 Poster: A snowHead
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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what he really means is that the Austrians aren't winning enough and they aren't happy about that
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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| papasmurf wrote: |
| what he really means is that the Austrians aren't winning enough and they aren't happy about that |
I doubt it, Kathrin Zettel (Austria) came second by only 1 hundreth of a second. It has been discussed in another thread that unconventional technique appeared to work for various skiers; the course was so steep and tightly setout that drifting was compulsory. Should races be set out so that the best carving technique wins rather than backseat Bode type skidders & drifiters with many more racers being injured?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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DB, Drifting will be slower than clean carving so long as you can still get around the gates. The fastest second run was from Camilla Alfieri who did carve more turns than the other racers, she was starting early enough on the second run that the course was still in good shape. Drifting will cut up the course faster than if everyone is carving as well, so you increase the risk of later runners being injured.
The only thing that will really bring speeds down is to race on shallower slopes, particularly if snow conditions are not perfect. You can get away with racing SL on really steep slopes as the speeds are lower, even so I was injured for about a month last season just from hitting a hole in a slalom course.
I'm not sure that Nicole Hosp was injured in a fall, I think she fell because her knee ligaments had snapped.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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A look at the type and frequency of injuries to racers (regardless of nationality) does tend to support this point of view. The people setting the courses are not the ones who have to race them. Technique and equipment has advanced considerably faster than the evolution of soft tissue to withstand the forces applied to it. TV wants spectacular courses so that viewers (and advertising revenue) increase. Think of the addition of pre-finish jumps on the speed courses as an example! Racers are being forced to decide whether to play safe or risk career-ending accidents in return for WC points. Lyndsey Vronn for example was definitely playing a percentages game at the weekend as was Chemmy Alcott.
I rehabbed last year with Vroni Staber and Anne-Marie Gerg (German A Squad racers), both of whom were injured while racing. Both felt that there was less margin of error due to improvements in the equipment they have to use and the improvements to the durability of courses due to the chemical additives. Vroni is only 19/20 and has already had at least 2 ACL/knee injuries to rehab back from. Anne-Marie had to reluctantly retire as her knees are so bad now that she is looking at probable total knee replacements before she is 40! She didn't want to retire but told me that she was tired and drained from racing in pain all the time. She also has back pain caused by accidents etc as does Bode Miller amongst others.
I think it is worth noting that in the post race interviews a lot of the racers commented on "surviving without injury". The main drop at Sölden is brutal and was rock hard ice. I stood along side it on both days and saw the speeds and effort the racers had to use to maintain the right line!.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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rjs,
| Quote: |
Hosp, who won the giant slalom gold medal at the 2007 world championships in Sweden, also criticized the setting of the gates for Saturday's race.
"Soelden could have been set slower for sure. Maybe there will be a rethinking after all the severe injuries," Hosp said.
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A lot of skiers didn't finnish the course (compared to recent years) although I don't know who else was injured. Do you know who else was injured?
From memory Hosp slipped on the inner left ski before being twisted round, the rear of her skis clipped a gate as she slid down and the right knee (which was her good knee before the fall) was damaged. Didn't record it and assumed she was injured in the fall rather than the knee giving out before the fall. Anybody record it and see evidence that the knee did give out?
Maier got out while his health was good again after knee abd back problems. Bode and Svindal are injured. Even Bode has complained at the setting of courses in the past. Maybe it is getting too dangerous.
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DB, You could see her hand reach down to her right knee before she clipped the gate. I saw it as the typical ligament injury when the skier tries to pull themselves upright when sitting back.
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rjs,
Wish I had recorded it now. Do you think the knee gave out before the turn or when Hosp was twisted round as she fell?
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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DB, I think during the turn, but ultimately caused by her skis hooking up too quickly during the turn before.
You asked about other injuries, most of the other DNF1s were from after the Eurosport coverage had stopped so I don't know.
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| DB wrote: |
| Should races be set out so that the best carving technique wins rather than backseat Bode type skidders & drifiters with many more racers being injured? |
The FIS view looks to be the latter with the sidecut and min length restrictions on GS skis.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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To be honest, there was not really lot of DNF in Soelden. In women first run, there was 17 (out of 76 on start list) of them, but from top 30, there was just Hosp. So one single DNF out of top 30 doesn't mean "a lot". It actually means very very little. Most of other DNF were numbers over 50.
Was course too fast? Too hard? I don't know. Probably it was based on conditions. But course is set previous day, and at 12:00 when course was set, conditions were great. I was actually there and skiing at that time. Did they know weather will change during afternoon? Sure, but noone knew for sure how much and how bad it will be. To be honest when I was sliding down the course it wasn't even bad one... if snow would hold and there wouldn't be 30cm deep holes around the gates. But with 15cm new snow during night things were like they were.
Now my personal opinion about injuries... whole lot of them have nothing to do with course and equipment, but are plain human errors. I don't mean skiing errors, but decision errors. Once you see settings on binding, you start to wonder why they even have bindings (and I ski with probably extreme settings for most of "normal" people). Sure risk of getting binding release by accident is smaller (actually it's pretty much zero), but there's almost no chance for binding to release when it would be needed. They know this, and they go with this risk. So injuries does happen, and most of them are not because to hard, to fast or to bad courses.
Last edited by snowHeads are a friendly bunch. on Thu 29-10-09 7:39; edited 1 time in total
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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primoz, you make a good point about the bindings. it would be interesting to know what the top men/women have their setting on. I know 16yr old racers weighing in at aroung 70kg's who run their 190GS ski with the DIN on 14!, Im a similar weight (67) and dont encounter problems with a setting of 10.
I guess that the top racers wont be making the choice though it could simply be up to their technicians and a calcualtion?
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The DNF on Eurosport looked to be caught out with change of pitch just before a gate and unable to to turn back in.
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You know it makes sense.
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R555MAC, there's not really much calculation behind  It's more or less "set as high as binding goes to avoid accidental releases" mentality.
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