The Winter Olympics have many different skiing events. When it comes to downhill disciplines, there are two main classifications: freestyle and alpine. Freestyle skiing involves many newer styles such as moguls, slopestyle, and halfpipe. All of these events involve aerial maneuvers and other techniques that are judged on elements such as landings, form, and flow. Alpine skiing events include the two we will look at in this article — Super G and Downhill.
These events are typically competitive races where the main goal is speed. The winner of the competition is the skier who completes the course in the fastest time without falling or missing any of the established gates that tell them when and where to turn.
The basic aim of the downhill skiing event, as the name implies, is for a skier to get down a run really, really quickly. That makes it a great spectator sport because it allows you to witness some of the top skiers in the world going at full speed. Skiers must also navigate a series of gates that are set up telling them where to turn. Every downhill course is a bit different, but in addition to gates, skiers will also need to navigate various terrain features such as bumps, drop-offs, and slope changes.
That then adds excitement and variation to the course. All of the rules and regulations for official downhill skiing are put in place by the International Federation of Skiing , also known as the FIS. All other events must have a drop between and meters. A downhill course must also have gates that have four slalom poles and two flags. The flags need to be either red or blue in color and at least eight meters wide.
The exact number of these gates on a course can vary from location to location. Downhill skiers must ski through each of these gates for their run to count. Downhill skiing involves just one run. The fastest time wins. It is an individual sport where one person wins.
The winner of both competitions is the skier who reaches the lowest course time. The competitors run one at a time and each racer is timed from the moment they begin their first run until the finish. Their time is partly based on the presentation of the race. Downhill skiing is one of four alpine skiing disciplines along with Super G, giant slalom, and slalom.
It is a timed race that takes place on a steep, downhill course, with a vertical drop of at least m 1, ft , but usually much more over the course of a trail. The skis on downhill racers are usually longer, which helps them with gliding and going straight fast, while Super G requires better ability to turn.
That craziness applies to both disciplines downhill skiing as well as Super G. The sport of downhill skiing became a very popular in the first half of the s, and the courses were designed to be longer to accommodate the speeds that the skiers were building. Since then, these courses have evolved to include all sorts of innovations. In the s Super G was invented and is a very popular addition to skiing. In this post, I talked about some of the biggest changes in the history of downhill skiing and explained how downhill skis and equipment have been specifically modified to allow the athlete to use the natural terrain and to achieve greater speeds.
Also, how this all compares to Super G. Have you ever thought about adding downhill skiing to your life? If so, would you have any goals in mind? Reviews Tips About. Super G vs. Written by Cori Gramms Last update: April 23, Super G These two types of ski racing are technically similar — and yet, very different. They are the tired-looking ones come the end of the Games on 20 February.
The speed events are the downhill and comic-book sounding super-G; the technical events are the giant slalom and slalom, and combined is a mix of both. Both men and women compete in each discipline and there is also the mixed team parallel slalom event, which debuted successfully at PyeongChang The speed disciplines see skiers bomb down the slope on one run, as fast as their skies will carry them. The technical events see a more rhythmical swish-swish down the mountain, from one side of the slope to the other, as the skiers navigate carefully positioned gates.
They complete two runs, with the fastest 30 going through to a second run. The skiers then race in reverse order, building to a crescendo as the fastest skiers from the first run are the last to go in the second. Arguably the premiere event of alpine skiing, the downhill is as basic as it gets: point the skis down the mountain and go.
Fastest wins. Speeds of around kph are common but can be more depending on the course. French skier Johan Clarey was the first to break the kph barrier in a World Cup race, in on the Wengen Lauberhorn course in Switzerland.
The video below shows British former pro alpine ski racer Graham Bell taking a point-of-view video of that very same downhill run the weekend Clarey broke the barrier.
Hang on to your hats. Jumps of dozens of metres are also a feature. An aerodynamic tuck position is what the skier is aiming for, not arms waggling everywhere trying to keep their balance. There are gates the athletes have to go round but they are more to keep racers from taking shortcuts as the course is mainly defined by the natural terrain. Downhill skiers are usually taller and heavier than technical skiers and must have massive strength in their legs. The downhill is the longest course with the highest speeds so, on crossing the finish line, skiers are often bent double out of puff and doing anything to take the weight off their burning lactic-acid-filled thighs.
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