The rule is one sentence long: get from the start wand to the finish beam faster than everyone else, passing correctly through every gate on the way. Everything else in the FIS International Competition Rules exists to make that contest fair and survivable — how far apart the gates may be, how long and how sharply curved the skis may be, how permeable the race suit must be, how the start order is drawn, and what happens when a racer misses a pole.
Alpine racing is contested in four disciplines, separated by the vertical drop of the course, the spacing between gates and therefore the speed. Slalom and giant slalom are the technical events and are decided over two runs on the same day, with the times added together. Super-G and downhill are the speed events, decided by a single run, with downhill uniquely requiring official training descents before anyone is allowed to race. Combined formats add a speed run and a slalom run together; parallel events put two racers on mirrored courses side by side.
Scoring at a glance
Core rules
Slalom
The shortest and most technical discipline, run over a vertical drop of roughly 180 to 220 metres for men and 140 to 200 for women. The number of direction changes is set at 30 to 35 percent of the vertical drop in metres, producing courses of about 55 to 75 gates that a racer clears in 50 to 60 seconds. Single poles rather than paired panels mark the turns, and racers knock them down with hands, shins and shoulders. Minimum ski length is 165 centimetres for men and 155 for women.
Giant slalom
The discipline most coaches consider the purest test of technique, run over 300 to 450 metres of vertical drop with direction changes set at 11 to 15 percent of that drop — typically 45 to 65 gates, each marked by two panels. Turns are long and loaded, generating forces of several times body weight through the outside ski. FIS mandates a minimum ski length of 193 centimetres for men and 188 for women, with a minimum sidecut radius of 30 metres, a figure raised to 35 metres in 2012 and pulled back in 2016 after racers complained the skis were harder to control.
Super-G
Short for super giant slalom, introduced to the World Cup in 1982 and to the Olympics in 1988 as a bridge between giant slalom and downhill. Vertical drop runs 400 to 650 metres for men and 400 to 600 for women, with a minimum of around 35 direction changes for men and 30 for women, spaced at least 25 metres apart. Crucially there are no training runs: racers inspect on foot, memorise the sequence, and then ski it at full speed once. That makes super-G the discipline where inspection craft and nerve matter most.
Downhill
The blue-riband event, with 800 to 1,100 metres of vertical drop for men and 450 to 800 for women, gates at least eight metres wide used mainly to control speed and direct racers into safe lines, and runs lasting from 90 seconds to well over two minutes. Downhill is the only discipline with compulsory official training, normally three descents across the days before the race, during which times are recorded but count for nothing. Skis must be at least 218 centimetres long for men with a minimum 50-metre radius, making them almost impossible to turn at low speed.
The two-run format
Slalom and giant slalom are decided by adding two runs on separately set courses, usually a few hours apart on the same slope. Anyone who fails to finish or is disqualified in the first run is out. For the second run the top 30 start in reverse order — the racer sitting 30th goes first and the first-run leader goes last, a rule known as the flip that gives the leaders the roughest surface and regularly overturns big margins. Every other qualifier starts in first-run order behind them.
Course setting and inspection
Each run is set by a single coach, drawn from the competing nations, who plants every gate personally and signs off the result; setters deliberately vary rhythm, hide gates over rolls and place traps on the steepest pitches. Racers then inspect on skis at low speed, side-slipping beside the line, permitted to look but never to ski the course. Forerunners test each run before the first bib. In downhill and super-G, inspection is often the only chance to read the terrain before committing to it at full speed.
Start order and bib numbers
Because a race course deteriorates as it is skied, the draw is a competitive weapon. In World Cup technical events the leading racers on the discipline's start list draw among themselves for the earliest bibs, the next group starts in ranking order, and everyone else follows by rank, so the best racers get the smoothest snow. Once ruts form in slalom, later bibs face a visibly different course. In speed events, changing light and wind can matter more than surface, which is why races are held or stopped when conditions swing.
Equipment regulation
FIS specifies minimum ski length and sidecut radius per discipline, maximum boot sole height, maximum total stand height between snow and foot, and a minimum air permeability of 30 litres per square metre per second for race suits, a rule written to stop teams racing in effectively airtight plastic. Helmets are compulsory in every discipline, with a harder-shell standard for speed events, and back protectors are required. Equipment is checked at the start and again in the finish area, and a violation costs the result outright.
Fouls & penalties
Missing a gate
The most common disqualification in the sport. Both ski tips and both feet must pass the imaginary line between the two poles of a gate. A racer who straddles — passing one ski on each side of a turning pole — or who skis around the outside of a panel is out, no matter how fast the run was. Video gate judges review marginal cases, and the result board frequently shows DSQ beside a time that would have won, which is why coaches at the finish look at the flags before the clock.
Hiking back and lost equipment
A racer who misses a gate may climb back up and re-enter it correctly, and the run stands, though the lost seconds usually end any chance of a result. If a ski comes off, the racer may continue on one ski but must still pass every remaining gate; in practice a lost ski at 120 km/h ends the run. A racer must cross the finish line with at least one foot or, having fallen, break the timing beam with their body for a time to be recorded.
Equipment and suit violations
Skis shorter than the minimum, a sidecut radius under the limit, boot soles or bindings above the permitted stand height, or a suit failing the 30 litre air-permeability test all bring immediate disqualification. Suits are tested before racing and spot-checked afterwards, sometimes by cutting a sample from the fabric. Because a few thousandths of aerodynamic advantage matter over two minutes of downhill, suit rules are policed with an intensity that surprises newcomers to the sport.
Start faults and interference
A racer must start within the permitted window after the countdown; leaving early breaks the wand and voids the start, while a late start is penalised or disqualified. Interference by anything outside the racer's control — a spectator on the course, a loose gate, a snowmobile, an animal — entitles the racer to a re-run, signalled by a yellow flag that stops them mid-course. Officials must be satisfied the interference actually cost time before granting it.
Unsporting conduct and anti-doping
Skipping the mandatory downhill training runs without medical clearance, refusing to start after qualifying for a final, ignoring a jury instruction, or damaging the course during inspection all carry sanctions ranging from fines to removal from the start list. FIS operates under the World Anti-Doping Code, with in- and out-of-competition testing; alpine skiing has had far fewer doping cases than the endurance snow sports, but blood-passport monitoring applies across the federation.
Match format
A World Cup season runs from late October, traditionally opening on the Rettenbach glacier at Solden, through to the World Cup finals in March, taking in roughly forty men's and forty women's races across Europe and North America. Points are awarded to the top 30 finishers on a fixed scale — 100, 80, 60, 50, 45, 40 and downward to 1 — with the season's highest total winning the overall Crystal Globe and the best total in each discipline winning a small globe. Only the top 25 in each discipline qualify for the finals, where points are awarded to the top 15 only.
Championship formats differ. The Winter Olympics and the biennial FIS Alpine World Ski Championships are single-shot events: no aggregate, no seeding advantage carried in, and a slalom on unfamiliar snow can undo an entire season of dominance. Both programmes carry the four individual disciplines plus a combined event and a mixed team parallel competition, which puts national quartets into head-to-head knockout duels on twin courses. Championship results carry no World Cup points at all, which is why a racer can finish a season as world champion and lose the globe to a rival who never won a title.
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