Alpine skiing is one of the classic Winter Olympic events, although you might be surprised that it’s not an original Winter Olympic sport. The sport joined the Olympic program in 1936, with one combined event for both women and men.
When the Games returned in 1948 after World War II, Alpine skiing got a boost with men’s and women’s downhill and slalom added to the event program. More change came in 1952, when Oslo organizers added giant slalom, and super-G made its debut at Calgary 1988.
The Alpine competition at Milano Cortina 2026 is destined to become a classic, with many exciting storylines to follow, so on this episode, we’re joined by Alpine skiing expert Tom Kelly to preview the Alpine skiing competition and get us excited about what is sure to be one of the most talked about sports at Milano Cortina.
Alpine skiing at Milano Cortina 2026 will consist of five events each for men and women. They divide into:
- Speed races: Downhill and super-G
- Technical races: Slalom and giant slalom
- Team combined: Teams of two, one racing downhill and the other doing slalom
This sport is like speed skating in that athletes don’t really compete against each other. They’re competing against themselves. For Alpine skiing, it’s a competition of athlete vs. mountain. The mountain was a big winner at Beijing 2022, but this time around, the skiers are familiar with the courses and how to conquer them.
Tom shares with us who the best competitors have been in the world cup races this year and could be contenders for the podium. Will Lindsey Vonn’s comeback be golden? Tom thinks it’s not out of the question. How has Mikaela Shiffrin’s return from injury been this year? Will hometown favorite Sofia Goggia light up the crowds? Will skiers from non-traditional Alpine places like Brazil and New Zealand be in the mix? Who among the big guns won’t be there due to injury?
Tom Kelly has been involved with the ski community in various communications capacities for decades and is known for his deep knowledge of the sport. He’s also currently managing communications for Utah 2034.
Thanks so much for listening, and until next time, keep the flame alive!
TRANSCRIPT
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428 – Milano Cortina 2026: Alpine Skiing Preview with Tom Kelly
Theme Music
Jill Jaracz: Hello, and welcome to another episode of Keep the Flame Alive, the podcast for fans of the Olympics and Paralympics. If you love the games, we are the show for you. I am your host, Jill Jarris, joined as always by my lovely co-host, Alison Brown. Alison, hello, how are you?
Alison Brown: I am well. I had a test event this week. I went to a hockey game and I discovered an itchy hat. So that hat is, is not coming.
Jill Jaracz: Could you found it now?
Alison Brown: I know. Imagine if that was the only hat I brought,
Jill Jaracz: disaster would be
Alison Brown: [00:01:00] disaster.
Jill Jaracz: Cranky. Alison is not a fun Alison.
Alison Brown: No. Itchy is the worst.
Jill Jaracz: Yes it is. Uh, you, you know, we’re getting down to the wire here.
I have to start packing. It’s not pretty. It’s really not pretty. There’s a lot of running around, going to stores, buying a new phone, which was also not fun to do, but had to happen. But what else has to happen is our alpine preview. So that we can get ready for the slopes that we may or may not see when we go to Milan Corino.
But we are super excited to welcome back Communications Pro and skiing scene expert Tom Kelly to give us a preview of what to look for on the slopes at Milan Corino. Uh, Tom has been involved with WinDor Sports. Tom has been involved with winter sports for decades and is doing communications for Utah 2034.
Tom, welcome back to the show.
Tom Kelly : Well, it’s great to be back and I gotta tell you, your little dialogue about the packing has got me thinking again because I leave in three days and the itchy [00:02:00] hat thing now has got me thinking, you know, what am I gonna do? But I too, I’m ordering stuff like crazy on Amazon.
I’m going shopping for new pants and things like that. At the end of the day, I’m thinking, why am I doing this?
Alison Brown: I
Jill Jaracz: know they,
Alison Brown: you keep doing it over and over again, Tom.
Jill Jaracz: Right? They have stores. I mean, I made two Kohl’s orders back to back ’cause I’ve ordered something and then I forgot to order something else, so I had to order again.
it’s nuts over here.
Tom Kelly : Yeah, it, it is. But, uh, it’s gonna be great games and I’m excited. I’m gonna be hunkered down in Milan most of the time. I’m gonna get up to the men’s Alpine venue in EO for one day, and that’s about it. But my past career has been at the base of these mountains for many, many games.
Uh, this time I’m gonna watch it from the central city of Milan.
Jill Jaracz: what do you think about trying to get around Milano? Cortina?
Tom Kelly : So, I, over the last 40 years, I have worked every single one of these venues, uh, going all the way back to about 1981 or 82. Uh, but I’ve never spent time in Milan, so I’m looking forward to that.
It [00:03:00] is a long drive between all these venues, but I wanna, what I wanna get people to think about is the venues themselves. They may be a long distance from each other, but every one of the outdoor venues is truly the best in the sports. So these are the best alpine venues, the best biathlon, and cross country venue.
So in that sense, I think people will have a real treat in watching the events from Milano Cortina.
What’s new for Alpine skiing at Milano Cortina 2026?
Jill Jaracz: Excellent. Well, when we think about Alpine skiing. What’s new this year? What’s different?
Tom Kelly : there’s a little bit of a change in the event structure. The combined event, which has changed many, many times over the course of history, uh, has been changed now into just a team event in mixed gen, or not even a mixed gender, but a.
a men’s, uh, combined event and a women’s con combined event, but it is a team competition. So there’s downhill and there’s slalom in, so that is a little bit of a change. Everything else, the principal disciplines all remain the same. And, uh, [00:04:00] it’s, it’s gonna be an interesting fight. I’m anxious to, uh, kind of go through it and tell you about the men, and then we’ll come back and talk a little bit more about the women.
