Technique for passing gates in slalom. (803.5.) Checking the Slalom Course - Rules for the Sport of Alpine Skiing General provisions for all competitions

Tips and Instructions

Competitions... Meeting of friends-rivals... Preparations, deliberately funny jokes, voices a little louder than usual... Viewing the course... Pre-launch jitters, "MARCH!" the second attempt - there is something to lose... Clenched teeth after failure and always hope for the best next time... Competitions... Our next section is about how to survive among all this.

Part IV

The question about hands in snakes and stilettos is one of the most frequently asked by slalom improvers. My answer is this. Rule number 1: when leaving the figure, the last flag is knocked down with a traditional outside hand, as on a normal horizontal gate, otherwise there will be problems in the next turn. Further, the traditional snake of 3 flags is knocked down with one hand. For example, they left the last gate in front of the snake by turning to the left, knocking down the flag with the right. Next, we enter the snake, knock down the first flag with the left, as usual in the right turn. We knock down the next flag again with the same hand, as in the giant, do not remove it and do not lower it. And the last snake flag - with the same hand, so we go under the usual outer hand (still the same left one) and continue without any problems. If a hairpin, then there are two options. If not very short, then we change the hand, as in a regular gate. If it is short and there is not enough time to change hands, we enter the hairpin with the inside hand to the flag, so that at the exit, without changing hands, fulfill rule No. 1. An exotic, but not very figure - a snake with 4 flags. You need to enter it like a hairpin, knocking down the first flag, like in a giant, and then - with the same hand, see the snake of three flags. The second hand is reasonably arbitrary, i.e. we don’t lower it down, we don’t pull it forward strongly, we don’t take it aside strongly.
The general rule: it is not so important which hand entered the figure, it is important which one came out.

Ideally - at shoulder level. A higher position of the hands can provoke a back squat. The problem with turning the body after the hand (not being able to keep the body looking down the valley) is a problem for all juniors and inexperienced slalomists. The global reason is that

• you go far from the flag, you have to reach out with your hand. As a result - a turn of the shoulder and body, and then - the edge of the outer ski.
• due to a too rounded trajectory, it is not possible to ride not over the skis, the body rides almost along the trajectory of the skis, and not "inside the track", which again forces you to pull your arm - shoulder - body - edging of the outer ski.

In addition to the methods of correction arising from this - to ride closer, shorter and not over the skis, which is generally not easy, you can raise and pull forward the second hand, which is unnecessary in this turn, to prevent rotation of the body when the flag is attacked, but within reasonable limits and only up to fixing root causes #1 and #2.

There are several reasons for making this mistake. I will name everything, perhaps they are all present in you in varying degrees:

• You do not control the position of the inner ski, you most likely have it in the air or completely unloaded, and you instinctively “turn” it into a turn, as if trying to turn it early, at least with one foot, while the skis take the position of the letter “V” "and the sock catches.
• You are going too early and you pass the flag already with your skis above the next one and in fact you have completed the turn. In this case, it is very difficult to get close to the flag, because by this moment you are already standing almost straight and the attempt to drive up and attack ends with the inside ski running over the flag.
• You are basically riding slowly and too roundly, which reduces the centrifugal force to a minimum, not enough to create the necessary tilt and "removal" of the legs and skis, so the body and skis go on close trajectories, and trying to snuggle closer to the flag with the body and hands to attack results in to a dangerous approach and the inside ski.

To fix all this, of course, understanding the causes and working to eliminate them will help. The ideal is to train on very easy flat trails with a very good moderately hard FLAT surface WITHOUT DITCHES. Try to increase your speed, go straighter towards the flag (if there was reason #2), reduce the time and radius of the turn, feel that the legs with skis go around the flag somewhere far away, and the body is inside the turn.

The losses from attacking the flag with boots are so great that it is better not to do this. It is all the more unprofitable to do this, the flatter the slope and the less closed the track. A separate contraindication for lightweights. Up to the fact that children on the canopy generally block the flags in the slalom, as in the giant - with the inner hand. And certainly not boots. Yes, and this is dangerous - with such a small distance from the flag, the risk of catching it with the inner ski is too great. In short, you will lose more than you will find.

