So it's been a while since I posted anything, the piece below is 6 months old, and I've been very lax on getting anything decent up here. Of course I have an excuse, in November I moved from Sky over to the BBC and more recently moved my life across the country from London to Manchester.
A welcome return to the north, I've now got all my ski and board stuff up in Manchester and Chill Factore on my doorstep as well as Snozone in Leeds where I've got some friends who ride every week. I've been repping for Off The Piste and was lucky enough to start landing 360s off red kickers in Les Arcs in January (slicing my little finger in the process).
So it's been a lot of change, I have to say I love my job, and I'm getting used to Manchester. I don't know this area at all, and after 4 weeks completely taking advantage of a friend, i'm in my new place and have proceeded to fill it with my roadbike and all manner of extreme sports equipment (climbing harness anyone) my poor housemate doesn't know what to think.
So i've seen a bit of the Burton European Open and next up is the X Games in Tignes, as well as all the photos from ISPO with next season's gear (need to win the lottery!) so expect a little more from me from now on.
Cheers!
Friday 2 March 2012
Shaped Skis DSQ by FIS
This has been chilling on my hard drive for some time, it's a bit out of date, but might as well get it up:
The 11-12 season will be marked by many racers in the top two tiers of racing as a watershed moment for the technical giant slalom specialist, upcoming equipment rulings from the governing body FIS are looming on the horizon which many feel are a forced step back from the development of the shaped ski and technique that places emphasis on carved turns.
The governing body has changed legal length and radius of the GS Ski, increasing for men from 185cm to 195cm and for the women there is an increase of 8cm taking them to a minimum length of 188cm. If the length was the only issue there would be little complaint, but combine this with a change in turn radius (how big the arc of the turn is) and this will signal a serious change in skiing technique.
The changes have been brought in to improve safety and reduce injury on the hill after a series of crashes and serious injuries; however they have been met with serious opposition from not only athletes, but entire coaching teams and suppliers. Head who sponsor most of the American ski team have already made their feelings clear by announcing they will not be producing race skis with the new dimensions which will have a knock on effect through their elite athletes who must now seek a new sponsor.
The money required to develop the new skis and new boots which will complement them will total millions of euros, not to mention that when this is enforced at junior level, will require a completely new set up for many young racers who are more often than not, self-funded, thus making it difficult for the current crop of juniors in development squads to make the big step up to Europa and World cup level.
The people who will be most affected by this change won’t be the world cup racers, they have sponsors, technical coaching staff and time on the hill and for some they will have memories of racing on this kind of ski in their days as a junior. The real victims of this change are current young junior skiers and those on the race circuit who will make the step up to Europa and World Cup in the 13/14 season and so will be racing on the new skis for the first time as they are not legal for FIS races below Europa Cup until 13/14 and by that point the two elite competitions will have had a season racing on them.
Look even further below people who are challenging for the top level of the sport and juniors who have always relied on a shaped ski with side cut to help carve turns will have to learn how to turn a straighter, longer ski. This is fantastic news if you are a bigger built racer but for smaller racers it will essentially render them uncompetitive, particularly in the girl’s competition.
Female racers like Lindsey Vonn who races on the longest men’s ski possible and Anja Paerson who was known for her explosive power are the kind of women who will be able to adapt to the new changes and turning style but the shorter, more agile racers may struggle to drive power through the turn and carry speed, particularly through a tight GS course.
Any racer who has stood at the top of La Face in Val d’Isere or has watched the event will know that athletes are constantly pushing themselves to the edge, and there is a serious worry that this combined with a less forgiving ski will in fact have the opposite effect to the one intended by FIS; injury prevention.
Financially it is move that will close the sport off even further to potential athletes who rely on donations and frequently parental support to get them new equipment each season. The step up from Child to Junior regulations means for most racers at least 5 new pairs of factory race skis, add into this mix a large body of junior racers who will now have to reinvest in another new set, and there is a pretty hefty bill to be settled at the end of it.
There is also a concern that these changes and the hindrance in the development arm will push many prospective young athletes into the less regulated world of freestyle and free skiing where there is little to legislate what equipment can and can’t be used and there is much higher financial reward in the top tier of the sport.