Jill Jaracz: Excellent. And, and really the change in this mixed gender thing is because the two genders are separated and that’s
Tom Kelly : hard to Yeah.
Jill Jaracz: Get it together.
Tom Kelly : Yeah. I was trying to think how they would actually do that, but yeah, the big thing with Alpine, this has only happened a couple of other times. It did happen in Pyeongchang with two separate venues, but they were pretty close to e each other.
And it happened back in 92 in, in, uh. Albertville, but again, they were relatively close. They’re not close. This time, the men will be competing in Borneo, which is, uh, kind of on the western side of the Dolomites. It’s in the Valino region, uh, not far from Milan, although still four hours from there.
And then the women will be competing in Corina, which is on the eastern side of the Dolomites. And what’s interesting about those two venues is that both the men and the women compete. Regularly there, so it’s not a new venue. both of those venues at Cortita and [00:05:00] Peso and also at EO are, uh, really traditional classic courses for the women and the men, respectively.
Alison Brown: And this is the first time in, a few cycles here that we’re seeing a World Cup, uh, venue being used, and we have a really good sense of who’s good on this mountain.
Tom Kelly : You, you really do. And they, and the venues may not be used across all of the alpine disciplines, but they are used regularly for.
For example, the men regularly compete in a downhill and maybe a Super G during the Christmas period at bo. It’s also been used for world championships in the past and World Cup finals. The women compete every January in Cortina. It was also the World Championship site three years ago. So great familiarity across both of those venues.
Milano Cortina 2026: Alpine Skiing Preview – Men’s Downhill
Jill Jaracz: So let’s start with the men. Who should we watch in downhill?
Tom Kelly : So the downhill is gonna be the first event of the games. It’s on Saturday, February 7th. And this is always kind of the, the benchmark event. And when I think of the downhill, I think, [00:06:00] uh, my own memory goes right back to 1994 where Tommy Mo. Won the Downhill.
A surprise winner, he ended up on the cover of Sports Illustrated and that really launched the games in, uh, 1994 in Lila Hummer. So this event really is a pivotal, pivotal event to kick off the games. It’s kind of the big marquee event. And this hill at Bormio is a crusher. The Stelvio downhill course is widely regarded as one of the toughest and the most brutal on the entire World Cup serpent.
It’s long, it’s steep. It’s bumpy and it’s icy, and the men know it very well. Now, when we look at the men overall, we’re basically looking at Olympics, where in the downhill, the super G and the giant slalom. It’s Marco Dermott from Switzerland. Who is the guy to beat? And everybody else is just chasing him.
He doesn’t compete in Sloan, so we’ll talk about that in a minute. But in the downhill right now, Mont leads the World Cup downhill [00:07:00] standings. He’s a 28-year-old. he has been dominant over the last few years so far this year, and there’s one more downhill before the Olympics. He’s won three of the five downhills this year.
He’s never finished lower than second. He is a strong lead in the World Cup. Now at big events, uh, he did win the World Championships in 23 in Corina. That’s not where he’s racing this time. He was off the medals in Beijing back in, uh, 2022. but over his career, der Ma has raced in Bo MEO 12 times. He has two super G wins, but he has never won the downhill there.
So it’s a little bit open in that sense, but still, I would look for him to be one of the favorites this year in the men’s downhill. Who’s gonna be chasing him? I’m gonna throw out a couple of names to you. One is his teammate, Fran Van Alman from Switzerland, 24-year-old. He finished, uh, first and second and two races at Val Gardena in December.
He’s won two downhills this year and one Super G. So definitely Fran Van [00:08:00] Alman is gonna be one to chase Marco Derma in the downhill and the Italian. And as we go through this, we’re gonna look at the Italians who. Might come through on their home snow, so to speak. Giovanni Franzone from Italy is having a sensational year this year, his first World Cup podiums, and he just recently won the haunted com race, the killer downhill at Kipi Austria, uh, for his first World Cup victory.
Uh, in downhill. He also won the Super G in Valance. So all of a sudden Giovanni Franzo has positioned himself as. Maybe a possible favorite. A couple of others that I wanna know. Dominique Perry from, uh, from Italy. He’s 36 years old now. He has seven World Cup downhill wins on the Stelvio more than anybody else.
He’s in the latter part of his career right now. His last win was in December of 21, so, you know, it’s been a, a little while, but he has 24 World Cup wins, 51 podiums. and, and. He also has been to the Olympics four times, but has no medals. So, uh, [00:09:00] I think he’s a little bit of a long shot. But, one of the real storylines on the World Cup this year has been that Austria is having a really weak year.
The one dark horse in the downhill though is Vincent Creek Meyer. He’s sixth in the downhill standings right now, but he was second in the van and down here. Downhill on the lab horn, uh, in the middle of January. So, uh, I’d say that he has a shock, but honestly folks, I think this is Marco Dermot’s downhill to win.
Jill Jaracz: Wow. It’s exciting. I mean, I just wanna get on train and go to Bo now. Try to, try to see this. I’m
Alison Brown: gonna try, we’re gonna try,
Tom Kelly : you
Jill Jaracz: know, it’s only
Alison Brown: four
Tom Kelly : and a half hours.
