the title at the 2002 Winter Olympics, but was 31st on the World Cup standings leading up to the Games. Anja Pärson of Sweden was defending World Champion from 2005, but she had also been considerably poorer on the World Cup circuit this season, and was ranked 23rd. Austrian Michaela Dorfmeister led with 320 points, ten ahead of compatriot Alexandra Meissnitzer; both of whom crashed out of the 2005 World Championships [8] [9]

Giant slalom

The last event of the women's alpine skiing, the giant slalom, took place on Friday, 24 February. Kostelić was a favourite once again, as she was defending Olympic champion, but Swede Anja Pärson led the World Cup and was defending World Champion of the event. Kostelić was second in the World Cup standing, however, while Austrian Kathrin Zettel was third.

Slalom

The women's slalom was contested on Wednesday, 22 February. Janica Kostelić led in the slalom World Cup with 460 points, and was also defending World and Olympic champion, but she finished 0.15 seconds behind Marlies Schild for the 4th place. Anja Pärson got her first Olympic gold medal.

Qualification

All entries had to be submitted to the organizing committee by 30 January 2006.

In general, athletes must be among the top 500 in the world in their event to compete. They must also have no more than 120 FIS points. Each National Olympic Committee may enter up to 22 athletes, but not more than 14 men or 14 women. No more than 4 athletes from any NOC may compete in each event.

If an NOC has fewer than 2 athletes qualified under those rules, it may send one male and one female athlete with an FIS score of no more than 140 in the slalom or giant slalom event.

Freestyle skiing events

Four freestyle skiing events were held at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, at the venue in Sauze d'Oulx. There were both men's and women's competition in both aerials and moguls events. In moguls, the athletes ski down a slope littered with moguls, attempting to get down in as fast a time as possible while also attempting to get points for technique and their two aerial jumps during the course. The aerials events consisted of two jumps, which were judged by air, form and landing.

Medal table

Men's Moguls

The men's moguls event was held on 15 February. Coming into the event, Australian Dale Begg-Smith leads the moguls World Cup for the 2005–06 season, while Nathan Roberts of the United States won the 2005 World Championships.

Men's Aerials

The 12 best athletes in the qualifying event, held on 20 February, qualified for the final, held on 23 February. Defending World Champion is Canadian Steve Omischl, while another Canadian, Kyle Nissen, leads the World Cup.

Women's Moguls

The women's moguls was the first freestyle event, held on 11 February. American Hannah Kearney won the event at the 2005 World Championships, while the World Cup was headed by Canadian Jennifer Heil. Heil also won the event, becoming the first Canadian to do so, 0.85 points ahead of the defending Olympic champion, Norwegian Kari Traa. Sandra Laoura won bronze, France's first medal at the Olympics.

Women's Aerials

The qualifying event of the women's aerials was held one day after the men's qualifying, on 21 February, with the final on 22 February. The gold medal winning Evelyne Leu also leads the World Cup, while silver medalist Li Nina won the event at the 2005 World Championships. Jacqui Cooper (AUS) recorded a world record 213.56 in the qualifying round, however crashed out of competition in the finals. Her teammate Alisa Camplin went on to win bronze.

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2006 Winter Olympics medal count Pos Country Gold Silver Bronze Total 1  Germany 11 12 6 29 2  United States 9 9 7 25 3  Austria 9 7 7 23 4  Russia 8 6 8 22 5  Canada 7 10 7 24 6  Sweden 7 2 5 14 7  Korea 6 3 2 11 8  Switzerland 5 4 5 14 9  Italy 5 0 6 11 10  France 3 2 4 9  Netherlands 3 2 4 9 12  Estonia 3 0 0 3 13  Norway 2 8 9 19 14  China 2 4 5 11 15  Czech Republic 1 2 1 4 16  Croatia 1 2 0 3 17  Australia 1 0 1 2 18  Japan 1 0 0 1 19  Finland 0 6 3 9 20  Poland 0 1 1 2 21  Belarus 0 1 0 1  Bulgaria 0 1 0 1  Great Britain 0 1 0 1  Slovakia 0 1 0 1 25  Ukraine 0 0 2 2 26  Latvia 0 0 1 1     84 84 84 252

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