Giant slalom (GS) is an alpine skiing and alpine snowboarding competitive discipline. It involves racing between sets of poles ("gates") spaced at a greater distance from each other than in slalom, but less than in Super-G.
Giant slalom and slalom make up the technical events in alpine ski racing. This category separates them from the speed events of Super-G and downhill. The technical events are normally composed of two runs, held on different courses on the same ski run.
The snowboarding competition of the 1998 Winter Olympics was held at Mount Yakebitai and Kanbayashi Snowboard Park. The competition took place between 8 and 12 February 1998 and featured four events: Men's and Women's giant slalom and halfpipe.
This was the first Olympic appearance of snowboarding. Although a separate snowboard federation was established in 1994, the International Ski Federation brought snowboard under its jurisdiction with encouragement from the IOC.
At the 1952 Winter Olympics in Oslo, Norway, the six alpine skiing events were held from Thursday, 14 February, to Wednesday, 20 February. The downhill and giant slalom events were held at Norefjell in Krødsherad, Buskerud, and the slalom events at Rødkleiva in Oslo.
The giant slalom made its Olympic debut, and the combined event was dropped as an Olympic medal event for four decades, until 1988. It returned as a medal event at the World Championships two years later in 1954, and for the concurrent World Championships in Olympic years from 1956 through 1980. For fourteen World Championships (1954–1980), the combined was a "paper race," using the results from the three events (and required the completion of each).
Hafjell is a village and a ski resort in Norway, in the Øyer Municipality in Innlandet county.
Hafjell hosted the alpine skiing events (giant slalom and slalom) at the 1994 Winter Olympics; the speed events were held at Kvitfjell, a regular stop on the World Cup tour for men's speed events in March. Hafjell occasionally hosts World Cup slalom and giant slalom races, last in 2006 (women) and 1996 (men's and women's finals).
At the 1948 Winter Olympics in St. Moritz, Switzerland, the six alpine skiing events were held on Piz Nair from Monday, 2 February to Thursday, 5 February 1948.
After these games, the giant slalom was added and the combined event was dropped as an Olympic medal event for four decades, until 1988. From 1956 through 1980, the combined continued as an FIS medal event for the concurrent World Championships, using the results from three events, conducted as a "paper race."
Alpine Skiing at the 1980 Winter Olympics consisted of six alpine skiing events. The races were held February 14–23 at Whiteface Mountain in Wilmington, New York, northeast of host Lake Placid.
This was the first Olympics in which the women's giant slalom consisted of two runs, rather than one, and both GS events ran only one run per day. This was the last Olympics which also served as World Championships for alpine skiing.
Jure Franko () (born 28 March 1962 in Nova Gorica) is a Slovenian-Yugoslav former alpine skier, best known for winning a giant slalom silver medal at the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo.
Jure Franko was born and raised in Nova Gorica, a city in Slovenia at the border with Italy. Franko competed in giant slalom and super giant slalom events, and reached the peak of his skiing career in the 1983–84 season. On 14 February 1984, at the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo, he won a silver medal in giant slalom. This was the first Winter Olympics medal ever for Yugoslavia. Franko was at the 4th position after the first leg of the giant slalom, and delivered the fastest time of the second leg, bringing him to second place overall (Max Julen from Switzerland took gold).
Slalom is an alpine skiing and alpine snowboarding discipline, involving skiing between poles or gates. These are spaced more closely than those in giant slalom, super giant slalom and downhill, necessitating quicker and shorter turns. Internationally, the sport is contested at the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships, and at the Olympic Winter Games.
Para-alpine skiing is an adaptation of alpine skiing for athletes with a disability. The sport evolved from the efforts of disabled veterans in Germany and Austria during and after the Second World War. The sport is governed by the International Paralympic Committee Sports Committee. The primary equipment used includes outrigger skis, sit-skis, and mono-skis. Para-alpine skiing disciplines include the downhill, super-G, giant slalom, slalom, super combined, and snowboard.
Para-alpine skiing classification is the classification system for para-alpine skiing designed to ensure fair competition between alpine skiers with different types of disabilities. The classifications are grouped into three general disability types: standing, blind and sitting. A factoring system was created for para-alpine skiing to allow the three classification groupings to fairly compete against each other in the same race despite different functional skiing levels and medical challenges.
Alpine skiing at the 1988 Winter Olympics consisted of ten alpine skiing events, held February 15–27 at Nakiska on Mount Allan,a new ski area west of Calgary.
These Olympics featured the first change in the alpine skiing program in more than 30 years. The Super-G was added and the combined event returned; it was last contested at the Winter Olympics in 1948, prior to the addition of the giant slalom.