Alison Brown: Yeah,
Jill Jaracz: well, you know what’s, beyond, in Beijing, Tai Chen was like three. So that’s no big deal. Really?
Tom Kelly : Yeah.
Jill Jaracz: Could happen. It could happen.
Milano Cortina 2026: Alpine Skiing Preview – Men’s Super-G
Well, okay, so what about Super G?
Tom Kelly : So the downhill and Super G are very similar for the listeners to know. The difference in the downhill is basically it’s top to bottom. There’s some [00:10:00] control gates, but it’s basically top to bottom, the super G, exactly the same course. A little bit shorter, but now we’re putting in some gates where you have to turn.
So it does require a little bit of a different skill. This is where Oder Ma again, he is going to be the man to beat Creek Meyer, who I just mentioned in the downhill though, from Austria, Vincent Creek Meyer. He is in the second right now in the down in the, uh, super G. World Cup standing so far this year.
Creek Meyer, uh, won at the Beaver Creek. Uh, super G was second at Copper Mountain. Uh, he was second in the kids Puel downhill, so I think he’s one that could potentially challenge here. Another one from Austria who’s, uh, just kind of catching fire for the first time this year. He is 29 years old. Stefan Babinski from Austria.
He grew up in the Syrian region of Austria. Uh, he was second in the bang and Super Chi. Third in the spiel Super G. So all of a sudden he’s another Austrian who just might pop in there starting to ski much more aggressively this year. [00:11:00] Another Austrian to keep an eye out for in the uh, super G is Raphael Hasser.
He’s 28. He was, uh, silver medalist in the world championships a year ago. He was third in the super G at Copper Mountain in, uh, Colorado in, uh, the November. Uh, so he’s another one to keep an eye on for the USA. Not a lot of success so far in the speed events for the men this year. The one that I would keep an outside eye on though is Ryan Cochrane.
Siegel, but, again, just like in the downhill, this is Marco Dermott from Switzerland. It’s his race to win.
Alison Brown: Last year, I remember there was a lot of talk about the Canadian men and the idea of the rebirth of the crazy Canucks. Are we not seeing them much this, World Cup season?
Tom Kelly : You know, we really are not seeing much from them this year.
And I was kind of looking around, but I, I, I really don’t, I could know, maybe this will prove me wrong, but I don’t see anybody that I would say yeah. Uh, really keep an eye out for him. And, and you know, a lot of it is, uh, this is [00:12:00] going to be a games on the men’s side that’s gonna be very, very Swiss dominant.
The Swiss are so strong and so deep right now, uh, the Americans and the Canadians have just not been popping in there like they were the last couple of years.
Jill Jaracz: does it being in Europe make a difference? Like they’re all on home soil to be for, for lack of a better word. And even though the Americans and Canadians compete there a lot, like it’s still not.
Quite, uh, you know, they may not have the same longevity. Does that
Tom Kelly : matter? Yeah, it, it probably doesn’t because the Americans and the Canadians, they’re basically living in Europe all winter long. I, I think where it does make a little bit of a difference is where you get the kind of your own home country snow Advantage.
That’s where I kind of look for the Italians to really come through and where maybe we haven’t been seeing them right at the top. Uh, the Italians are gonna. Really be putting in that extra effort and they’re gonna have the motivation. We’ll talk about that a little bit when we get down to the women, uh, particularly Sophia Goia is one that could be an example of that.
And [00:13:00] I think the, uh, you know, going back to the downhill, we talked a minute ago about, uh, the Italian, uh, uh, uh, Giovanni Joni, uh, friendone, he’s another one that, uh, we might look for that kind of gets that home snow advantage.
Milano Cortina 2026: Alpine Skiing Preview – Men’s Giant Slalom
Alison Brown: giant slalom.
Tom Kelly : So in the giant slalom, and this is the one event I am gonna go up to.
It’s on Valentine’s Day Saturday, February 14th. interesting thing, they have not raised giant slalom at Bormio. Since 2008, Ted Ligety of the USA won back then. So it’s been almost two decades since they’ve raced on the World Cup, on the Gs course at, uh, Bo. So everybody’s gonna be on the same playing field right now.
Again, it’s Marco Derman. He leads the World Cup standings. Uh, second right now is Stefan Steiner of Austria and Henrik Christofferson from Norway is in third but OD Mount again. Now we’re shifting from the speed events. The high speed down the mountain over to the technical events where you’re going through more Gates.
Giant slalom has a lot of [00:14:00] control gates, but you still are getting very, very high speeds. So there’s a lot of similarity between Super G and giant slalom. So Derma is gonna be the dominant skier here. He is definitely the one to beat. Uh, he is the uh, world Champion from 2020, uh, from, uh, 2023 in Kercheval at the World Championships.
A year ago in Alba, Austria. He was off the podium, did not medal, but this year. He’s won three of the six giant slalom races on the World Cup, so pretty dominant. Uh, he is also the defending Olympic champion in giant slalom. Ironically, as strong and dominant as he has been in the last few years. That GS Gold medal from Beijing is the only Olympic medal that he has, so you can be sure he’s gonna be focused on this.
A little bit about, uh, Stefan Steiner, uh, he’s a two-time Olympian. He was on the gold medal, uh, parallel our team parallel, uh, squad for Austria back in, uh, Beijing. Uh, he’s been to the World Championships three times, no [00:15:00] medals. and he got his first World Cup win at Copper Mountain when Oder Mott, one of the few races, he didn’t win.
