Alpine Skiing

[Gigs_98]

Re: Re:

Did Hirscher just win a Super G...

That was just a glorified Giant Slalom,not a real Super G.

Still pretty impressive though. And besides that I think that generally Most super-g's arent technical enough, and are just a new version of the downhill. Watch the Races Maier won. They werent that much faster than todays Race. Nevertheless he was still very Lucky because he har the clearly better conditions

Edit: however you are still Right that The course was too technical, but there have been super g's which were way worse like Kitzbühel Last year, which wasnt technical enough

 

[May0maniac]

Re: Re:

Did Hirscher just win a Super G...

That was just a glorified Giant Slalom,not a real Super G.

Still pretty impressive though. And besides that I think that generally Most super-g's arent technical enough, and are just a new version of the downhill. Watch the Races Maier won. They werent that much faster than todays Race. Nevertheless he was still very Lucky because he har the clearly better conditions

Edit: however you are still Right that The course was too technical, but there have been super g's which were way worse like Kitzbühel Last year, which wasnt technical enough

Well, Paris wouldn't have been able to win a technical Super-G, so you're right about the Kitzbühl Super-G.
They had to cut the first part of the Super-G because of snowfall, otherwise it should have been ok and a proper Super-G, but things like that can happen.

 

[nowhereman]

70 wins and counting......

World Cup Standings: 1.) Lindsey Vonn
2.) Mikaela Shiffrin

 

[nowhereman]

Meanwhile, over in Beaver Creek (where I'm headed this thursday ) Marcel Hirscher won a real GS, ahead of Victor Muffat Jeandet of France and Henrik Kristoffersen of Norway to launch his efforts into 2nd overall in the World Cup standings, behind Aksel Lund Svindal

 

[Gigs_98]

Not the best season until now. Pure domination in the women's races, besides Aspen GS which was great. The men's races were clearly better, especially Sölden GS and Lake Louise DH, and most other races also were okay, but it seems as there will once again two dominators, one from Norway in the speed races and Hirscher in the technical ones (although we have to wait how his slalom shape will be, so this is pure speculation), and I don't really like that.

However generally I prefer the races in Europe because they are somehow more balanced, so I think it will get better.

 

[Brullnux]

Utter Domination. Alpine skiing is starting to look like XC

 

[Gigs_98]

Wow this season is boring.
Just to remind you, there have already been 19 races and 12 of these races were won by the US or norway. Moreover Austria also already has 3 wins (all by Hirscher) and Switzerland 2 (all by Gut), so only 6 nations which have already won a race.
Don't give me wrong, Shiffrin's injury is horrible and I'm very sad about it but because of it at least the women's technical races are very open. However all the other disciplines, are extremely dominated and thats exactly the opposite of what I like about skiing. Skiing used to be a sport with about 5 skiers each race with about the same chance to win and 10 more with a good chance to get on the podium. Thanks to Marlies Schild and Lindsey Vonn we didn't have this situation in women's races very often in the last decade but since 2013 the men's races become more boring as well. I like the Norwegian's, they are great sports men and especially Svindal and Jansrud deserve the Austrian term "Viech", but their domination in the first half of each season completely bores me and although I still like him and I'm still happy when he wins, Hirscher's domination is anything but good for the sport, as well.

Besides that: WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH THE SUPER-G COURSE SETTERS NOWADAYS? If the Austrians set the course they make a GS so Hirscher gets and advantage in the world cup and, if the Norwegians set the course they use their right to make the sections which are technically difficult in the downhill even easier in the super-g (or said differently, they do the exact opposite of what they should do). Eg: in the downhill in Gröden after the Kamelbuckeln, you have to make a very tight left turn to enter the ciaslat. Right after that you jump over a bump and make sharp right turn, directly followed by a long left turn. How was this section set in todays super-g? instead of the first left turn after the Kamelbuckeln, the riders could almost ski on straightly, so they passed the bump and didnt have to make the next two turns as well. Thats simply ridiculous. I hope that their will soon be a rule, that if a nation makes a bad course, they must not compete in the draw for the course setter, for the whole season.

