World Cup events in Bormio show why men's downhill at 2026 Olympics will be among toughest ever

The weekend's ski racing in Bormio showed precisely why the men's downhill for the 2026 Olympics will be one of the toughest in the past 30 years.

American skier Bryce Bennett says he has "trauma" from racing down the fearsome Stelvio slope, while Italian veteran Christof Innerhofer — who has competed at four Olympics — can't remember a tougher course.

The difficulty was highlighted by a number of crashes during the World Cup weekend and three skiers had to be airlifted to a hospital — including French standout Cyprien Sarrazin, who needed surgery to drain bleeding on the brain.

The Milan-Cortina Olympics will see the Games return to Europe after the three previous editions were held in Russia, South Korea and China. The men's Alpine skiing events will take place in Bormio, while the women's will be held in Cortina d'Ampezzo. The two ski areas are separated by a five-hour car ride.

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"For sure will be special because the last Olympic Games was far away from here," said the 40-year-old Innerhofer, who won silver and bronze in the downhill and combined, respectively, in Sochi in 2014.

"In the past 12 or 16 years you've had some really tough slope like Sochi, some easier slope like Korea, some medium slope like China. But this one will be a tough one. This will be the toughest one I think for the last 30 years."

Unrelenting, knee-rattling, complicated by shaded sections and producing speeds touching 140 kph (87 mph), the Stelvio is a notoriously unforgiving track.

"Here it's really the limit," Innerhofer said. "Nobody can imagine how difficult to ski down: with the light, with the speed,