There have been serious objections raised by Ted Ligety who has been increasingly vocal through his blog (http://www.tedligety.com/) talking about the ‘Tyranny of FIS’ and how many racers feel their hands are tied by the new rules. He alludes that the research was not thorough enough, an opinion echoed by his team mate Julia Mancuso who says that the research for Women was non-existent, and that the new safer skis will in fact cause more injury as the force required to turn the skis in a tight GS course can result in a very jerky style with serious pressure on the knees and lower leg region.
Another American, Warner Nickerson put a video online of a run with the new skis (http://warnernickerson.com/2011/08/28/40-meter-gs-video/ ) and was far from complimentary, claiming it was the ‘most painful run he had ever done’ and agreeing with statements from other racers that this was setting back skiing technology. Jon Olsson was also vocal on the subject when he said that athletes will be skiing on equipment that is less advanced compared to equipment available to the public in shops. If FIS want safety, they should look to make the rules more flexible so racers can tailor their set up to their style and size making them more manageable and give them the ability to work with manufacturers in developing a fast but safe set of equipment.
Olsson who is known more for his freestyle and free skiing also posted on his blog about how if the concern is safety, there are a number of better ways to achieve this goal by making better rulings on weather and snow conditions as well as course setting and lengths. Most injuries are not directly related to equipment, but rather a combination of taking risks in dangerous conditions on world cup slopes which have been poorly maintained.
Of course every decision has its supporters and Benjamin Raich and Hannes Reichelt have both stated that they are behind FIS on this decision, although cynically they would both benefit from the changes as heavier more powerful racers who have previous experience with a longer, straighter ski.
If there is to be any movement on this decision the community needs to work as a whole, and there have been rumours of a large number athletes next season skiing on illegal equipment to force FIS to disqualify the main body of the competitive field, however with new sanctions being taken against outspoken athletes (Jon Olsson is subject to review for his blog post and helmet sticker stating that ‘FIS Sucks’) it will probably come to nothing. In a sport that rarely bands together, many of the teams have been united by the proposed changes and a petition and consultation session in Soelden last month saw the Austrian and US Ski Teams reject the changes and get the reduction from 40m to a 35m radius, but this still is not considered to be enough.
Ted Ligety did a trial run with some prototypes from Head and came out with faster results, although he said that skiing on them was not a pleasant experience, and that surely if they make him faster, combined with the change in technique, they will end up more dangerous.
It looks unlikely that FIS will rescind the decision following the reduction, and so this will mark the end of the intense carved turns seen on the world cup circuit, for turn which can look skidded and clunky in the changeover. For some of the older athletes this could mark the end of the career as the benefits of working to adapt technique for the new equipment are not enough to pursue the rigorous training required. Sochi 2014 is not close enough to act as an incentive, and so there could be a number of new faces on the block come 2012 and this season will be one that everyone looks to stake their claim on before it’s all change.
The 11-12 season will be marked by many racers in the top two tiers of racing as a watershed moment for the technical giant slalom specialist, upcoming equipment rulings from the governing body FIS are looming on the horizon which many feel are a forced step back from the development of the shaped ski and technique that places emphasis on carved turns.
The governing body has changed legal length and radius of the GS Ski, increasing for men from 185cm to 195cm and for the women there is an increase of 8cm taking them to a minimum length of 188cm. If the length was the only issue there would be little complaint, but combine this with a change in turn radius (how big the arc of the turn is) and this will signal a serious change in skiing technique.
The changes have been brought in to improve safety and reduce injury on the hill after a series of crashes and serious injuries; however they have been met with serious opposition from not only athletes, but entire coaching teams and suppliers. Head who sponsor most of the American ski team have already made their feelings clear by announcing they will not be producing race skis with the new dimensions which will have a knock on effect through their elite athletes who must now seek a new sponsor.
The money required to develop the new skis and new boots which will complement them will total millions of euros, not to mention that when this is enforced at junior level, will require a completely new set up for many young racers who are more often than not, self-funded, thus making it difficult for the current crop of juniors in development squads to make the big step up to Europa and World cup level.
The people who will be most affected by this change won’t be the world cup racers, they have sponsors, technical coaching staff and time on the hill and for some they will have memories of racing on this kind of ski in their days as a junior. The real victims of this change are current young junior skiers and those on the race circuit who will make the step up to Europa and World Cup in the 13/14 season and so will be racing on the new skis for the first time as they are not legal for FIS races below Europa Cup until 13/14 and by that point the two elite competitions will have had a season racing on them.