 

[May0maniac]

Wow this season is boring.
Just to remind you, there have already been 19 races and 12 of these races were won by the US or norway. Moreover Austria also already has 3 wins (all by Hirscher) and Switzerland 2 (all by Gut), so only 6 nations which have already won a race.
Don't give me wrong, Shiffrin's injury is horrible and I'm very sad about it but because of it at least the women's technical races are very open. However all the other disciplines, are extremely dominated and thats exactly the opposite of what I like about skiing. Skiing used to be a sport with about 5 skiers each race with about the same chance to win and 10 more with a good chance to get on the podium. Thanks to Marlies Schild and Lindsey Vonn we didn't have this situation in women's races very often in the last decade but since 2013 the men's races become more boring as well. I like the Norwegian's, they are great sports men and especially Svindal and Jansrud deserve the Austrian term "Viech", but their domination in the first half of each season completely bores me and although I still like him and I'm still happy when he wins, Hirscher's domination is anything but good for the sport, as well.

Besides that: WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH THE SUPER-G COURSE SETTERS NOWADAYS? If the Austrians set the course they make a GS so Hirscher gets and advantage in the world cup and, if the Norwegians set the course they use their right to make the sections which are technically difficult in the downhill even easier in the super-g (or said differently, they do the exact opposite of what they should do). Eg: in the downhill in Gröden after the Kamelbuckeln, you have to make a very tight left turn to enter the ciaslat. Right after that you jump over a bump and make sharp right turn, directly followed by a long left turn. How was this section set in todays super-g? instead of the first left turn after the Kamelbuckeln, the riders could almost ski on straightly, so they passed the bump and didnt have to make the next two turns as well. Thats simply ridiculous. I hope that their will soon be a rule, that if a nation makes a bad course, they must not compete in the draw for the course setter, for the whole season.

You're totally right, so far the season has been pretty boring and I totally agree on the fact that Super-G courses have become a bit of a joke.

 

[Pazuzu]

Wow this season is boring.
Just to remind you, there have already been 19 races and 12 of these races were won by the US or norway. Moreover Austria also already has 3 wins (all by Hirscher) and Switzerland 2 (all by Gut), so only 6 nations which have already won a race.

Don't give me wrong, Shiffrin's injury is horrible and I'm very sad about it but because of it at least the women's technical races are very open. However all the other disciplines, are extremely dominated and thats exactly the opposite of what I like about skiing. Skiing used to be a sport with about 5 skiers each race with about the same chance to win and 10 more with a good chance to get on the podium. Thanks to Marlies Schild and Lindsey Vonn we didn't have this situation in women's races very often in the last decade...

Well Vonn's two main rivals - Tina Maze and Anna Fenninger are out this year, and Maria Riesch retired 2 years ago (even though she's the same age as Vonn). I'll be surprised if Maze comes back next year given her age. Fenninger on the other hand, is in the prime of her career and will be a force for the foreseeable future.

 

[Gigs_98]

Wow this season is boring.
Just to remind you, there have already been 19 races and 12 of these races were won by the US or norway. Moreover Austria also already has 3 wins (all by Hirscher) and Switzerland 2 (all by Gut), so only 6 nations which have already won a race.

Don't give me wrong, Shiffrin's injury is horrible and I'm very sad about it but because of it at least the women's technical races are very open. However all the other disciplines, are extremely dominated and thats exactly the opposite of what I like about skiing. Skiing used to be a sport with about 5 skiers each race with about the same chance to win and 10 more with a good chance to get on the podium. Thanks to Marlies Schild and Lindsey Vonn we didn't have this situation in women's races very often in the last decade...