Skied out of the course and that left it open for Bren Steiner to win at Copper Mountain last fall. Henry Christofferson from Norway is an interesting story and we’ll talk about him and Slalom as well. He’s 31 and he has been a dominant force over the last few years. Uh, he won Bronson Slalom in 2014 Silver Giant slalom in 2018.
Been to seven World Championships. He won the GS in 2019. Uh, he has two giant slalom podiums in the World Cup. This year, but no victories. So he’s a, he’s somebody that has the experience. He’s getting a little bit older. He’s a little bit past the, I, I hate to say he is past his prime ’cause he is still able to win this event, but he’s not winning as consistently as he did a few years ago.
And then one other wild card I’m gonna throw in, who’s an interesting athlete, we’ll talk about him more in the slalom. Lucas Bruton from [00:16:00] Brazil. Now I know you’re gonna think, well, where do they ski in Brazil? Well, he’s from Norway, but he had a little mix up with the Norwegian Federation a few years ago and he decided he was going to honor his mother and he was going to change his national affiliation to Brazil.
He’s only 25 years old. He comes out of the Bay Rooms ski Club in Norway, which is one of the most prestigious clubs in the country. he does not have a good track record at Olympics and World Championships. No medals. But he, um, and in the giant slalom, he only has two wins and they came back in 2020 and 2022, but he’s been second twice this season in giant slalom and he’s a really interesting character.
Uh, he’s gonna probably get a lot of coverage at the Olympics. Uh, pretty notable guy. Long shot for him in giant slalom, but he is somebody who could sneak through.
Jill Jaracz: Interesting coil. [00:17:00]
Tom Kelly : Who, who would’ve ever thought we’d be talking about Brazil on an Alpine skiing podcast? Hey, we gotta build. I should, I, I should note, and I, I might have this number wrong, but I think there’s 83 nations that will be competing in alpine skiing and giant slalom is the one that most of the smaller nations compete in.
Uh, you may remember, uh, Benji Alexander. Who skied for Jamaica? back in, uh, 2022. A good friend of mine, he lives up in, uh, Jackson, Wyoming, and he’s really motivated a lot of the small nations to look at getting into the Olympics. And it’s, it’s been kind of interesting to see, uh, what has materialized.
But for folks that have a little time stay and watch the live broadcast until all 80, some of them have finished and you’ll see some amazing countries that you’ve never heard of.
Jill Jaracz: You know, Alison, I just go right to Albertville 1992 and, uh, Steve, uh, what’s his name from s [00:18:00] Swaziland Now Sini. That’s,
Tom Kelly : yeah,
Jill Jaracz: that’s what I remember. Yeah.
Tom Kelly : And, and to me that’s a bit of the spirit of the games. I know there’s a lot of purists who just roll their eyes at it, but I, I, I happen to really, uh, uh, feel that this is where the Olympic movement really shines in getting people from all of these other nations to compete.
Jill Jaracz: Totally agree.
Milano Cortina 2026: Alpine Skiing Preview – Men’s Slalom
Slalom for the men.
Tom Kelly : Okay. We’re gonna come back to our friend Lucas Broughton again from Brazil. He’s the current leader in the World Cup, slalom. Standings. And this is, we have no Marco Derma. Now he’s done, he is not competing in slalom, so now we have an entire cast of characters and, and get this, there’s been eight slalom races so far.
There’s one more. Before the games, and in the eight races, there have been six different winners. There’s been seven nations represented in the top 10 of the World Cup standings. so it’s, it’s really completely wide open. So Lucas Broughton leads the World Cup standings right now, [00:19:00] 25-year-old we just talked about, I am gonna give you, uh, one of his teammates next, uh, to watch for Ottley Lee McGrath and Ottley is also 25, came from the same ski club of, bay rooms. His father, Felix McGrath, was an American Olympian in 19 80 80. He skied the slalom in the giant slalom in Calgary. Uh, his mother is Norwegian. They met at college in, uh, Vermont, but oddly decided to, uh, ski for Norway.
So that’s his home now. He was the silver medalist in Slalom last year at the, uh, world Championships. He has 20 World Cup podiums in his career, but this year he has five World Cup slalom wins, or in his career, five World Cup slalom. Wins two of them this season. So I’m thinking that he’s gonna be a real factor, to, uh, challenge, uh, Lucas Lucas Broughton.
Another one to look at is Clement Noel from France, 28-year-old from Val Dzer. He is the reigning Olympic champion. He has four world [00:20:00] championships but no medals. Uh, 15 Career World Cup slaloms, second only. To Hendrik Christofferson, who has 25. So at 28 years old, Clement Noel, maybe not skating quite at the same level he was a couple of years ago.
Let’s throw in Hendrik Christofferson from Norway. He’s 31 now, but he has uh, 25. World Cup victories in slalom over his career. So I think either of them could be possibilities. My wild card on the men’s slalom is a 27-year-old from France who is just starting to come on the scene. His name is Paco Rasad.
He won the gurgle, Austria slalom to kick off the season in November. He won the GaN Slalom a few weeks ago in Switzerland. Those were his first career podiums and just all of a sudden this guy has come on the scene and really been an upstart. So I think the slalom is gonna be the most interesting event for the men [00:21:00] to watch.
