Everything You Need to Know About Men’s Alpine Skiing for Milan-Cortina 2026

Preview

The notoriously icy, bumpy, dark, and unforgiving Stelvio track will be home to men’s Olympic alpine events at the Milan-Cortina Olympic Winter Games.

It is revered as one of the toughest in the world, inaugurated in 1982 and gaining status as a regular stop on the World Cup in 1993. 

When Bormio’s annual World Cup Downhill and Super-G races were contested over the Christmas holiday, a lack of sufficient light on the shadowy course increased the difficulty of tackling terrain at speeds of 80 miles per hour.

The Stifel U.S. Ski Team’s Bryce Bennett is amped for the challenge ahead.

“Having a Winter Olympics in Italy with substantial skiing culture is something that inspires me,” Bennett said. “To have an Olympic downhill on a classic World Cup downhill track is something that seems pretty rare. You’d be the man if you won that thing.

“Having the opportunity to put it all together on race day in Bormio is something special, a unique and mental challenge that the Olympics provide,” said the two-time Olympian from Truckee, California.

Olympic races in February are expected to bring greater sunlight, enhanced visibility, and potentially softer, more forgiving snow conditions than what racers are accustomed to during December races.

Sun or no sun, the Stelvio will supremely test the limits of the world’s elite ski racers at the Olympic Games. It certainly will not be a social and relaxed Aperitivo as is ingrained in the Italian Dolomites culture. The unrelenting two-mile track is punishing, leaving racers gasping for breath.

Austrian Vincent Kriechmayr, a two-time world champion with 18 World Cup victories, believes it will be necessary to punch it full throttle, top to bottom, to be in the medal hunt.

“You’ll have to be totally on the limit from the start until the finish,” Kriechmayr told POWDER, in Soelden, Austria. “Keep pushing from the first gate until the very end, that's what you need to do.”

The 34-year-old veteran speculates on how the Bormio course will set up for the Olympic speed races compared to December's World Cup event. “It will be smoother, and the visibility should be much better, but it won’t be easier to win,” Kriechmayr says. “I think the gap between athletes will be much closer.”

Bennett adds: “I am excited to ski this place in the sun. It will probably still be bumpy and icy, but at least with a little bit of light, it will be fun.”

The Stelvio Downhill Track by the Numbers

Racers kick out of Bormio’s start house and reach speeds of 60 miles per hour in less than five seconds, before soaring off the ‘La Rocca Jump’, an adrenaline-inducing start to the nearly two-minute, two-mile course. 

“It’s in your face right out of the start, you’re going very fast, very quickly, probably up to 90 miles per hour, just ten seconds into it,” Bennett said. 

“Right out of the gate is an opportunity to put the hammer down and take a little bit more risk. For those willing to take it, you can gain a few important tenths there.” 

The Stelvio boasts 1,023 meters of vertical drop (3,356 ft.) and a maximum gradient of 63 per cent. The signature ‘San Pietro’ jump sends skiers 50 meters (150+ feet) through the air, and with about 30 seconds until the finish, it is a critical juncture setting up the technical lower section. 

The Italian track is the second-longest downhill on tour, only shorter than the grueling Lauberhorn in Wengen, Switzerland.

Nasty Crashes Provide a Scare

Frenchman Cyprien Sarrazin, Swiss Gino Caviezel, and Italian Pietro Zazzi all sustained violent crashes on the Stelvio course last season. The crashes left a bad impression among many athletes at the World Cup races in late December 2025. 

Sarrazin’s brutal fall and serious injuries in downhill training prompted his French teammate Nils Allègre to blast Italian organizers: “They don’t know how to prepare a course. They don’t deserve to have the Olympic Games here.”

Zazzi, Caviezel, and Sarrazin are all still in the process of arduous recoveries to return to full health and back to form. “This weekend was a bad weekend, these injuries are too much,” Italian veteran Christof Innerhofer exclaimed, one year ago.

American skier Ryan Cochran-Siegle was somewhat more optimistic about how the potential dangers might be alleviated for the Olympics.

“I’m sure the organizing committee will do a good job prepping it and getting it ready,” said the veteran U.S. racer. “It really needs to be consistent from top to bottom.”

