Conor Walsh | Staff Writer
For as long as the Winter Olympics have been operational, so have events which seem to define the games as a whole. Alpine skiing involves five different disciplines. In all, the formula is simple: be the fastest down the mountain. There are however the subtle variations to each which gives them their unique character.
To start with, approximately fifty of the biggest lunatics descend the Rosa Khutor resort course for the downhill event on the first Tuesday of the Games. I say lunatic in the fullest sense of the word: the men and women competing in this event seem to be immune to the concept of fear. Travelling at an average speed in excess of 100 kilometres per hour with little more than orange plastic netting guarding the perimeter of the course, the margin for error in this discipline is extremely small. The downhill is the longest, fastest and most dangerous event in Alpine skiing, therefore harbouring a prestige that few other events in the Olympics have. Perhaps it is the simple formula of man versus mountain, utilising the force of gravity to its maximum effect and putting their lives at risk that gives it such appeal. Perhaps also it is the habit of this event of producing the most unlikely winners of all the alpine skiing disciplines that makes it unique among other sports.
Whereas the consistent form players in other alpine disciplines tend to dominate their respective events, the downhill in recent Games has produced victors plucked from obscurity and consigned the frontrunners to the dustbin of history: four years ago Swiss skier Didier Cuche, the favourite to capture yet another season victory that had already included wins at Lake Louise and the classic Kitzbuhel, could only manage sixth in warm conditions – the winner, his fellow countryman Didier Defago coming away with the gold medal and only his second ever professional victory; in Salt Lake City 2002, Jean Luc-Cretier of France skied the run of his life en route to his only victory of an otherwise unsuccessful career; in Nagano 1998, the Austrian dynamo Hermann Maier had only to show up and collect his winner’s medal – his subsequent crash meant that the downhill gold medal would avoid the form racer that season for another year.
American star, Lindsey Vonn, is missing out due to injury.
It stands to reason, then, that the form racers of this season, Aksel Lund Svindal, Erik Guay and Christof Innerhofer, did not walk away from Sochi with a valuable piece of jewellery around their neck; the honour went to Matthias Mayer. One person also guaranteed not to walk away with anything is the luckless Lindsay Vonn – better known in popular circles as the girlfriend of Tiger Woods. Since coming back from knee surgery after the 2013 World Championships, she subsequently ruptured her ACL on return to the circuit in November. Earlier this month, she conceded defeat in her battle to be fit for the Games in February; a huge blow to her and the tournament organisers.
The same can’t be said for the super giant slalom (or Super-G). Whereas the downhill encompasses a test of raw speed, the Super-G requires a slightly more diverse skill set. Being a shorter, slower and more technical event – essentially the gates which line the course are spaced closer together – it suits the skier with the same daredevil instincts as a downhill racer only with slightly more finesse. It is the least popular of the skiing events probably due its similarity with being neither a full throttle downhill, nor another ski race which succeeds it – the giant slalom.
The Giant Slalom is a thrillingly technical race of tight corners on a piste just shorter than a Super-G, with the constant changes of direction making it probably the most physically demanding of the disciplines. The race takes place over two runs: the first run will decide what order the second will go in i.e. with the fastest initial person starting last for the final run. This has its advantages in that the skier in question will know his time to beat before he starts, although the fact that it takes place on a track that has been cut up by twenty nine other racers before it makes it a trickier task than most. The king of GS the last few years and reigning Olympic champion Ted Ligety is the master of such conditions and is able to produce the fastest time on a consistent basis. Lately, his season has been overshadowed by the exceptional performances from the young Austrian Marcel Hirscher and the fantastic Felix Neureuther of Germany.
The latter two gentlemen will also feature prominently in perhaps the most spectator-friendly discipline, the slalom. Like the GS, the slalom is conducted over two runs with the first run deciding the starting order for the second, with the last racers to go having to contend with a denuded track and altered weather conditions. Where it differs is the ridiculously close proximity the gates are positioned to each other. The slalom requires split second decision-making in the turns, sharp changes of direction and the requisite speed to get down the slope as quick as possible. Its setting on a short course allows a larger number of fans than normal to gather around the piste giving the slalom a stadium-like atmosphere.
Matthias Mayer claimed gold for Austria in the men’s downhill.
Finally, there is the very appetisingly named Super Combined competition. For this rare breed of skiing, the competitors complete one run of downhill followed by a deciding slalom run. Not surprisingly, it is quite common to see slalom specialists looking like rabbits in headlights at the top of a frightening downhill run – these guys probably only ever top 60 km/h on a normal day – while powerful downhill machines are made to look like uncoordinated amateurs when their technical skills are put to the test. For men like Svindal, the enigmatic Bode Miller and Ivica Kostelic this event is a chance to put power and precision on display in equal measure on the slopes with the winner the one who finds the perfect recipe to balance the two concepts.