And the others it’s gonna be, can anybody beat Mont? But I think the real story is gonna be the, just the. Just the fight that we’re gonna have, and that one’s coming up on Monday, February 16th and I, that’s just gonna be a battle.
Milano Cortina 2026: Alpine Skiing Preview – Who’s injured?
Jill Jaracz: Excellent. Is there anybody who would be a contender but is out with injury?
Tom Kelly : So on the injury front, uh, on the men’s side, there’s two athletes that I want to note. We’re gonna have a longer list on the, on the women’s side, but two notables that you’re not going to be seeing here. One is CPR and Sarza from France. He was injured in a training crash at EO about, um, a little bit over a year ago.
I think it was December of 2024. he just has been slow in coming back, so we don’t expect to see him. Uh, the one that is particularly notable, and this is, uh, Mikayla Schiffer’s boyfriend, Alexander Ahma, KDI. Uh, he was injured in a 2024 crash at Vengan, so two years ago, and he’s still troubled with a back issue.
He was hoping to come back. [00:22:00] he’s gotten back on snow. He was looking to compete in January. Didn’t really happen, so I do not expect to have, see him. But honestly, the injury impact on the men’s side other than, uh, than kill day is not very notable. And the women’s side, we’ll talk about that, but it’s gonna be much more significant.
Milano Cortina 2026: Alpine Skiing Preview – The women’s injured list
Jill Jaracz: Well, let’s get to the women. We’re going back to Corina. talk about it, man.
Tom Kelly : So much like we have Marco Omo as the storyline in, uh, on the men’s side, on the women’s side. It’s two American athletes. It’s Lindsay Vaughn and Mikayla Schiffrin. And that is going to be the story of the women’s events.
They will not, uh, well, they, they could conceivably face each other, but they’re, where they’re gonna win medals is probably gonna be a little bit different. So we’ll talk about them in their respective events. but let’s go through the injury list. ’cause the injury list on the, the women’s side is really notable.
one that we’re actually still continuing to watch is Italy’s Federica Brig, Noni. She is just a [00:23:00] home country. F. she’s in her thirties now. She suffered a knee injury at the National Championships in Italy this past spring. She returned in mid-January. She entered the World Cup in Chrome plots, Italy, and finished sixth in the giant Sloan.
Pretty credible position. I don’t see though that she’s gonna be a factor anywhere other than the giant slalom, and we’ll talk about that. She is going to also be a flag bearer for the opening ceremonies. Now for the ones that, uh, the other question marks, one of the real rivals of Mikayla Shiffrin in the slalom is a Slovakian athlete.
Uh, Petra Viva. She’s been out for two years with a knee injury. She is back training. She is expected to compete in the slalom. She was named to the Olympic team for Slovakia, but she has not raced since January of 24. So hard to say if she could be a factor or not. and it’s really [00:24:00] unfortunate because she and Mikayla had quite a rivalry in slalom, but it looks like she’s out.
A definite out is Katerina Lisberger from Austria. She was a strong contender in the tech events. She’s an Olympic medalist. Uh, she suffered a knee injury recently. She will not be competing. Another one that’s out that would be a favorite is Lara Gmi from Switzerland. She is out with a knee injury from the American side.
Lauren Maga. Who is definitely a metal contender in the speed events. She’s a, uh, strong, strong downhill and super g racer. She suffered an knee injury in November. Uh, she had surgery. She is out for the season. She is hoping to be on the sidelines in court. Tina, another one from uh, Switzerland. This a question mark is, uh, Kain.
Suiter. Uh, she had a calf tear and a, uh, foot fracture in training. It delayed her start of the season. She has been skiing, but not competitive. However, she was named to the Swiss team so we could see Kain suiter out [00:25:00] there. Uh, Michelle Deon suffered a very, very serious racing crash in December from Switzerland.
She is out for the season and then another one from Italy, Marino. Broke her leg training this past fall. That was a huge loss for Italy in the giant sla, so, so it is a real walking wounded story, unfortunately, on the women’s side.
Alison Brown: Someone who isn’t out with injury is Sophia Goia, who has been, many a time out with injury.
So let’s, let’s talk a little bit about her as well.
Tom Kelly : Yeah. She’s, she’s gonna be a factor and she’ll be a factor in the speed events. I’ve got her on my list. I don’t know if she’s gonna end up being a metal contender, but she’s just one of the fan favorites. She’s 33 years old. She comes from Bergamo, which is just to the northeast of Milano.
she is for sure gonna be the sentimental hometown favorite between she and Federico Brioni. Those two young women have just been the face of alpine ski racing in in [00:26:00] Italy. it’s great to see Federica Brioni back, although I don’t, she, she’s gonna be back at full speed. Uh, and it’s great to see Sophia Gogi is still in there.
And who knows? I mean, she’s gonna for sure be a sentimental favorite outside of Lindsey Vaughn in the downhill in the Super G at Corina de Peso.
Milano Cortina 2026: Alpine Skiing Preview – Lindsey Vonn’s comeback
Jill Jaracz: Let’s talk about Lindsay Vaughn. What did you think when she said, I’m gonna make a comeback
Tom Kelly : so I know when, and I was with Lindsay when she won her last Olympic medal in the Super G at pyeongchang, and the tears that we saw from her on that day were tears of, I can’t, I can’t compete in my sport anymore.
And. She knew at that point that her knees were not gonna hold out, that she was gonna need to retire, and it was a pretty sad period for her, and I know that she worked over the next years after her retirement in 2019, she looked for a way back. She knew that she still had the energy, the [00:27:00] spunk. She had the skills.
