The winter Olympic sports season is here

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It's the first day of December, and the winter Olympic sports season is hitting us like an early snowfall. Here are the key events to watch this weekend:

Alpine skiing: Canada's only World Cup stop

After a long absence, the alpine World Cup returns to Mont-Tremblant for a pair of women's giant slalom races on Saturday and Sunday. The Quebec resort is replacing Alberta's Lake Louise, which was dropped from the circuit after a decades-long run.

The Canadian to watch is local favourite Valérie Grenier, who won a gold and a bronze in giant slaloms last season and has finished in the top seven four straight times.

The top men's ski racers are at Colorado's Beaver Creek for what they hope is the first downhill of the season. The original opener in Switzerland last month was cancelled due to bad weather, and today's race was nixed too. They'll try it again Saturday, followed by a super-G on Sunday.

Canada's Jack Crawford is coming off an excellent season in which the 2022 Olympic bronze medallist in the combined event reached three World Cup podiums and won the super-G world title. Cameron Alexander is also a medal threat after taking bronze in the downhill at the world championships.

Alpine Canada said today that men's racer Broderick Thompson suffered head injuries but was "alert" and in "stable" condition after crashing during a downhill training run on Wednesday.

Speed skating: World Cup shifts to Europe

After a week off following the season-opening Asian leg, the World Cup tour resumed today in Norway. Defending women's mass start champion Ivanie Blondin missed the