Alpine skiing: How to qualify for the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games

At the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026, 306 of the best skiers in the world will compete for glory and the greatest prize in sport: an Olympic medal.

The women's races will be held in Cortina d'Ampezzo at the Tofane Alpine Skiing Centre, while the men's races will be held in Bormio at the Stelvio Ski Centre.

While they featured at Beijing 2022, the mixed team parallel event and the men's and women's Alpine combined events have been removed from the programme for Milano Cortina 2026.

In total, there will be 10 medal events at Milano Cortina 2026: downhill, Super-G, giant slalom, slalom, and team combined - all of which will be competed in by both men and women.

Alpine skiing first appeared on the Olympic programme at Garmisch-Partenkirchen 1936, however the only event that was competed was the Alpine combined for men and women. Downhill and slalom were added to the programme at St. Moritz 1948 with giant slalom introduced at Oslo 1952 and super-G appearing for the first time at Calgary 1988.

Over the years, the sport has produced many legends, including Norway's Kjetil Andre Aamodt, the most decorated Alpine skiing athlete at the Games, the Italians Alberto Tomba and Deborah Compagnoni, who hold three Olympic gold medals each, as well as Germany's three-time Olympic champions Katja Seizinger and Maria Hofl-Riesch.

More recent stars of the sport include two-time Olympic champion, Mikaela Shiffrin, defending super-G champion Lara Gut-Behrami, and the likes of Austria's Matthias Mayer and Johannes Strolz who have won three and two Olympic gold medals, respectively.

Find out everything you need to know about the Olympic qualification system in Alpine skiing, including the number of athletes in each event and the qualification timeline.

How to qualify for the Alpine skiing competition at Milano Cortina 2026

Qualification for Alpine skiing at Milano Cortina 2026 is based on the FIS World Cup starting list (WCSL) and the Olympic Quota Allocation List, which will be published on 19 January 2026.

Each NOC with athletes in the top 30 of the WCSL in each event will obtain 1 quota place in the respective event or 2 quota places if the athlete is ranked in the top 30 in more than one event.

The remaining quota places will be allocated using the Olympic Quota Allocation List. This global list includes male and female athletes from the top 500 of the Olympic FIS Points List who have competed in downhill, super-G, giant slalom and slalom races during the Olympic qualifying period (1 July 2024-18 January 2026).

The Olympic FIS Points List is calculated using the average of the best five competition results in the events of slalom and giant slalom, and the average of the two best competition results for both downhill and super-G during the qualification period. For slalom and giant slalom, only the races with at least 30 athletes ranked for men's races and at least 20 athletes ranked for women's races will be taken into consideration.

For a detailed explanation of quotas and how to qualify for Milano Cortina 2026, please check the official documents here.

The host country will automatically be allocated four places: two for men and two for women, for athletes who meet the eligibility criteria outlined in the above qualification document on Alpine skiing.

NOCs will need to confirm their quotas by 20 January 2026. If a quota is not confirmed or is declined by an NOC, the place will go to the next eligible NOC on the list. The same will happen for any unused host country quotas.

What are the key dates for alpine skiing qualification for Milano Cortina 2026?

• 1 July 2024 – 18 January 2026: qualification period.
• 19 January 2026: publication of the Olympic Quota Allocation List. FIS will inform NOCs and National Federations of the allocated quota places.
• 20 January 2026: deadline for NOCs to confirm the use of allocated quota places.
• 21-22 January 2026: FIS to reallocate any unused quotas.
• 26 January 2026: Milano Cortina 2026 Sport Entries deadline

How many athletes will compete in alpine skiing at Milano Cortina 2026?

A total of 306 athletes (153 men and 153 women) will take part in the Alpine skiing competitions at Milano Cortina 2026.

The maximum number of quotas per NOC is 22 (11 men and 11 women). The maximum number of athletes of the same NOC in any event is four: four men and four women in each event, and four teams in each of the team combined events.

Milano Cortina 2026 alpine skiing competition format and schedule

The Alpine skiing competition at Milano Cortina 2026 will include 10 events:

• Men downhill
• Women downhill
• Men super-G
• Women super-G
• Men slalom
• Women slalom
• Men giant slalom
• Women giant slalom
• Men’s Team combined
• Women’s Team combined

The Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 will take place from 6 to 22 February 2026.

Olympic champions in Alpine skiing from the last Olympic Winter Games

Men downhill

• 🥇 Gold: Beat Feuz (SUI)
• 🥈 Silver: Johan Clarey (FRA)
• 🥉 Bronze: Matthias Mayer (AUT)

Women downhill

• 🥇 Gold: Corinne Suter (SUI)
• 🥈 Silver: Sofia Goggia (ITA)
• 🥉 Bronze: Nadia Delago (ITA)

Men super-G

• 🥇 Gold: Matthias Mayer (AUT)
• 🥈 Silver: Ryan Cochran-Siegle (USA)
• 🥉 Bronze: Aleksander Aamodt Kilde (NOR)

Women super-G

• 🥇 Gold: Lara Gut-Behrami (SUI)
• 🥈 Silver: Mirjam Puchner (AUT)
• 🥉 Bronze: Michelle Gisin (SUI)

Men slalom

• 🥇 Gold: Clement Noel (FRA)
• 🥈 Silver: Johannes Strolz (AUT)
• 🥉 Bronze: Sebastian Foss-Solevaag (NOR)

Women slalom

• 🥇 Gold: Petra Vlhova (SLO)
• 🥈 Silver: Katharina Liensberger (AUT)
• 🥉 Bronze: Wendy Holdener (SUI)

Men giant slalom

• 🥇 Gold: Marco Odermatt (SUI)
• 🥈 Silver: Zan Kranjec (SLO)
• 🥉 Bronze: Mathieu Faivre (FRA)

Women giant slalom

• 🥇 Gold: Sara Hector (SWE)
• 🥈 Silver: Federica Brignone (ITA)
• 🥉 Bronze: Lara Gut-Behrami (SUI)

Men alpine combined

• 🥇 Gold: Johannes Strolz (AUT)
• 🥈 Silver: Aleksander Aamodt Kilde (NOR)
• 🥉 Bronze: James ‘Jack’ Crawford (CAN)

Women alpine combined

• 🥇 Gold: Michelle Gisin (SUI)
• 🥈 Silver: Wendy Holdener (SUI)
• 🥉 Bronze: Federica Brignone (ITA)

Mixed team parallel

• 🥇 Gold: Austria
• 🥈 Silver: Germany
• 🥉 Bronze: Norway

As National Olympic Committees have the exclusive authority for the representation of their respective countries at the Olympic Games, athletes' participation at the Milano Cortina Games depends on their NOC selecting them to represent their delegation at Milano Cortina 2026.