Well Vonn's two main rivals - Tina Maze and Anna Fenninger are out this year, and Maria Riesch retired 2 years ago (even though she's the same age as Vonn). I'll be surprised if Maze comes back next year given her age. Fenninger on the other hand, is in the prime of her career and will be a force for the foreseeable future.

Its definitely a pity that fenninger Is injured but although she might have made the World Cup and the gs more interesting (which seem to be the two smallest Problems this year because the duell beteween gut and vonn might become very exciting and the gs Is already very Open for the whole Season) but she definitely wouldnt have been able to Beat vonn in Lake Louise. Moreover i generally have a bigger problem with the men's Races this Season because imo they are normally more interesting

Ps: sorry for some mistakes but my phone wants to correct every englisch Word into a German Word

 

[Brullnux]

Yesterday's downhill was quite nice until Mayer had that awful crash (damage to elbow I imagine?). Jansrud then took it just and then Svindal disintegrated it, before Fayed looked like beating them, but only coming 2nd.

Also horrible snow conditions all over Dolomites, and Alps in general.

 

[Gigs_98]

Re:

Yesterday's downhill was quite nice until Mayer had that awful crash (damage to elbow I imagine?). Jansrud then took it just and then Svindal disintegrated it, before Fayed looked like beating them, but only coming 2nd.

Also horrible snow conditions all over Dolomites, and Alps in general.

Mayer fractured two vertebras. His season is over.

 

[Gigs_98]

Wow, today's race was even more ridiculous. Generally this could be a good concept, because this surely is a very spectacular event but the way this course was set was incredibly stupid. I see the problem that they couldn't make real turns because the slope was just too narrow but then there is no reason why you should do a parallel event in Alta Badia. Moreover no re runs in a parallel event...how stupid is that.
Normally I would also complain that this was meant as a race for skiers who are technically good but the speed skiers have less races so its okay and the result actually makes the world cup more fair. Nevertheless I can't believe what the organizers smoked to say that the points of the race will count for the GS world cup. I'm actually happy that all the favorites for the little globe lost pretty early so there aren't big changes. However its absolutely ridiculous that Jansrud is now 9th in the GS standings, which means that officially the guy who didnt even qualify for the second run yesterday is one of the top ten GS racers of the season. Why not simply saying the race ONLY counts for the general world cup and give other skiers the chance to compete there. Today Jansrud and Svindal even had an advantage because they were the only two specialists for speed disciplines, who were favored on this kind of course. Let guys like Paris compete there and he will get the third podium spot.

 

[Amsterhammer]

Wow, today's race was even more ridiculous. Generally this could be a good concept, because this surely is a very spectacular event but the way this course was set was incredibly stupid. I see the problem that they couldn't make real turns because the slope was just too narrow but then there is no reason why you should do a parallel event in Alta Badia. Moreover no re runs in a parallel event...how stupid is that.
Normally I would also complain that this was meant as a race for skiers who are technically good but the speed skiers have less races so its okay and the result actually makes the world cup more fair. Nevertheless I can't believe what the organizers smoked to say that the points of the race will count for the GS world cup. I'm actually happy that all the favorites for the little globe lost pretty early so there aren't big changes. However its absolutely ridiculous that Jansrud is now 9th in the GS standings, which means that officially the guy who didnt even qualify for the second run yesterday is one of the top ten GS racers of the season. Why not simply saying the race ONLY counts for the general world cup and give other skiers the chance to compete there. Today Jansrud and Svindal even had an advantage because they were the only two specialists for speed disciplines, who were favored on this kind of course. Let guys like Paris compete there and he will get the third podium spot.

Hab gar net g'schaut. Was war los?