As for the start of Killy, i.e. jump. I remember reading the memoirs of Honoré Bonnet, Killy's coach, they timed the time to the first gate from the start; Killy won up to 0.4 seconds due to the jump start. The rest then started without a jump. Now everyone starts with a jump, the gain is obvious and tangible.

About throwing forward arms and legs. Let's calculate together what this gives: in the distance you can win 50-60 cm. With a speed at the finish line, say, 45 km / h or 12 m / s, this is a gain of 0.05 seconds. Is it a lot or a little - judge for yourself ...

Long story. Fiss and our points are considered the same. First, the price of a second is determined. For this, a certain number, called the word "factor", and equal to 600 for the last few seasons of slalom, is divided by the total time of two attempts of the winner of the competition. Let's say the winner in total showed 60 seconds (30.0 + 30.0) Then the price of a second is 10 points. Now you can tell how many COMPETITION POINTS you have received. Multiply your loss to the winner by the sum of two attempts by the price of a second (in our case - 10) and get your COMPETITION POINTS. Of course, the winner has 0 COMPETITION POINTS. But these are not qualifying points. Qualifying points will be obtained by adding the COMPETITION CONSTANT to the competition points. The constant depends on the points of the best participants in the competition, and if roughly, then approximately, the arithmetic mean of the best five starters. But to be exact, then the sum of the points of the top five starters plus the sum of the best points of the top five out of the top ten finishers, minus (ATTENTION!) COMPETITION POINTS of the five with the best points out of the top ten finishers divided by 10. It is difficult, but you can understand why. Imagine, did the entire top five with the best points pass badly or completely fly off? Then the second five will work and increase the constant. Or, on the contrary, the top five will be broken by a young talent with bad points so far, then the fact that the minus - the points of the competition of the top five with the best points will be greater, which means that the constant will be less, and this is also fair.
And that is not all. Short and simple Moscow and St. Petersburg slopes are penalized, that is, the constant is limited to at least 70, or 20 is added to it. This is also true. So fair that it is almost impossible to improve points, it is easier in the Urals or in Kirovsk on a difficult one, but without a penalty. Now, let's say, in our example, you lost 5.6 seconds in total to the winner, the constant is 70, the price of a second, as they said, is 10 points. Then 56 (competition points) + 70 (constant) = 126 points. Purely theoretically, you can estimate your level by driving along the same track for a while with the one whose points are known. But this is theoretical. But in practice, when it comes to the start, it will turn out much worse, because you will go in much more distant numbers along a broken track, you will worry and make mistakes, the track will be more difficult, the slope is steeper and longer, on that training slope your counterpart did not ride at full strength, anything else.

Here's what it's about. It is possible to drive along the slalom course in rounded conjugated turns of almost constant radius, then good glide and speed are achieved without much effort, but the path lengthens. In addition, it is almost impossible to get acceleration in a turn, which again will reduce the linear speed in a canopy. It is necessary to strive for a straightened trajectory, consisting of arcs of circles of large radius at the entrances to the poles, and a small radius - directly near the flags. At the same time, it is important to achieve maximum pressure on the skis up to the flag, so that after the pressure is removed, the skis seem to “pulp”, unbending, the skier forward. At the same time, it is not necessary, and even undesirable, for a separation from the snow to occur, you just need to get acceleration from the straightening skis. To do this, at the beginning of the active part of the turn, the skis must be bent as much as possible, which is easier to do if you load more from the toe.