But she didn’t have the knees, so she was looking for new surgical techniques, surgeons that she could rely on, and she ultimately found one, and she had the surgery done in, uh, early, uh, 2025, and she kept this pretty quiet. she had the surgery, she came back from it. and then she went down to New Zealand to train, just to kind of see that summer of 2024.
Actually that would’ve been, sorry. Uh, summer of 24, she went down to New Zealand to train. She found that she actually. Could ski pretty well. She brought some coaches along. They evaluated her, they did the same thing a few months later on the glaciers of Europe. And then she came out and said, I’m gonna come back.
So I know that it was an interesting period in, uh, 2024 in the fall when she made that announcement. And a lot of people were saying, oh, this is crazy. Oh, she’s gonna get hurt and all these things. Well, folks, she knows all this stuff. It is all things she took into consideration. And it [00:28:00] was, quite gratifying.
For those close to her and for herself to see that she was right about it. She could come back and you know, honestly, regardless of what she does in Corina in the next few weeks, people are gonna respect the fact that she found a way back and she did it the proper way and she came back and she’s been competitive.
So we’re gonna see her on Sunday,, February 8th in Cortina, of course, where she’s won a dozen times. Uh, she’s got some challengers for sure. and in fact this year there’s been four different winners in the five downhills. Uh, this year. There’s still one more downhill before the Olympics, but she’s the only double winner.
So I think that, there’s a lot of destiny here. And I think fate’s gonna fall in her favorite. So to me, she’s the gold medal favorite.
Jill Jaracz: Were, what did you think when you saw how well she was coming back, were you surprised or not [00:29:00] surprised?
Tom Kelly : I was not surprised. It maybe came a little bit earlier than I’d thought. I was actually, uh, with her for one of her first World Cups over in Beaver Creek, and then where she really hit it was in summer It, and that was in December of 24 and she did the same thing winning there in December of 25. So she came back really pretty quickly.
the fact that she leads the World Cup downhill standings right now. By a good margin. that’s pretty remarkable. and I kind of thought that maybe we’d be going into the Olympics with her being a good shot, but a long shot. But she’s a solid shot. She is unquestionably the gold medal favorite for the downhill in Cortina,
Jill Jaracz: which is just amazing to think about.
it shows you just how much talent and skill she has and determination like. The whole package to be able to come back like this.
Tom Kelly : Yeah, it is. It is pretty remarkable. The other piece that I really like is that a lot of her is, has [00:30:00] rubbed off on the team. She’s been an amazing mentor. She isn’t just out there for Lindsey Vaughn.
She’s out there helping her teammates. The progress of Lauren Maga, who I know well from Park City, sadly. Being injured right now. But the progress that Lauren Maga made last year is quite remarkable. And a lot of that is because she had a mentor like Lindsay Vaughn. I look at Jackie Wiles from the US team, 31 years old, you know, pretty, old by, by many standards, but not compare Ga Lindsey.
But the, the progress that Jackie Wildes has made in her comeback, uh, what Breezy Johnson has been able to do. So that entire US women’s team, on the speed side has been boyed by Lindsey Vance. engagement there and willing to be a mentor for the rest of the team.
Milano Cortina 2026: Alpine Skiing Preview – Women’s Downhill
Jill Jaracz: Anyone else to watch in downhill for the
Tom Kelly : women? So in the downhill, the on the challenger side, Emma Aker from Germany is an interesting one. She is a World Cup win this year. Yeah, she’s 22 years old. She’s really the youngest person that Will, will talk much about, in this interview. She was [00:31:00] actually born in Sweden.
She grew up there skiing in Suns fall. The family then moved down to Engelberg, Switzerland, then they moved back to Sweden. But her father is German, so she’s chosen to, uh, ski with the German team. Uh, she has four career wins, two in downhill, two in Super G, and she did beat Lindsey Vaughn head to head in the second downhill in Samitz in December.
So I think that, you know, she’s kind of the young one coming up and I look for her to be a formidable challenger. another one from the German team is, uh, Kira
Theme Music: Wiel,
Tom Kelly : uh, Kelman. Uh, she’s 29 years old. She’s been around for a while. Two time Olympians. She was fourth in the downhill in Beijing. She has eight career downhill podiums.
No victories though, but she was the silver medalist in downhill on the Cortina course back in 2023. So again, maybe a, a good long horse possibility for her. And then of course, Sophia Goji, who we talked about, she’s 33 now. But 27 World Cup wins, 19 downhill wins. And she also won [00:32:00] a downhill last January a year ago in Cortina.
So she’s another one to put in the mix there. but, I tell you this is, this is gonna be one for Lindsay Vaughn.
Jill Jaracz: What do the skiers love about the Cortina course in the, in that area?
Tom Kelly : So the women love the Cortina course because it’s tough. This was essentially the men’s downhill. In 1956, the women in 56 had a separate course.
Uh, but this course is principally the same. The line is a little bit different. There’s some other changes, but this is principally the course. It’s a really rugged course coming off the Ani Massif, and if you’ve seen it on television, you have those beautiful Red Rock formations as they come down from the start off the to and it’s just a tough, brutal course.