 

[May0maniac]

Wow, today's race was even more ridiculous. Generally this could be a good concept, because this surely is a very spectacular event but the way this course was set was incredibly stupid. I see the problem that they couldn't make real turns because the slope was just too narrow but then there is no reason why you should do a parallel event in Alta Badia. Moreover no re runs in a parallel event...how stupid is that.
Normally I would also complain that this was meant as a race for skiers who are technically good but the speed skiers have less races so its okay and the result actually makes the world cup more fair. Nevertheless I can't believe what the organizers smoked to say that the points of the race will count for the GS world cup. I'm actually happy that all the favorites for the little globe lost pretty early so there aren't big changes. However its absolutely ridiculous that Jansrud is now 9th in the GS standings, which means that officially the guy who didnt even qualify for the second run yesterday is one of the top ten GS racers of the season. Why not simply saying the race ONLY counts for the general world cup and give other skiers the chance to compete there. Today Jansrud and Svindal even had an advantage because they were the only two specialists for speed disciplines, who were favored on this kind of course. Let guys like Paris compete there and he will get the third podium spot.

The fact that the race counts for the GS world cup is a joke, other than that it was ok for me, I've always disliked the fact that the speed skiers have less races, so it's nice to have a race that makes the world cup more fair. Paris used to be a good GS rider as a junior, 5th at the Formigal junior Wolrd Championship in 2008

 

[Gigs_98]

Wow, today's race was even more ridiculous. Generally this could be a good concept, because this surely is a very spectacular event but the way this course was set was incredibly stupid. I see the problem that they couldn't make real turns because the slope was just too narrow but then there is no reason why you should do a parallel event in Alta Badia. Moreover no re runs in a parallel event...how stupid is that.
Normally I would also complain that this was meant as a race for skiers who are technically good but the speed skiers have less races so its okay and the result actually makes the world cup more fair. Nevertheless I can't believe what the organizers smoked to say that the points of the race will count for the GS world cup. I'm actually happy that all the favorites for the little globe lost pretty early so there aren't big changes. However its absolutely ridiculous that Jansrud is now 9th in the GS standings, which means that officially the guy who didnt even qualify for the second run yesterday is one of the top ten GS racers of the season. Why not simply saying the race ONLY counts for the general world cup and give other skiers the chance to compete there. Today Jansrud and Svindal even had an advantage because they were the only two specialists for speed disciplines, who were favored on this kind of course. Let guys like Paris compete there and he will get the third podium spot.

The fact that the race counts for the GS world cup is a joke, other than that it was ok for me, I've always disliked the fact that the speed skiers have less races, so it's nice to have a race that makes the world cup more fair. Paris used to be a good GS rider as a junior, 5th at the Formigal junior Wolrd Championship in 2008

I actually chose Paris because I know that he used to be pretty good in technical races and he isnt even such a bad slalom skier, as you might think when you see him.

edit:
@Amsterhammer: I have three problems with the race today:
1.) The parallel "Giant Slalom" had hardly any turns and was extremely fast and even had 2 real jumps (which were the crucial points in almost every run) so good technical skiers couldn't use their ability. So many of the best GS skiers already lost the first round. That wouldnt be such a problem, but the event counted for the GS world cup which is extremely unfair because skiers who aren't even good GS skiers got lots of points. As I said luckily most favorites for the GS globe lost in the first or second round anyway so it wasnt a big problem, but that was pure luck and it doesnt change the fact that this race didnt have anything to do with a giant slalom.

2.) most of the starters were GS specialists although speed specialists had an advantage on this kind of course because technique wasnt important but weight and jumping skills were. Now the problem was that the only two speed specialists in the race were Svindal and Jansurd (who got 1st and 2nd place) and especially in Jansrud's case you just saw that no other rider had any chance against him on this kind of course. As I wrote it above, I don't have a problem if there are more events who favor DH and Super-G specialists but then all DH and Super-G specialists should be allowed to compete because otherwise the whole competition is kind of pointless and unfair.

3.) There was only one run per duel and no re-runs (normally there are two runs per duel, so both skiers ski on both of the courses. That makes it way more fair). It wasnt such a big problem in this case because the course was pretty straight but if they keep this format of parallel events it will become a huge problem on other slopes.