You have to push. Especially on the slope. On a steep one, it is more difficult, but also necessary. It is necessary to push to the flag, and better - to the line of fall. But not immediately after the edge change, because, as I correctly noted, the skis must be loaded, and this happens already when approaching the flag, that is, at the moment when the edge angle approaches the maximum, the radius approaches the minimum. As a matter of fact, the fact of straightening the legs when approaching the line of fall is well known, but the legs can simply be straightened - let go as much as the ski trajectory asks for and apply the effort necessary only to resist the CB force, or you can add the acceleration of the CM in excess of the centripetal, determined by the turning radius, then from turn, you can exit at a speed greater than the one with which you entered (it turns out very clearly on the rollers).

For each skill level, there is a slope at which the skier will no longer push, but will at least try to maintain a clean cut lead (if you go further, with a further increase in the slope, the weaker ones will simply start to survive, turning the skis across first to the flag, and then after ).

On a very gentle slope, even not very strong skiers push out in a turn, intuitively catching this movement and feeling the acceleration that it brings.

Bonnet slalom is a slalom or giant course exhibited without external gate flags, except for the figures, which are nevertheless set with full gates. Named after its inventor - Honore Bonnet, Killy's trainer. It just saves the director's time. Today, the FIS rules allow such staging of slalom even in competitions, only the first and last gates, as well as figures, must be fully marked.

As for the parallel slalom course, this is a special case of Bonnet, double-flagged like giant slalom, but with very wide slalom distances and no figures. 14-16 meters between the gates. Rides on slalom skis. On the ramp last year there were just such two tracks. This year two parallel tracks were exhibited with single slalom flags. Probably, they decided to save more and outdo in this Bonn. But seriously, this changes the technique of passing the track, even with the same distances between the gates - in the first case, the technique is gigantic, despite the slalom skis and the time allotted for the turn, in the second - slalom. The way flags are blocked in this case is decisive...

At one time, a mathematician at school, after looking at my notebook, said: "Well, handwriting! The negative traits of a genius are obvious, now it remains to acquire positive ones."
This I mean that straightening is psychologically difficult, but technically it is a simple part of the task. On the technical side, it is much more difficult to perform the second necessary part - a short clean turn, mainly to the flag. And if the turn is not short enough and most of it occurs after the line of fall, then straightening will only hurt, this straightening aggravates the delay with each turn. It turns out that the previous turn ended very late, you go almost across the slope and at the same time you go to the flag in order to make the next turn even later ... Another thing is that he began to actively turn over and load the skis 3 m before the flag, approaching it, he already directed the skis almost to the side of the next, having passed the flag, soon completed the turn and drove almost in a straight line, STRAIGHTENING, diagonally, and not across, to the next point of the beginning of the active phase of the turn. It must be understood that even a straightened, even a round trajectory (and the degree of straightening depends on skill) must be early. The indicator here is where the skis are directed at the moment the flag is passed. They should look almost towards the next flag. The second moment is the beginning of active work along the trajectory. The more part of the turn you can make before the fall line, "pushing forward from the slope", the more acceleration you will get and the less you will lose after the flag, including due to uncontrolled drift. It is important here from the point of view of mechanics that before the line of fall of the c.b. the force and the component of gravity are partially mutually subtracted, and then added, and therefore it is more difficult to keep the ski after. Hence, the rotation and the maximum c.b. forces, respectively, it is better to move upward along the trajectory. Let there, in the first half of the arc, they fight with each other, and not with you and your edges, as happens after the flag.

I tried to understand about the "turn above the line of fall" - and I just can’t figure it out in my head how this is possible. Or is it the idea to push off the skis in the first half of the turn and pick up this very lateral speed, and drift problems after the fall line are partly a problem of static skiing, albeit sometimes with good edge, but without lateral work?

Like that. Let me also explain that if you straighten your legs with force and actively increase pressure before the line of fall, then after it you will begin to relieve pressure and tighten your legs, thereby reducing the load on the edges and the risk of a breakdown or overload that you yourself cannot withstand. Not only to gain in the new direction, but also to repay in the old one.
Surprisingly, such a "bold" shift of work upwards and shortening the length of the active phase on a steep one simultaneously increases the reliability of the descent, increases speed, and, most surprisingly, a very noticeable savings in physical effort! Absolutely incompatible, it would seem, even two points out of three, but this is the pure truth! This year I managed to ride 6-7 times per training 50-gate slalom with a very steep section of about 15 gates. It became successful only after the implementation of the coach’s recommendation, which in Russian sounded something like this: “try to push earlier and shorter, don’t control the skis for so long after the flag, don’t work so hard after the fall line, don’t get up after it, on the contrary, let go legs under you, take the pressure off!"

