by Jeffrey Ober

Created on: January 11, 2010

The 2010 Olympic alpine ski events will be exciting to watch. These events happen at a high speed and the slightest mistake can mean the competitor is completely out and will have to wait four more years for another chance at Olympic gold. As usual, however, the top international competitors are from countries with a long history of skiing and winning alpine events.

Women:

Anja Paerson, from Sweeden, is a true champion in alpine skiing. She has earned Olympic medals in nearly every alpine skiing event. She is still strong, but at age 28, this may be her last Olympics. She looks to end her time in style and will be hoping for more than one gold.

Maria Riesch, from Germany, has five slalom wins in the past couple years. She is the number one competitor to Paerson and whichever one of these two women does not win gold in the slalom will likely get the silver.

Tina Maze, from Slovenia has been skiing hard in the past year and has come close to winning a number of world competitions. If she is on and the others stumble in the least, Tina will step into the void. It is unlikely Tina will go home without any medals.

Marlies Schild, from Austria, is attempting to return from a broken leg. She has a large number of victories in numerous world cup events, but has yet to win a gold medal. At age 27, this may be her last chance.

Men:

Benjamin Raich, from Austria, is an incredible alpine skiier. He won two gold medals in 2006, and he has high hopes on getting even more in 2010. He follows the strong history of Austrian athletes who have dominated the alpine events since the events started in the Olympics.

Didier Cuche, from Switzerland, is breaking all sorts of rules, still competing at the Olypmic level at age 35. He placed first and second in 2009 World Cup events, and he hopes to show more ability in Vancouver.

Daniel Albrecht, from Switzerland, may be the biggest come back story of the 2010 Olympics. In January, 2009, he had a horrible crash while on a training run. He fell backwards and landed on his back and head. He was in a coma for three weeks and he had no memory of the crash or even that he was a good skier. However, in June, he re-joined the ski team and hopes to compete in the 2010 Olympics.

Alpine skiing events start on February 13, 2010 with the men's downhill and continues nearly every day of the Olympics ending on February 27th with the men's slalom. Be sure to watch for these names as you're watching those events!

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