Leading the group of top male skiers in the FIS Alpine Ski World Cup is Marcel Hirscher, a record-holder with eight Overall Crystal Globes. Ingemar Stenmark held the record for the greatest number of 86 World Cup wins. Marco Odermatt, Alexis Pinturault, along with Aleksander Aadmot Kilde and Hirscher, round out the group of active skiers in this elite selection.

The 2006 Olympic Games were particularly satisfactory for the Austrian skiers winning a total of 14 medals. Two skiers from Austria won two gold medals in Turin: Michaela Dorfmeister and Benjamin Raich. Dorfmeister won the gold medal in the Downhill and the Super-G. Raich won gold medals in Slalom and Giant Slalom.

In the Salt Lake City Olympic Winter Games, Janica Kostelic was to become the first woman to win four alpine skiing medals at the same Games, and her three golds were also an unprecedented achievement in the sport.

The Games were the first to be held in a different year from the Summer Olympics, the first and only one to be held two years after the previous Winter Games, and the most recent to be held in a small town. The Games were the second Winter Games hosted in Norway, after the 1952 Winter Olympics in Oslo.

Petra Kronberger of Austria led the individual medal table with two gold medals in Slalom and the Alpine Combined, while Alberto Tomba of Italy was the most successful male skier with two medals, one gold in Giant Slalom and one silver in the Slalom.

Kjetil André Aamodt has won 8 Olympic medals, 12 World Championship gold medals, and 21 individual World Cup races.