Look even further below people who are challenging for the top level of the sport and juniors who have always relied on a shaped ski with side cut to help carve turns will have to learn how to turn a straighter, longer ski. This is fantastic news if you are a bigger built racer but for smaller racers it will essentially render them uncompetitive, particularly in the girl’s competition.
Female racers like Lindsey Vonn who races on the longest men’s ski possible and Anja Paerson who was known for her explosive power are the kind of women who will be able to adapt to the new changes and turning style but the shorter, more agile racers may struggle to drive power through the turn and carry speed, particularly through a tight GS course.
Any racer who has stood at the top of La Face in Val d’Isere or has watched the event will know that athletes are constantly pushing themselves to the edge, and there is a serious worry that this combined with a less forgiving ski will in fact have the opposite effect to the one intended by FIS; injury prevention.
Financially it is move that will close the sport off even further to potential athletes who rely on donations and frequently parental support to get them new equipment each season. The step up from Child to Junior regulations means for most racers at least 5 new pairs of factory race skis, add into this mix a large body of junior racers who will now have to reinvest in another new set, and there is a pretty hefty bill to be settled at the end of it.
There is also a concern that these changes and the hindrance in the development arm will push many prospective young athletes into the less regulated world of freestyle and free skiing where there is little to legislate what equipment can and can’t be used and there is much higher financial reward in the top tier of the sport.
There have been serious objections raised by Ted Ligety who has been increasingly vocal through his blog (http://www.tedligety.com/) talking about the ‘Tyranny of FIS’ and how many racers feel their hands are tied by the new rules. He alludes that the research was not thorough enough, an opinion echoed by his team mate Julia Mancuso who says that the research for Women was non-existent, and that the new safer skis will in fact cause more injury as the force required to turn the skis in a tight GS course can result in a very jerky style with serious pressure on the knees and lower leg region.
Another American, Warner Nickerson put a video online of a run with the new skis (http://warnernickerson.com/2011/08/28/40-meter-gs-video/ ) and was far from complimentary, claiming it was the ‘most painful run he had ever done’ and agreeing with statements from other racers that this was setting back skiing technology. Jon Olsson was also vocal on the subject when he said that athletes will be skiing on equipment that is less advanced compared to equipment available to the public in shops. If FIS want safety, they should look to make the rules more flexible so racers can tailor their set up to their style and size making them more manageable and give them the ability to work with manufacturers in developing a fast but safe set of equipment.
Olsson who is known more for his freestyle and free skiing also posted on his blog about how if the concern is safety, there are a number of better ways to achieve this goal by making better rulings on weather and snow conditions as well as course setting and lengths. Most injuries are not directly related to equipment, but rather a combination of taking risks in dangerous conditions on world cup slopes which have been poorly maintained.
Of course every decision has its supporters and Benjamin Raich and Hannes Reichelt have both stated that they are behind FIS on this decision, although cynically they would both benefit from the changes as heavier more powerful racers who have previous experience with a longer, straighter ski.
If there is to be any movement on this decision the community needs to work as a whole, and there have been rumours of a large number athletes next season skiing on illegal equipment to force FIS to disqualify the main body of the competitive field, however with new sanctions being taken against outspoken athletes (Jon Olsson is subject to review for his blog post and helmet sticker stating that ‘FIS Sucks’) it will probably come to nothing. In a sport that rarely bands together, many of the teams have been united by the proposed changes and a petition and consultation session in Soelden last month saw the Austrian and US Ski Teams reject the changes and get the reduction from 40m to a 35m radius, but this still is not considered to be enough.
Ted Ligety did a trial run with some prototypes from Head and came out with faster results, although he said that skiing on them was not a pleasant experience, and that surely if they make him faster, combined with the change in technique, they will end up more dangerous.
It looks unlikely that FIS will rescind the decision following the reduction, and so this will mark the end of the intense carved turns seen on the world cup circuit, for turn which can look skidded and clunky in the changeover. For some of the older athletes this could mark the end of the career as the benefits of working to adapt technique for the new equipment are not enough to pursue the rigorous training required. Sochi 2014 is not close enough to act as an incentive, and so there could be a number of new faces on the block come 2012 and this season will be one that everyone looks to stake their claim on before it’s all change.
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