Tag Archives: FIS World Cup Skiing

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The Solden Kickoff

Laura Gut Behrami from Switzerland wins the first Women’s World Cup GS on the Rettenbach Glacier

One of the cool things about watching ski racing on TV, especially the kickoff in Solden, Austria, is it gets you excited for the upcoming ski season. Now I don’t need much encouragement to get excited for ski season, but watching the races on TV definitely gets your amp meter up and running. However, the interesting thing about the coverage is that there is technically so much going on that enables you to see the turns in slow motion as well as from above with the new drone photography. The coverage has become so much better with the advances in broadcasting at race venues.

Drone photography of Mikaela Shiffrin’s run.

I like to watch the turns to see exactly how the World Cup racers do it. The slow motion definitely helps the visual but the new drone coverage from above the skier on the way down the course enables to you see their body position as well as the bending of both skis in the turn. Drone photography has been such an improvement. This fall, I spoke to the drone engineers at the World Cup Mountain Bike races in Snowshoe, West Virginia and they had some interesting things to say. First of all, they told me that they programmed the course GPS coordinates in the drone logic so that the drone has a definite path on the way down the course. It is also locked into the rider and the GPS course lock enables those great shots down the course in the middle of the woods. A little easier with skiing because the racecourse is open and the drone can fly unobstructed. They might not need the GPS technology but then again, they might. In any event, it has been a really good enhancement to the ski coverage.

Petra Vlhova from Slovakia in slow motion action

Peacock, the streaming platform for NBC, is contracted to broadcast all Austrian races as well as the World Cup races in the US. The women’s races at Killington are next on the docket Thanksgiving weekend. All other races are able to be viewed on www. skiandsnowboard.live This is a subscription based streaming platform which is not very expensive and enables the enthusiast to see basically all the other races. Kind of a shame that the mainstream sports broadcasting does not jump on board seeing that the winningest ski racer of all time is in her prime right now and is an American- Mikaela Shiffrin. But, I will log into Peacock and the subscription based platform because I am a fan.

Leader board is so tight.

One thing that you do notice when looking at the leader board is how close the races are. I mean, Federica Brignone of Italy lost the race by .02 seconds to Laura Gut Behrami. This was over two runs. It shows you that the slightest slip or loss of concentration can put you out of the win or out of the top ten. Technique is so important and for that matter, a little luck never hurts either. The men’s race was cancelled due to a winter storm that made it impossible to race. But watching the women is great because their technique is solid and their fitness is apparent.

Paula Moltzan of the US in slow motion.

You know, it is never too late to teach an old dog new tricks. My friend Eric has been working with me on lowering my stance and using both skis in the turn. He wants me to ski a little wider, but I have to stand where it is comfortable and try to work both skis from a comfortable stance without the old “A Frame” technique. Tough to change after so many years of skiing “old school.” But watching the races and seeing the new technique, enabled by equipment that gives you a fighting chance……well, just maybe I can change. I won’t be able to do it like the World Cuppers, but I can at least improve my 62 year old technique. Yes- that is how long I have been skiing. Yikes! Thanks for reading and watch Paula and Mikaela. You will learn something.

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Head to Head, Flat Out Racing

As I licked my wounds from skiing another day in the rain locally, and longing for my upcoming western ski trips, I settled into the Olympic Channel DVR and watched the World Cup Women’s Dual GS Races from Sestriere, Italy. It has been so much fun to watch and is a real spectator friendly format that is re-igniting interest especially the night events in recent seasons on the World Cup. The World Pro Skiing Tour has also had a resurgence with a nation wide televised schedule. Ted Ligety, our Olympic giant slalom gold medalist and World Cup GS champion,  even competed recently in Eldora, Colorado during a brief respite from his World Cup schedule. Head to head is exciting and today I want to go back a few years when I had some brief experience with this format.

A number of years ago, my mother’s cousin, Bill Carroll, was working for one of the beverage companies at the time. They were sponsoring the Peugeot Pro Skiing Tour stop at Camelback over in the Pocono Mountains of Eastern Pa. Bill told me that he wanted my sister and I to attend and enter the Pro-Am event. We were of course thrilled and were treated to all the amenities of the event with Bill holding court along with his sons, Jack, Patrick, and Jimmy. All characters from Philly who made us laugh the whole weekend. Fast forward to the event day, we saw the course and it’s two massive jumps. The amateurs who were entered into the event were told by the Peugeot Tour representatives that they did not have to ski the jumps, just go to the side where alternate gates were set up. For the event,my sister and I were paired with Kurt and Kent Belden, two pros who hailed from Pico, Vermont and were regular winners and competitors on the Tour. After being introduced before the event, the Beldens asked Molly and I to ski with them and they told me on the chair lift that they wanted me to ski the jumps. I was of course hesitant but they assured me that they would train me and give me the nuances of trying to negotiate the jumps and make the next gate without crashing and burning. My sister, who is an excellent skier, bowed out and decided not to do the jumps. However, I was shamed into taking them on and off I went with the Beldens for my training.

Slovakia’s Petra Vhlova (L) clears the gate on her way to win, during the final against Sweden’s Anna Swen-Larsson in the Women’s parallel slalom race at the FIS Alpine ski World Cup in St. Moritz, on December 15, 2019. (Photo by Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP) (Photo by FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP via Getty Images)

Believe me when I tell you, running the course with the first jump looming, was quite intimidating but Kurt, who was my partner for the event, just said to suck up the jump in a low position with my knees bent,hands forward, and then rise slightly and hold the position after memorizing where the next gate was on the course. I took it easy for a couple of runs until I got the hang of it and barely escaped full carnage until I sort of figured it out. The training was eventually over and now it was put up or shut up time for Paddy as I launched myself out of the starting gate. Coming up to the first jump, I did what Kurt said and successfully negotiated the next gate. Feeling good about myself, I thought ” one more jump.” It came swiftly and suddenly seeing that Camelback does not have the vertical of the New England areas where the Tour was contested regularly. As I approached the lip of the pro jump, I got into a low position and sat back slightly which was a mistake because I landed off balance and barely made the next gate. However, luck prevailed and somehow I managed to finish with Kurt in the finish line cheering me on and giving me a smile and a thumbs up. He was beside me on the other course and was finished well before me. Amazing how that guy could accelerate in the flats. My sister completed the course as well with Kent beside her and because there was not much competition, we ended up as the winners. The Belden brothers got a nice additional paycheck and my sister and I got a rather large, obnoxious  trophy which sat as a hat holder in my house for years. Fun times for sure and I learned something that day. However, the main lesson for me was not the jumps and completing the course with Belden approval, it was seeing the pros and how they handled the course.  They go flat out and the jumps are not even a consideration.  Amazing skills well beyond my comprehension. I will never forget that weekend, especially the heart shaped tubs in the rooms in the Honeymoon capital of the east – the Poconos. The Carrolls and I all laughed about the tubs and the pink shag carpets.  Yikes!  Long time ago and in a galaxy far far away.

I am happy to see the dual format and the excitement that it creates at the World Cup events as well as the World Pro Skiing Tour. Fun to watch and helps to get through all the rainy, sleeting, slushy days on the hill so far this season. Can’t get out west soon enough. Thanks for reading.

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