Downhill is a form of alpine skiing competition. Whereas the other alpine skiing events emphasize turning and technique, downhill emphasizes "the six components of technique, courage, speed, risk, physical condition and judgement", according to the FIS "International Ski Competition Rules (ICR)". Speeds of up to 130 km/h (81 mph) are common in international competition. Athletes must have an aerodynamically efficient tuck position to minimize drag and increase speed.
Big White Ski Resort, simply known as Big White, is a ski resort located 56 km (35 mi) southeast of Kelowna in the Southern Interior of British Columbia. It is located on Big White Mountain, the highest summit in the Okanagan Highland, an upland area between the Monashee Mountains and the Okanagan Valley. Big White is the fourth largest resort in British Columbia, after Whistler-Blackcomb, Sun Peaks, and Silver Star. In 2019, Big White was nominated as the third-best ski resort in Canada by Snowpak.
William Dean Johnson was an American World Cup alpine ski racer. By winning the downhill at the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia, Johnson became the first American male to win an Olympic gold medal in alpine skiing and the first racer not from an Alpine country to win an Olympic downhill race.
Lindsey Caroline Vonn is an American World Cup alpine ski racer. She won four World Cup overall championships – third amongst female skiers to Annemarie Moser-Pröll and Mikaela Shiffrin – with three consecutive titles in 2008, 2009, and 2010, plus another in 2012. Vonn won the gold medal in downhill at the 2010 Winter Olympics, the first one for an American woman. She also won a record eight World Cup season titles in the downhill discipline, five titles in super-G, and three consecutive titles in the combined (2010–2012). In 2016, she won her 20th World Cup crystal globe title, the overall record for men or women, surpassing Ingemar Stenmark of Sweden, who won 19 globes from 1975 to 1984. She has the third highest super ranking of all skiers, men or women.
Nakiska is a ski resort in western Canada, in the Kananaskis Country region of the province of Alberta. It is located 83 km (52 mi) from Calgary, west on Highway 1 and south on Highway 40. "Nakiska" is a Cree word meaning "to meet" or "meeting place."
Dave Irwin is a former alpine ski racer who represented Canada at two Winter Olympic Games and won a World Cup downhill. He was one of the "Crazy Canucks", a group of Canadian downhill racers who rose to prominence on the World Cup circuit in the late 1970s. He lives in Canmore, Alberta, near the Rocky Mountains.
Sarah Jean Burke was a Canadian freestyle skier who was a pioneer of the superpipe event. She was a five-time Winter X Games gold medallist, and won the world championship in the halfpipe in 2005. She successfully lobbied the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to have the event added to the Olympic program for the 2014 Winter Olympics. She was considered a medal favourite in the event. Burke died following a training accident in Utah in 2012.
Anna Ida Holmlund is a Swedish former ski cross athlete.
David Poisson was a French World Cup alpine ski racer, who specialized in the speed events. He made his World Cup debut in 2004. Poisson represented France at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, where he placed 7th in the downhill. At the 2013 World Championships, Poisson made his first podium in top-level competition, taking bronze in the downhill. In 2015, Poisson took his only World Cup podium in a downhill in Santa Caterina, finishing third.
Brian Stemmle is a Canadian retired World Cup alpine ski racer who competed primarily in the speed events of downhill and super-G. He was a member of the national ski team for fourteen years and was inducted into the Canadian Ski Hall of Fame in 2002. Stemmle competed for Canada in four Winter Olympic Games, from 1988 through 1998.
Nikola Zoricic was a Bosnian Canadian ski cross skier who died following a severe crash during the eighth-finals of a World Cup event in Grindelwald, Switzerland.
Half-pipe skiing is the sport of riding snow skis on a half-pipe. Competitors perform a series of tricks while going down the pipe. The current world record for highest jump in a half-pipe is held by Joffrey Pollet-Villard, with 26 feet 3 inches. The sport is considered to be dangerous compared to other sports, and helmets are required to be worn during competitions. Half-pipe skiing has been part of the Winter X Games since 2002, and made its Olympic debut at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. David Wise of the United States of America became the first Olympic champion in this discipline with a total of 92.00 points.
Ester Ledecká is a Czech snowboarder and alpine skier. At the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, Ledecká won gold medals in the super-G in alpine skiing and in the parallel giant slalom in snowboarding, becoming the first person to not only compete in the Winter Olympics using two different types of equipment but to go further and win two gold medals and do so at the same Winter Olympics. She was the second woman to win an Olympic gold in two separate disciplines but the first to do so at the same Winter Olympics. She was the first Czech to win the parallel giant slalom in snowboarding at the FIS Snowboard World Cup.
Breezy Noble Johnson is an American World Cup alpine ski racer on the U.S. Ski Team. She competes in the speed events of downhill and super-G.
Marc Gisin is a Swiss former alpine skier. He competed in the 2018 Winter Olympics.
The men's downhill in the 2021 FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup consisted of seven events. The original schedule had contained nine downhills, but a rescheduled one on 5 March in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria, was canceled due to fog and continual snowfall after just nine skiers had finished, and the downhill during World Cup finals week was also canceled.
Kandahar is a classic World Cup downhill ski course in Bavaria, Germany, opened in 1936. It is located at the Garmisch Classic ski area on the Zugspitze, above Garmisch-Partenkirchen.
The women's downhill in the 2024 FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup consisted of eight events, including the final. The tentative schedule called for eleven events, but a new event, the team combined, which was scheduled for 16 February 2024 in Crans Montana, was cancelled and converted into an additional downhill on the final schedule, increasing the planned schedule to twelve. However, as discussed below in the season summary, cancellations reduced that number during the season. The season champion was Cornelia Hütter of Austria, ending a string of three straight season triumphs by Sofia Goggia of Italy, who was injured just after the midpoint of the season but still finished third.
The women's super-G in the 2024 FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup consisted of nine events, including the final. One super-G on 10 December in St. Moritz was canceled, but it was rescheduled as a second super-G in Zauchensee on 12 January. As discussed in the season summary below, three more cancellations took place during February, reducing the season to eight races, but one downhill was then converted to a super-G to produce the final total of nine.
The men's overall in the 2024 FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup consisted of 35 events in four disciplines: downhill (DH), super-G (SG), giant slalom (GS), and slalom (SL). The season was originally scheduled with 45 events, but the first three events of the season were cancelled due to high winds and heavy snowfall. The cancelled giant slalom was subsequently rescheduled for Aspen on 1 March, and one of the canceled races from Zermatt-Cervinia was rescheduled to Val Gardena/Gröden on 12 December. As discussed under "Season Summary" below, there were additional cancellations and reschedulings after the opening races.
