Women's downhill at Beijing 2022 Olympics: Preview, schedule & stars to watch

The downhill is considered the 'king event' in the alpine skiing programme and the women's race will be one of the most anticipated competitions at the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games.

The event is scheduled for Tuesday (15 February) at 11:00 local time (04:00am CET, 19:00 PST on Monday) and takes place on the Rock course at the Yanqing National Skiing Centre, located at around 100km North of the Chinese capital.

The track used by the women features a lower start and is around 400m shorter (2,704m vs. 3,152m) than the men's course.

Switzerland's Priska Nufer and Joana Haehlen were the fastest in the two training runs held the day before the event after a snowfall caused the cancellation of the practice on Sunday.

Defending champion Sofia Goggia will try to become on the second athlete after German Katja Seizinger (1994-1998) to retain an Olympic title in downhill.

At PyeongChang 2018 the Italian became the first skier from her country to win the event since 1952 (Zeno Colò).

Goggia suffered a crash in Cortina on 23 January and had a race against the clock to compete at her second Winter Games.

Since 1948, Canada's Kerrin-Lee Gartner (1992) and USA's Lindsey Vonn (2010) have been the only non-European skiers to win gold in downhill.

Sofia Goggia (ITA): The defending champion, and 2021 globe winner, has been dominant in World Cup with four wins out of five events raced this 2021/22 season, but hasn't competed since her crash in late January.

Lara Gut-Behrami (SUI): Given the uncertainty over Goggia's fitness, the 30-year-old Swiss will probably be the woman to beat, as she's looking for her third medal at Beijing 2022 after gold in Super G and bronze in Giant Slalom. A bronze medallist both at Sochi 2014 and the 2021