Besides that the most interesting thing was that Svindal and Jansrud took many points on Hirscher, who also lost his first round (had nothing to do with the course, it was just a mistake by him) although this was a race in which he was expected to take many points on the Norwegians. I'm a bit sad about that, but thats something personal. As I said it, objectively its a good thing they had another race in which they had an advantage over Hirscher.

 

[May0maniac]

You're right. The speed specialists used to be conpetitive in the GS in the past, but nowadays that's no longer the chase. Franz Gamper, the trainer of the Norwegian speed team, claims that it's because of today's ski length and the new sidecut radius. Svindal used to be much better in the GS before they changed the ski length and the sidecut radius so maybe he has a point, what's your opinion?

 

[Gigs_98]

Re:

You're right. The speed specialists used to be conpetitive in the GS in the past, but nowadays that's no longer the chase. Franz Gamper, the trainer of the Norwegian speed team, claims that it's because of today's ski length and the new sidecut radius. Svindal used to be much better in the GS before they changed the ski length and the sidecut radius so maybe he has a point, what's your opinion?

Thats actually a good point. Svindal won the GS world championships 2007 easily (because Raich skied out with starting nr.1) and even won the GS globe that year (because Raich skied out with starting nr.1) and Jansrud even used to be a GS specialist. Its definitely the case that the new skis in 2013 minimized the chances for speed specialists in GS. Generally the GS was more open in 2012 because other GS specialists like Richard, Schörghofer, Blardone,... suddenly became a lot worse too. However the thing ist that I think GS specialists also have a smaller chance in the Super-G than speed specialists used to have in the GS. Raich was probably the only skier between 2006 and 2010 who always was one of the favorites in Slalom, GS and SG. Hirschers SG win in Beaver Creek was a bit lucky, so it is still very very hard to be strong in three disciplines (Pinturault tried but as soon as he trained more SG he suddenly didnt make any progress in the other disciplines). Moreover there are other factors like that you normally have to do at least one downhill training if you want to be strong in the SG.

I would say right now Slalom and GS skiers clearly have a big advantage in the fight for the general world cup, but thats mainly because there are so many slaloms. The fact that Slalom skiers maybe have it slightly easier to be good in the SG than Downhill skiers in the GS hardly matters.

 

[Gigs_98]

After I complained about the races this year the fis noticed that they have to change something to make the sport more exciting again. Their first step was to change the old and boring Slaloms to an obstacle course with drones falling from the sky to bring more action into the race. Great idea

 

[May0maniac]

Those drones are totally useless, you can't see if someone if skiing well when they switch to the drone camera.
I like the concept of having single pole slaloms, easier to understand for most of the fans, it looks better on TV and everyone is just riding single pole Slaloms in training anyway, it's a good idea.

 

[Gigs_98]

Re:

Those drones are totally useless, you can't see if someone if skiing well when they switch to the drone camera.
I like the concept of having single pole slaloms, easier to understand for most of the fans, it looks better on TV and everyone is just riding single pole Slaloms in training anyway, it's a good idea.

I didnt mean that I dislike single poles (that was a very good idea) I meant the drone as the obstacle

 

[May0maniac]

Re: Re:

Those drones are totally useless, you can't see if someone if skiing well when they switch to the drone camera.
I like the concept of having single pole slaloms, easier to understand for most of the fans, it looks better on TV and everyone is just riding single pole Slaloms in training anyway, it's a good idea.

I didnt mean that I dislike single poles (that was a very good idea) I meant the drone as the obstacle

Yes, the drones are a huge fail, I just wanted to point out that there are also positive changes like the single pole Slaloms, not every new idea is bad.
I miss the men's Super Combined , I liked that format.

 

[Brullnux]

Kitzbühel this year I think for the super combined

 

[Brullnux]

Interesting downhill...

 

[May0maniac]

No direct sunlight, so the riders don't see a lot and lots of little waves that the riders don't see, that's a nasty downhill.