Disciplines
From technique to speed
Alpine skiing is a highly varied sport, with four historic disciplines and several new formats.
There are technical disciplines (giant slalom, slalom) and speed disciplines (downhill and super-G). There are also combined, parallel and team competitions.
At the Crans-Montana 2027 World Championships, the following 6 disciplines will be on the programme:
Downhill (DH)
In a downhill race, the athletes race down very difficult courses with numerous sliding sections, steep slopes and jumps at speeds of up to 140 km/h. In this physically demanding discipline, victory and podium places are often decided by a few hundredths of a second. As a rule, the downhill runs consist of a single run, with victory going to the fastest rider.
> Women: Piste Mont Lachaux
> Men: Piste Nationale
Super-G (SG)
Super-G (short for Super Giant Slalom) is one of the speed disciplines. Compared with downhill, super-G requires more frequent changes of direction, the distance between gates is shorter and the course itself is shorter. Super-G races consist of a single run, with victory going to the fastest skier.
> Women: Piste Mont Lachaux
> Men: Piste Nationale
Giant Slalom (GS)
With its almost constant changes of direction, the giant slalom is considered a technical discipline. There are always two legs, but in the World Cup, only the 30 best riders in the first leg can compete in the second. They then start in the reverse order of the intermediate rankings. Victory goes to the rider with the lowest total time over the two legs.
> Piste Nationale
Slalom (SL)
With a short distance between gates and small ski radii, slalom is the discipline where changes of direction are most frequent. Like the giant slalom, it belongs to the technical disciplines. The gates have no flags. Slaloms always comprise two heats, but in the World Cup, only the 30 best riders in the first heat can compete in the second. They then start in the reverse order of the intermediate rankings. Victory goes to the rider with the lowest total time over the two legs.
> Piste Mont Lachaux
Team Parallel (TP)
This is a team competition between nations. Two athletes of the same sex from two different countries race down two identical courses located next to each other at the same time. The higher-ranked country begins by taking on the lower-ranked country. Four duels take place and the winner of each duel wins a point for his or her country. If there is a tie at the end of the four duels (2:2), the cumulative times of the best female and male runners from each nation are compared to determine the winning country.
> Slopes to be defined
Team Combined (TC)
This variant of the classic combined event also includes a speed leg (downhill or super-G) and a slalom leg, but the team combined event is contested as a team. The team is made up of two athletes from the same nation.
> Women: Piste Mont Lachaux
> Men: Piste Nationale / Piste Mont Lachaux