Snow Skills

Today is the Men’s Combined Event at the Torino 2006 Games; the racers will compete in both a downhill and a slalom course. The downhill event will be first followed by the slalom, with the medals going to the racers who can show a broad range of skills by being fast in both. The challenge of fhe Combined is that these two events have very little in common except that they’re both alpine skiing. It takes an extra special skier to be able to excel at two disimilar activities in the same day; we can learn alot about skiing skills by watching the Combined and comparing how the racers change their movements between the downhill and slalom.

The Downhill event is all about speed and there are certain skills that downhillers exaggerate balance and edging to generate that speed. Notice that their stance is generally lower in that their legs are almost always bent, their torso is tilted forward at the waist, and their arms are generally forward and at the sides of their body. This stance gives them extraordinary dynamic balance for going really fast on steep, uneven terrain. Notice that their legs have a “Z” shape in that the knees are almost always ahead of the feet. This position keeps them forward, at the cost of less leg steering ability. And note that their bodies take a different path down the course from their legs such that their feet are rarely directly under their hips. Rather, their feet are usually well out to the side from under their body, as a result of using very high edge angles from the knees, ankles, and hip. These high edge angles take more time to engage and release, so they are ideal for longer turns at high speed.

The Slalom event is all about quickness and that requires skills that develops athletic steering to generate that quickness. Notice that their stance is generally taller in that their legs stay relatively long, their torso remains upright, and their arms are in front of their body. This stance gives them extraordinary versatility in their movements. Notice that their feet are generally right underneath their bodies, giving them more leverage in the legs to steer their skis. And their bodies and feet take a similar route down the course, such that they use low edge angles through their ankles and knees, but not their hip. Their edging comes in short pulses, consistent with the quick duration of a slalom turn.

Either way, Combined racers show amazing skiing skills. Use your visual skills to evaluate how these skills vary from long to short turns and try to apply them in your own skiing.