And one of the, things that the. today’s generation of, of women’s athletes has been really pushing for is we want the tough courses. We don’t want the women’s course, we want the tough [00:33:00] course. This is the tough course, and it’s one that Lindsay has found a home on. She always liked the courses that we’re a little bit tougher.
so, it’s just a really tough, rugged course. And the women are really proud to ski there. And they ski there a lot, so they, they ski there across all the disciplines. Uh, mostly on the speed side, but the world championships were held there just three years ago. So everybody has experience on the Totani Olympia course
Jill Jaracz: in general when they have men’s and women’s courses.
What is different about the women’s course?
Tom Kelly : I don’t know if I could really make such a generalization to say that this is how they are different. But I do think that historically, and we’ve seen this a lot in Lindsay’s generation, that the women are asking for tougher courses, that they just want things that are steeper.
ier, more challenging, and you didn’t hear that as much, maybe 25 years ago, but you definitely have heard that a lot more in, in recent years. [00:34:00] And the course in Cortina is every bit, the toughness that they want.
Jill Jaracz: Really, Alison Thomas being kind and saying that they used to think that the uterus would fall out and we’d have uterus all over ’em.
We didn’t want uterus on the men’s course, right. It
Tom Kelly : was someone else wasn’t it? Ruin
Jill Jaracz: the whole thing.
Tom Kelly : We, we will have to continue that discussion over some, uh, some nice Italian wine,
Alison Brown: wine and cheese for that discussion. Yes.
Jill Jaracz: Sign me
Tom Kelly : up. Sign me up. Yeah.
Milano Cortina 2026: Alpine Skiing Preview – Women’s Super-G
Alison Brown: Super J let’s, let’s move on to that.
Tom Kelly : So. A little, little different story in the Super g Lindsay will be competitive there. I wouldn’t look for her to be as strong a candidate for gold as she is in the downhill.
Gochi is having a great year, three, three years old. Uh, she is just really on fire this year in Super G so she leads the standing over Lindsay Vaughn. And the one interesting one that, that’s a factor now is Alice Robinson from New Zealand. She’s 24 years old, comes from [00:35:00] Queenstown, and she has been.
A strong factor in giant slalom. For a few years, she had six career World Cup giant slalom wins, but this year she’s moved into Super G She had a super G podium, and then she had a win in Samitz. So, all of a sudden Alice Robinson has become a competitor in, in Super G. There’s, there’s a bunch of others.
Um, Emma Eker again could be a factor here, uh, and a few others, but I, I think really right now, the ones to watch are gonna be Sophia gogi, Lindsey Vaughn, and Alice Robinson.
Alison Brown: Oh, I love that. First we have Brazil, now we have New Zealand.
Tom Kelly : Yeah, new Zealand’s always been there, but it’s usually, it’s, it’s, it’s not a large, population there.
But Alice has been a real factor.
Milano Cortina 2026: Alpine Skiing Preview – Women’s Giant Slalom
And let, let’s flip over to the giant slalom because that’s, uh, another place where Alice is a factor, although this year, not skiing as well as others, though, the Women’s Giant Slalom is coming up on Sunday, February 15th. the current World Cup standings, Julius Scheib of Austria is in the lead [00:36:00] and she’s an interesting story.
Camille Ross from Switzerland is second. Sarah Hector is third. And then we have Michaela Schiffrin standing in fourth right now on the giant sla. And Paula Molson from the USA in sixth. But to tell you a little bit about Julia Scheid, she had her first career World Cup victory last October in Solden, and it was a really important one for the Aust.
Uh, she’s now won four giant Slaloms this year. but that win that she got in sold in. Was the first Austrian women’s win there in nine years, and this is like the big race to kick off the season. It’s in Austria. There’s thousands of Austrian fans there, and she really, helped the. Kind of boost the whole country’s morale up with that victory.
This’ll be her first Olympics, though. She’s completely new and very few of the athletes we’ve talked about today are making their Olympic debut, but she will be one. The one though that I really, uh. Kinda like here. [00:37:00] And also in the slalom is Camille Rost from Switzerland. She’s 28 years old. She has four world cup wins, three in slalom, one in giant slalom.
Uh, but she swept, uh, just a few weeks ago in Kran Agora, she swept to giant slalom and slalom world cup victory. So I, I think she’s gonna be one to watch. She has no Olympic medals, but she was, at Beijing. Another one who’s been kind of sneaking in there all of a sudden, is a 33-year-old from Sweden, Sarah Hector, uh, she’s the reigning Olympic giant slalom champion.
Haven’t heard so much from her, uh, in recent days. But in, uh, spindler of Melin in, uh, cheche over the weekend, uh, she picked up a win over Paula Olson and Michaela Schiffrin in the giant slalom. A really impressive victory. Eight career Gs wins. So I looked for her to be a, a factor. Paula, and we will talk about Michaela Schiffrin in a minute, but Paula Molson another American.
[00:38:00] I, I just really love her story. She’s 31 years old now. Uh, she’s from the Twin Cities area in Minnesota. Grew up at Buck Hill. Same place that Lindsey Vaughn came from. So Paula was on the US Ski Team. And then went to college, and oftentimes going to college is not a part of the pathway. Back to the top, she went to UVM, university of Vermont.
She won the 2017, uh, slalom title for UVM and then started making her way back. And it was an arduous path, but she had the perseverance to stick with it. She has nine World Cup podiums to her credit now four this year. Doesn’t have a win yet, but came very close, this past weekend. So she’s gonna be a factor, I believe, for the medals in both giant slalom and slalom.
