Alpine skiing featured 11 events at the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games and Swiss athletes got the lion’s share by winning almost half of them.
Beat Feuz cemented his status as ‘downhill king’, while speed stars Corinne Suter and Lara Gut-Behrami added an Olympic crown to their world titles. Overall World Cup leader Marco Odermatt overcame a difficult start with a superb performance in giant slalom under tricky conditions to grab gold, while Michelle Gisin successfully defended her combined title from PyeongChang 2018.
The Swiss team won a total of nine medals, the most since Austria took 14 at Torino 2006.
The ‘Wunderteam’ followed Switzerland with seven medals, including two individual golds: Matthias Mayer confirmed his Olympic pedigree with a third gold medal in as many Games, while Johannes Strolz continued his family tradition by emulating his father Hubert with an Olympic title in the combined event.
While we sometimes see surprise winners in the sport at the Winter Games, that wasn’t the case of Petra Vlhova and Sara Hector: the Slovak and the Swede took the women’s slalom and giant slalom title respectively after ruling their discipline through the season.
In the men’s slalom, one of the most unpredictable events at these Games with six different winners in as many World Cup races, Clement Noel had his redemption moment: after a complicated season the Frenchman claimed gold in a discipline where he’s been consistently one of the top performers.
Top 3 moments
1 – Johannes Strolz’s fairy tale
The 29-year-old Austrian earned the first World Cup victory of his career in January and only last month he booked his ticket to Beijing 2022. In China he achieved the historic feat of winning gold in the combined event 34 years after his father Hubert at Calgary 1988, becoming the first parent and offspring to win the same event at the Olympic Winter Games.
“It means the world to me because I was not on the team anymore last summer, and made it back into the team, got the full support again,” Strolz said after his gold.
“Especially with the history of my father, it means so much to me.”
Later the Austrian crowned his memorable Olympics with a silver medal in the slalom and another gold in the mixed team event.
2 – Johan Clarey etching his name in the Olympic record books
At 41 years and 30 days of age, the Frenchman took silver in the men’s downhill at Beijing 2022 to become the oldest alpine skier to medal at an Olympic Winter Games.
The Haute-Savoie-born speedster, who bagged his first Olympic medal, surpassed the previous mark of USA’s Bode Miller: the American claimed bronze in the Sochi 2014 Super G at 36 years and 127 days.
Clarey had admitted to being a ‘late bloomer’ in an interview with Olympics.com: “My history is special. I’ve done a lot of things late in life: learning to walk, having my adult teeth come in (according to my mum), and getting married. So maybe, the [success in] my career has to come later too.”
3 – Mikaela Shiffrin failing to win medals after three shock DNFs
Ahead of the Beijing 2022 Winter Games, the American was touted to break Julia Mancuso‘s record for most Olympic alpine medals won by a female US skier.
In the end the six-time world champion returned home empty-handed after failing to finish in three of her favoured events (giant slalom, slalom and slalom leg of combined event).
“You can imagine how annoying that is for me because I always want to find an explanation, and right now there isn’t one,” Shiffrin said after her third DNF (Did Not Finish).
Her best individual result was a ninth place in the super G, while she finished just outside the podium with team US in the mixed team parallel.
“It’s not always easy, but it’s not the end of the world to fail,” the 26-year-old posted on social media.
What they said
“Why do I keep coming back? Gosh knows it hurts more than it feels good lately. I come back because those first nine turns today were spectacular, really heaven. That’s where I’m meant to be, and I’m stubborn as s**t.”
Mikaela Shiffrin reflecting on her third DNF (Did Not Finish) during the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.
“It was the biggest challenge that life gave me, but I didn’t give up one centimetre with my head. And so I’m proud of this.”
Sofia Goggia on her injury comeback after winning silver at the Beijing 2022 downhill.
Full medal list in Alpine skiing at Beijing2022
Women’s downhill:
Gold: Corinne Suter (SUI)
Silver: Sofia Goggia (ITA)
Bronze: Nadia Delago (ITA)
Men’s downhill
Gold: Beat Feuz (SUI)
Silver: Johan Clarey (FRA)
Bronze: Matthias Mayer (AUT)
Women’s super G
Gold: Lara Gut-Behrami (SUI)
Silver: Mirjam Puchner (AUT)
Bronze: Michelle Gisin (SUI)
Men’s super G
Gold: Matthias Mayer (AUT)
Silver: Ryan Cochran-Siegle (USA)
Bronze: Aleksander Aamodt Kilde (NOR)
Women’s giant slalom
Gold: Sara Hector (SWE)
Silver: Federica Brignone (ITA)
Bronze: Lara Gut-Behrami (SUI)
Men’s giant slalom
Gold: Marco Odermatt (SUI)
Silver: Zan Kranjec (SLO)
Bronze: Mathieu Faivre (FRA)
Women’s slalom
Gold: Petra Vlhova (SVK)
Silver: Katharina Liesnberger (AUT)
Bronze: Wendy Holdener (SUI)
Men’s slalom
Gold: Clement Noel (FRA)
Silver: Johannes Strolz (AUT)
Bronze: Sebastian Foss-Solevaag (NOR)
Women’s combined
Gold: Michelle Gisin (SUI)
Silver: Wendy Holdener (SUI)
Bronze: Federica Brignone (ITA)
Men’s combined
Gold: Johannes Strolz (AUT)
Silver: Aleksander Aamodt Kilde (NOR)
Bronze: James Crawford (CAN)
Mixed team parallel event
Gold: Austria
Silver: Germany
Bronze: Norway
