“Trail of a skier left on a slope” is a translation of the word “slalom” from Scandinavian. Anyone who thinks that skiing was invented recently is mistaken. Still on the cave paintings of the Norwegian island of Rodei, a ski hunter was depicted. Well-preserved ancient ski runners were discovered in the wetlands of Scandinavia. These findings are from the so-called stepping skis. The first gliding skis appeared among Finnish and Lapland hunters back in the sixth century. And in the Russian annals of these devices was first mentioned in 1444, in connection with the campaign against one of the princes of the Golden Horde. From time immemorial, folk fun, games, fun and even skiing delighted the world's population.
Modern competitions
There is no limit to human invention! In addition to the usual skiing competitions, including racing, slalom, downhill, freestyle and others, extreme fun with skiing has appeared in recent years:
- hang gliding with skis;
- parachute jump with skis;
- downhill skiing to overtake a race car driver;
- jump from an airplane skiing without a parachute;
- skiing on sand dunes;
- skiing.
These very revealing and interesting types of skiing competitions are not yet included in the official programs.
Categories
Skiing categories:
1. Alpine - all types of downhill skiing: slalom (giant, supergiant and just slalom), downhill skiing (downhill), a combination of two downhill skiing (slalom and speed).
2. Freestyle is a free non-speed skiing with simultaneous performance of ski acrobatics, a kind of ski ballet.
3. North - ski jumping, racing, orienteering, biathlon (ski jumping and the subsequent race).
4. Descent on the snowboard.
5. Biathlon (cross-country skiing with rifle shooting).
6. Ski arch (cross-country skiing with archery).
7. Ski tour - one of the categories of sports tourism.
8. Ski mountaineering. This is a free and risky downhill skiing at a very high speed. It can be compared to jumping from a height.
About giant slalom
In slalom competitions, athletes at great speed must literally fly through a certain number of control points (gates) in a minimum amount of time. For male and female races, the number and width of gates are different and depend on the type of slalom. The control point must not be crossed and missed, otherwise disqualification is inevitable. Usually, the average result for two attempts is offset by the athlete.
The super giant giant slalom (downhill skiing) got its name for the increased number of gates, the distance between them and the length of the track.
The super giant is an intermediate discipline between giant slalom and downhill (downhill). One goal - speed. The distance between the control flags allowed by the rules of this downhill skiing is 30 meters. Only one skier race is evaluated.
Features of the tracks for competitions
For all high-speed ski slopes, only tracks with natural reliefs are used. First of all, height differences are important, then how much the winding terrain, what is the length of the track. Flags and flagpoles are set by the coaches in compliance with all standards. It is important to avoid the hidden dangers of the terrain, which can lead to serious falls and injuries.
- Tracks with a length of about 450 m and a difference in height of 140 m or more are suitable for competitions in ordinary slalom. The smallest distance between the flags is 75 cm.
- The giant slalom is held on the tracks, the length of which is 1 km or 1.5 km, elevations - up to five hundred meters, the width of the gate - 13 m.
- In the super giant slalom, the flags are placed thirty meters apart. The length of the route is up to 2.5 km, height differences - up to six hundred meters.
- Downhill downhill skiing is carried out on perfectly straight tracks, without jumps, hills and bumps. The best performance is achieved by athletes on high mountain trails with rarefied air. Skiers in aerodynamic suits, using a special body position, develop tremendous speeds in this type of competition. Accelerating with a jump (with a large slope of the track), athletes, making downhill skiing, the speed record showed an impressive: more than 200 km per hour.
A few half-joking wishes for beginners (and not only) skiers
A person engaged in skiing can achieve the highest results in downhill skiing.
Good advice:
- In order to fall less, it is worth learning to slow down.
- Any bruises, scratches and even moral injuries heal.
- The higher the speed, the faster the mountain ends.
- It is foolish to hope that people accidentally hit or hurt during the descent will not repay the same, catching you next time.
- Whatever the results of the descent, warm coffee and friends await at the bottom, at worst - an ambulance.