Pyeongchang 2018 - stories to watch.
Alpine skiing.
The high speeds make Alpine skiing one of the more
thrilling events at the Olympic Games.
Many consider the downhill event similar to
the 100m sprint in the Summer Games.
The downhill athletes can reach speeds of 90mph or 120kph.
Other events are all about rhythm and style.
In Pyeongchang 2018,
there are a total of six event disciplines.
The main feature of downhill is the high velocity.
It's one run, and the quickest skier through all the gates.
Super-G requires skill and speed. One run, fastest wins.
Giant slalom is a mix of skill and speed.
The difference, it's a combined time of two runs.
Slalom is more skill than speed.
As with giant slalom,
it's the combined two runs which decides the winner.
Alpine combined is the combination of one downhill run
followed by a slalom run.
New event - the Alpine team event.
A thrilling competition in which male and female skiers
have an equal role in play.
Beginning with 16 teams,
the competition will adopt a knockout format,
with the winners of each heat advancing to the next round.
The two teams left standing fight it out for gold.
With the semifinal losers racing for bronze.
Yongpyong Alpine Centre, hosting the slalom
and giant slalom events.
Also the new event in Pyeongchang 2018,
the Alpine team event.
Jeongseon Alpine Centre, with the steeper, longer descents,
will host the downhill, super-G and combined events.
Do you know what happened after this crash in Nagano 1998?
Find out at the end.
Marcel Hirscher is a man on a mission.
Before the recent World Cup season, he had started
in 203 World Cup events and stood on the podium 107 times,
more than 50% of his races.
His hobbies include kayak and rock climbing.
And he used to practise tightrope walking
when he was younger.
Born in Austria, Marcel have great pressure from home.
The Austrian ski team always come to the Games
with high expectation.
He'll have the support of his dog, Timon,
who's a big fan on Instagram.
When Henrik Kristoffersen won his bronze medal in Sochi,
it made him the youngest male medallist
in Olympic Alpine skiing history, at 18.
His strengths are in slalom and giant slalom, and the Norwegian
public will be hoping for more medals from the young star.
He grew up being called the wild child, having a lot
of energy and sometimes hurting himself doing crazy things.
He has a real passion for action sports,
including riding his motocross bike wherever he can.
The Norwegian will be out for gold, and one to watch.
(OLYMPIC MEDALS)
The all-time medal table in Alpine skiing is as follows -
fifth place is Germany with 14 golds.
France with a total of 45 medals.
Third is the US with 16 gold.
In second place, Switzerland.
And in first place, with a huge 114-medal total, is Austria.
34 of those are gold.
Lara Gut was 17 when she became the youngest-ever winner
of an FIS World Cup super-G race
at St Moritz in December 2008.
She missed the 2010 season with injuries.
In 2014, she won bronze in the women's downhill in what was
the first-ever Olympic Alpine skiing tie for gold
between Gisin and Maze.
Lara's featured in our series Patagonia Dreaming,
which you can watch at OlympicChannel.com.
Showing the stars of Alpine
training in the wilderness of Argentina.
In 2016, she won the overall World Cup title, which makes
her the first Swiss woman in 21 years to achieve this.
In 2017, Alexis Pinturault became the most successful
French Alpine skier of all time.
Beating Jean-Claude Killy's record, which stood since 1968.
He won his 19th World Cup victory.
His mother is Norwegian and his father French.
He grew up in the French Alps.
He's also featured in the Olympic Channel series
Patagonia Dreaming.
He won bronze in Sochi in the giant slalom.
He will be out for gold in Pyeongchang in 2018.
(DID YOU KNOW?)
Did you know only one man has designed
the Olympic downhill course since 1988?
That man is Bernhard Russi of Switzerland,
who won the Sapporo 1972 downhill gold medal.
Mikaela Shiffrin is the youngest-ever slalom
Olympic gold medallist, winning in Sochi 2014.
She's won the last three slalom World Championship titles.
The USA audience will be tuned in for Mikaela,
with high hopes from home.
It's sort of like having an out-of-body experience,
watching the points build up and then also being myself
and going to...to...
Yeah, perform.
If she wins slalom gold in Pyeongchang 2018,
Mikaela will be the first to go back-to-back in this event.
To calm the nerves, she does word searches before the race.
Lindsey Vonn started her Olympic journey
in Salt Lake 2002, continuing to tour in 2006
without major success.
In Vancouver 2010, Lindsey became the first US woman to
win the downhill, the showpiece event of Alpine skiing.
Leading into Sochi, she picked up major injuries
and had to watch the Games from home.
Competing in what will likely be her last
Olympic Games, Lindsey will have all
eyes on her as she descends the mountain.
In 2005, Lindsey won a cow
at the traditional Val d'Isere World Cup event.
The cow is now named Olympe.
She continues to keep in touch.
Do you know what happened after this crash in Nagano 1998?
Hermann Maier, one of the greatest Alpine skiers
of all time, won the gold medal
three days later in the super-G.
The Hermannator - what an athlete.
Competition begins with the men's downhill on day two
of Pyeongchang 2018.
Following is a mixture of men's and women's events
throughout both weeks of the games.
There are some gaps in the schedule for weather delays.
Women's downhill is on day 12.
On day 15, the new team event takes place.
The spectacular shots of the Korean mountains will be
a feature of the games.
The Olympic Winter games in Pyeongchang,
set to begin February 9th.
Fill your knowledge tank by watching other
episodes on Olympic Channel.