1.   As is often the case before conventional Alpine events, the course officials here watered down the course and packed it over the weekend.

2.   Austrians have dominated the Alpine events in the early weeks.

3.   Before the premier alpine event of the Winter Games began, most superstar competitors were resting in trailers, or their Snowbasin cabins, visualizing the run or stretching.

4.   For the first time, the alpine events were held on artificial snow.

5.   From Jean-Claude Killy to Franz Klammer to Picabo Street to Hermann Maier, the alpine skiing events frequently bestow upon an Olympic Games its enduring glamour names.

6.   It was the second Alpine event to be put off since the Games began last weekend.

7.   Last year Todd Zeile started as slowly as the Alpine skiing events at the Winter Olympics in Nagano.

8.   Parabolic skis, with their deep sidecuts and superior maneuverability in turns, have become standard issue in the alpine event of giant slalom.

9.   Skiers will compete in the downhill, super-G, giant slalom, slalom and an alpine combined event that includes a downhill and two slalom races.

10.   Slalom is frequently a finesse event with gates set on a course that is flat compared to the other Alpine events.