Olympic-Alpine skiing-Men's downhill sold out as Bormio prepares to award first gold

BORMIO, Italy, Feb 6 : A sell‑out crowd is expected to pack the stands for Saturday's men's downhill in the Italian village of Bormio, underscoring the enduring pull of Alpine skiing's marquee event, the first to assign gold at the Milan Cortina Winter Games.

Some 7,000 paying spectators are due in the resort to watch the world's top skiers charge down the steep Stelvio course at speeds of up to 150 kph, organisers said. Fans will gather at the newly built Stelvio Ski Centre at the finish. 

Of these, about 5,000 will follow the race along the course, while about 2,000 will sit in the large spectator grandstand and a few more in lounges. Tickets went for between 100 ($118.11) and 220 euros.

The other Alpine skiing races hosted in Bormio were also sold out with just a few seats remaining for the combined skiing event on Monday and for the ski mountaineering events.

"Just a week ago, there were no tickets left along the course," Sergio Schena, a board member of the Fondazione Milano Cortina 2026, which organised the Games, told Reuters. "Bormio is practically sold out."  

By contrast, some tickets for the freestyle skiing and snowboarding events in nearby Livigno were still available even on the eve of the Games. The higher number of medal events in Livigno, combined with multiple qualifying rounds, has kept demand more subdued.

Organisers offered discounted tickets for some of those sessions. "There are 26 medal events in Livigno, and all of them have qualifying rounds, so the promotion applied to some of those," Schena said.

($1 = 0.8467 euros)