Milan-Cortina 2026 Race Schedule

It will be full speed out of the gate as the men’s Olympic downhill in Bormio opens the alpine skiing program on Saturday, Feb. 7, 2026.

The signature race is preceded by three days of downhill training.

The new team combined event on Monday, Feb. 9, takes the aggregate time of one downhiller and one slalom specialist to determine the medals.

Next up is the men’s Super-G on Feb. 11, a second challenge for the world’s premier speed skiers. The Italian ski resort typically hosts only World Cup speed races (Downhill and Super-G), so the Giant Slalom and Slalom events are expected to provide uncertainty and fresh twists.

The Giant Slalom kicks off the first of the two technical events on Saturday, Feb. 14. 

As is tradition, the Slalom closes the five-event program on Monday, Feb. 16.

Top Racers/Contenders For Medals, Speed Events

No one has found greater success on the vaunted piste than Italian all-around badass skier Dominik Paris. He is known as the “King of the Stelvio.”

The 36-year-old, heavy-metal-loving racer, has claimed six World Cup downhill victories in Bormio, including five consecutive between 2017 and 2019. Domme’s first win came in 2012, and his most recent in 2021. The February 7th race could be a career-defining moment, unfolding in front of the Italian ‘Tifosi’, who will vociferously be urging on his every turn.

Paris has a very capable supporting cast, now including newly crowned Hahnenkamm champion Giovanni Franzoni. The team is rounded out by Mattia Casse, Florian Scheider, and Paris’s longtime teammate, Christof Innerhofer. 

Innerhofer will be competing at his fifth and final Olympic Games. The popular 41-year-old sped to his first major victory on the Stelvio, way back in 2008. Never count “Inner” out.

However, all conversations about ski racing conquests and potential Olympic medals start and end with Swiss skier Marco Odermatt. He will arrive in Italy as the four-time defending overall World Cup champion. Also, the 2022 Olympic GS champion, “Odi” is among the top favorites, if not the favorite, for gold medals across downhill, super-G and GS.

The 28-year-old Swiss sensation is on course to become one of the all-time greatest ski racers and potentially Olympic champions.

The veteran Austrian Kriechmayr along with Swiss rising stars Franjo von Allmen and Alexis Monney join as leading contenders in both Downhill and Super-G. 

U.S. veterans Bennett, Cochran-Siegle, and Jared Goldberg will provide Team USA’s best shots for success in the speed events.

“As Americans, we’ve had lots of success over the years at major events and recognizing that I think we have the opportunity to go there and win medals. That’s the dream,” said Beijing 2022 Olympic Super-G silver medalist Cochran-Siegle.

Two-time World Cup downhill champion Aleksander Aamodt Kilde, the fiancé of Mikaela Shiffrin, will not race in Milan-Cortina as his return to racing has been slow following a violent crash in January of 2024.

Top Racers/Contenders For Medals Tech Events

The tech events and new courses on the lower Stelvio will be uncharted terrain.

Besides the seemingly unbeatable Odermatt, GS specialists to watch include his fellow Swiss Loic Meillard and Norwegian Henrik Kristoffersen.

Colorado’s colorful River Radamus was fourth in the Olympic GS in 2022. The talent level is high, and he seems poised to claim his first major championship medal. Radamus is a three-time Youth Olympic Games champion.

At the second tech event, no one can predict what the lower Stelvio, chock-full of tight slalom gates, will present. Beijing 2022 slalom champion Clement Noel seeks to defend his title.

Kristoffersen brings a fierce attitude as a three-time World Cup slalom champion. The 31-year-old claimed bronze at Sochi 2014.

Lucas Braathen, who formerly skied for Norway, has the chance to become the first Brazilian Winter Olympic medalist ever. The flamboyant athlete, who is honoring his mother’s Brazilian heritage, nabbed victory at the season-opening slalom in Finland. 

If Braathen lights up Bormio, he’ll surely break out a celebratory ‘Samba’ dance or two, ski boots and all. ‘Carnival-style’ parties might even flood the streets across Rio and São Paolo.