And that brings us to McKayla Schiffer. McKayla is 30 now. she has 108 World Cup wins. 71 of those have come in slalom. [00:39:00] 22 in giant slalom. So right now she’s skiing a little bit better slalom than she is Gs, but I think it’s a anybody’s game when we get to the Olympics. But look at her array of medals.
She won the gold in the slalom in Sochi in 2014. Now, 12 years ago, eight years ago in Pyeongchang, she won gold in the giant slum. But in Beijing, she was a, did not finish in the slalom and the giant slalom. It was a very painful time for her, and now she’s skiing. Well, she’s dominant, she’s having fun, and I think she’s gonna be a strong one in both the giant slalom and the slalom.
Alison Brown: A lot was made of that. Lindsay Vaughn and Michaela Schiffrin won’t be competing against each other. Could that change at all?
Tom Kelly : I don’t think that it will, but it could. Where it could is in the Super GI just don’t think that it’ll happen because the US is so deep [00:40:00] with it on its speed side, but that’s the only place they could potentially compete there.
Lindsay Von is not going to go into the giant slalom. Will Michaela Schiffrin go into the Super G? I think time will tell, but I’d be really surprised if that were the case.
Jill Jaracz: It is gonna be a good Olympics.
Tom Kelly : Yeah. It, it really is.
Jill Jaracz: Like in skiing, this is gonna be great fun to watch.
Milano Cortina 2026: Alpine Skiing Preview – Women’s Slalom
Tom Kelly : so that it takes us to the women’s slalom, which will be the last alpine event of the, of, of the games and.
I don’t know if this one is as rumble tumble as the men’s slalom is going to be. Shiffrin is just dominant here, just totally dominant. Uh, she, she’s taken seven wins in slalom this year and pretty much unbeatable. the one who has had success though against her is Camille Ross from Switzerland, we talked about.
Another one is Wendy Holder. Wendy is 32 now. She was a bronze medalist in Beijing, in the slalom and was a silver medalist going back to Pyeongchang. So she’s a, she’s got a good [00:41:00] possibility. Others are Katerina troupe from Austrian. Again, Paul Molson, who we talked about, but the other one that I, I kind of have my eye on.
Ison is a a 19-year-old who’s skiing for Albania, Laura Uri, and she has four slalom podiums this year, no wins. She’s the junior world champion at Super G from 23, but she’s just a real rising star now. A little bit of background on her, you’re probably saying how much do they ski in Albania? Well, they do ski quite a bit.
Laura Cult is from Italy. Her mother is actually an Olympic champion from 2002. Uh, Daniella Elli, uh, won the downhill at Snow Basin, but La Tui’s father is Albanian, so she’s chosen to ski for Albania with her father and mother as her coaches, and we haven’t heard a ton from her, but her four slalom podiums this year tell me that she has to be considered in the mix.
Alison Brown: I thought figure skating was wild. With the country swapping. I did not realize how much [00:42:00] country moving around is is happening in skiing. Is this
Tom Kelly : Yeah,
Alison Brown: different than historically or is this pretty standard?
Tom Kelly : Well, it’s not a lot, but usually when there is country swapping, you hear about it because they’re notable figures.
Now we’ve talked about two here, Lucas Bratton and La Uri. I’ll throw out another one for you. It’s not in alpine skiing, but in biathlon, uh, Campbell Wright. Who was, uh, born of New Zealand and American parents and he switched his, uh, team from New Zealand to the US so he would have a stronger support structure.
He is actually a metal contender in Biathlon this year. So that’s another example in my tenure with us Ski and snowboard over 30 years. You know, I can tell you a handful of these that I saw. but yeah, it does happen out there and there’s usually a lot of intrigue connected to it.
Jill Jaracz: Our favorite kind.
Tom Kelly : Yes.
Jill Jaracz: Alright, Tom, anything else we should know about Alpine?
Tom Kelly : Wow. Before we hit this? That’s a lot of stuff. That’s [00:43:00] a lot of stuff. Yeah. I, I
Jill Jaracz: know.
Tom Kelly : But I’m, I’m fired up. So, I mean, just a, a couple, a quick recap on the men’s side, it’s the Marco Ooff show, and don’t miss that men’s slalom in the second week of the games, ’cause that is anybody’s show.
There’s 10 different athletes who could win that event. And on the women’s side, Lindsey Vaughn on the speed events, McKayla Shiffrin on the tech events and it’s gonna be a great games for Alpine ski racing.
Jill Jaracz: Excellent. Well we are looking forward to it.
Alison Brown: Just wanna see everybody stand up at the end.
Tom Kelly : Yes.
Alison Brown: That’s all I want
Jill Jaracz: from racing. Exactly. I mean, in Beijing, the mountain won.
Alison Brown: Yeah.
Jill Jaracz: But we want the people to win in Italy.
Tom Kelly : Yeah, it’ll be great. And thank you guys for your enthusiastic support and we look forward to seeing you for a glass of wine in Milano. Cortina coming up soon.
Jill Jaracz: You got it Tom, thank you so much.
And and that’s it. Next. Oh, one more show before we will be in Italy. Alison, you ready?
Alison Brown: [00:44:00] No, I’m not.
Jill Jaracz: Well we better get packing toll.
Alison Brown: Start pouring the wine now.
Jill Jaracz: Well folks, we’re gonna get to packing, so that’ll do it for this episode.
Thank you so much for listening,
Alison Brown: and until next time, keep the flame alive.