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

BORMIO, Italy (AP) — 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.

“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, with the bumps, with the jumps.”

It is one of the most physically demanding on the circuit, at almost 3,230 meters long with a 986-meter vertical drop and a maximum gradient of 63%.

“I remember growing up and like, old guys would just not come here. And now I get older and I … get it,” said the 32-year-old Bennett, who finished fourth in a downhill in 2018 in Bormio, but hasn’t finished inside the top 30 on the Stelvio since.

“It’s like I just have had such bad feelings here the last three years and I haven’t quite been able to shake it. I would call it like trauma almost a little bit. And so I’m trying to work through it. It’s like you got to take risk in the right way and be confident in the skiing and the feeling and it’s just hard to find here for me at the moment.”

The downhill is an event so speedy and dangerous to begin with that it’s the only one where athletes usually are given two opportunities to take practice runs before a race.

It was on Friday's second training run that Sarrazin had his crash, leading his teammate Nils Allègre to lambast organizers, saying “they don’t know how to prepare a course.”

He even went as far as to add “they don’t deserve to have the Olympic Games here.”

Race director Omar Galli refuted those claims and highlighted that the organizers have “significantly upgraded safety features” and will further enhance those for the Olympics.

Three-time defending overall champion Marco Odermatt was more diplomatic about the difficulties of the slope.

“The Stelvio is like a constant fight for survival,” the reigning downhill champion said. “The big problem: 80% of the course is completely icy; 20% consists of aggressive snow.

“This irregularity makes it difficult to do the right thing with the skis. Yes, it is a fight for survival from start to finish.”

The major advantage the Olympics will have over the World Cup is that the events in Bormio will take place in February and not in December.

That will help with the uniformity of the slope and, more importantly, the notoriously dark Stelvio piste will be mostly in the sun.

The last time it was raced in February was at the 2005 world championships, where the downhill finished in an American one-two after Daron Rahlves finished runner-up to Bode Miller.

“I am excited to ski this in the sun,” Bennett said. “It’s so dark. So having a little bit of light on the course, I think it will be fun to ski and I’ve heard that from former athletes, like Bode and Daron. They’re like ‘it’s easy in the sun!’ I don’t think it’s easy, but it’s easier than it is.”

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Italy's Christof Innerhofer speeds down the course during an alpine ski, men's World Cup downhill race, in Bormio, Italy, Saturday, Dec. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Gabriele Facciotti)

Emergencies helicopter takes Switzerland's Gino Caviezel to the hospital after his fall during an alpine ski, men's World Cup Super G race, in Bormio, Italy, Sunday, Dec. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)

Switzerland's Marco Odermatt is airborn during an alpine ski, men's World Cup downhill training, in Bormio, Italy, Friday, Dec. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Gabriele Facciotti)

Austria's Daniel Hemetsberger speeds down the course during an alpine ski, men's World Cup downhill training, in Bormio, Italy, Friday, Dec. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Gabriele Facciotti)

Switzerland's Marco Odermatt speeds down the course during an alpine ski, men's World Cup Super G race, in Bormio, Italy, Sunday, Dec. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Gabriele Facciotti)

Medical staff are helping France's Cyprien Sarrazin after crashing into protections net during an alpine ski, men's World Cup downhill training, in Bormio, Italy, Friday, Dec. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Alessandro Trovati)

Medical staff are carrying France's Cyprien Sarrazin after crashing into protections net during an alpine ski, men's World Cup downhill training, in Bormio, Italy, Friday, Dec. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Alessandro Trovati)

France's Cyprien Sarrazin is airborn during an alpine ski, men's World Cup downhill training, in Bormio, Italy, Friday, Dec. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Gabriele Facciotti)

CETINJE, Montenegro (AP) — Shock and dismay prevailed in Montenegro on Thursday after a gunman fatally shot 12 people, including two children, in a western town before killing himself.

At least four others were wounded in the shooting rampage in Cetinje on Wednesday that followed a bar brawl, officials said. This was the second such incident in the town in the past three years.

The shooter, identified as 45-year-old Aco Martinović, killed the owner of the bar, the bar owner's children and his own family members, officials have said.

The attacker, who first fled after the rampage, was later located and surrounded by police. He died after shooting himself in the head, Interior Minister Danilo Šaranović said.

Residents of Cetinje, a town of some 17,000 people, were stunned and grief-stricken.

"I knew all of these people personally, also the attacker. I think when he did that, he was out of his mind," said Vesko Milošević, a retiree from Cetnje. "What do I know, he went from place to place and killed people. Its a catastrophe.”

Vanja Popović, whose relatives are among the victims, said that “we are all in shock.”

“How can I feel after this?" Popović said. "No one expected it. You can’t even ask anyone anything.”

Police had dispatched a special unit to search for the attacker in the town, which is located about 30 kilometers (18 miles) northwest of Podgorica, the capital. All roads in and out of the city were blocked for hours as police swarmed the streets.

Šaranović said that the shooter had died while being taken to a hospital in the capital and succumbed from the “severity of his injuries.”

Officials have said that the attacker was at the bar throughout the day with other guests when the brawl erupted. He then went home, brought back a weapon and opened fire at around 5:30 p.m.

Prosecutor Andrijana Nastić said Thursday that the attacker went to six locations during the shooting rampage, including the last one, where he shot himself.

Four men were killed at the bar, Nastić said. The shooter then moved on to another location where he killed four more people, and then two children at a third site. He then went on to kill two more people at two other locations before eventually shooting himself, Nastić said.

“Further investigation will determine the exact circumstances of the events,” she added.

The government has declared three days of national mourning starting on Thursday, and all planned New Year's festivities have been canceled throughout the country.

Prime Minister Milojko Spajić said that the government may try to impose a total ban on weapons “because we must ask ourselves after this who should be allowed to have guns in Montenegro.”

The small Adriatic Sea nation, which has a population of around 620,000 people, is known for its gun culture and many people traditionally have weapons.

In August 2022 in Cetinje, which is Montenegro’s historic capital, an attacker killed 10 people, including two children, before he was shot and killed by a passerby.

Police have said that the suspect in Wednesday's shooting received a suspended sentence in 2005 for violent behavior and had appealed his latest conviction for illegal weapons possession. Montenegrin media have reported that he was known for erratic and violent behavior.

“Instead of holiday joy ... we have been gripped by sadness over the loss of innocent lives,” Montenegro's President Jakov Milatović said in a post on X.

Jovana Gec and Dušan Stojanović contributed to this report from Belgrade, Serbia.

Rescue workers work at the site of a shooting in Cetinje, 36 kilometers (22 miles) west of Podogrica, Montenegro, Wednesday, Jan 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Risto Bozovic)

Police investigators work at the site of a shooting in Cetinje, 36 kilometers (22 miles) west of Podogrica, Montenegro, Wednesday, Jan 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Risto Bozovic)

Police investigators work at the site of a shooting in Cetinje, 36 kilometers (22 miles) west of Podogrica, Montenegro, Wednesday, Jan 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Risto Bozovic)