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BORMIO, Italy — 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. Italian veteran Christof Innerhofer has competed at four Olympics and 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. The Stelvio is a notoriously unforgiving track and further complicated by shaded sections. It is one of the most demanding on the circuit, at almost 3,230 meters long with a 986-meter vertical drop and a maximum gradient of 63%.