The risks are yes, and the loss of time from UNDERLY early entry in each turn can be significantly greater than the loss from a couple of small delays. Restarting is the next mistake as you progress after eradicating lateness, it's like the inevitable hypertension after hypotension. Restarting is harder to fix than being late. Of course, if we compare late in each turn on a tight closed track with a slightly excessive entry, the latter is preferable. What is better, 90/50 or 140/90?

No, you don't have to strive for it. An unjustified mistake. At one time, young people skipped, at Bigmark, Miller sinned with this, with protections full of snow he came to the finish line. All this is a consequence of the lack of control over the inside arm and shoulder, sometimes also due to a too back stance. There is zero benefit from this. The harm, rather, is not in the very touching of the snow with your hand, but in the reasons that caused it. Skiers who are recognized as slalom masters, such as Reich or Kostelich, do not.

I would not exaggerate so much, 100% is still not there, hands are always very close to the snow, sometimes it catches. I am not Lizeru's coach, so my opinion on this matter is probably not important. I think the presence - absence of this movement is determined primarily by the physique and, as a result, by the characteristics of the athlete's technique. And I have already expressed my attitude to this regardless of the person - I consider this a mistake, although not a fatal one. Someone got rid of it, someone does not pay much attention to it, but it is definitely not necessary to master this touch specifically as an element of technology.

I will first answer the question about imitation on rollers. It is easy to do this on roller skates, but the mechanism worked out on roller skates will not work on skis, on skis it is much more difficult both technically and physically to shorten the turn. And on roller skates, it’s enough just to turn your feet a little. In general, with the advent of the "pipe" I refused the commercials. Too much that is suitable for roller skates is harmful for skis and vice versa, although the second is not important.

As for the movement of the knees (especially the external one) forward and, by the way, also inward, it must be done before the flag, and after the flag, gradually remove both the knee edging and the crushing of the socks by pushing the knees forward. The point here is that for an early short exit from the flag, the necessary actions are performed by DO. Having completed a short early turn, finishing its active part soon the field of the flag, you will find yourself where you need in height and direction of the trajectory. And vice versa, if there are visible problems in a given place and at a given time, then you made a mistake a little higher up the slope.

According to the FIS rules, the width of the vertical gates in the figures should be within 4-6 m. In reality, they set 5-6 m. 4 m is very narrow, but within the rules. It is unlikely that they put shorter than 4 m, but if suddenly - it's easy to check - 4m is 2.5 men's slalom skis. It is better, of course, to have a tape measure with you. Further, if the fact of violation of the FIS regulations when setting up the course is obvious, you should contact the chief judge of the competition, it is better if the coach does this. It is clear that you need to have time to do this at the very beginning of the viewing, so that there is time for correction, because until you find a judge, then until he finds the choreographer, until he is convinced that he is wrong ... In general, I don’t remember this at FIS. And at simpler competitions, as a rule, people will poke fun, but no one does anything and everyone mummies in an illiterately set track.

Based on the experience of previous starts and training. If in doubt, measure the distance between the gates with skis and estimate the horizontal separation by eye in comparison with the neighboring gates. But it all depends on the slope, coverage. Nothing can replace experience. You can buy it faster if you set the tracks yourself in training. It’s also useful to rearrange the track in training and, before starting to drive along each new track, look at it like in a competition, and then FROM THE FIRST TIME try to ride with all your might.

The ability to identify simple and difficult places in the track is one of the components of mastery. In experienced athletes, it is present to a greater extent, but this is far from the only reason why they, like relaxed and without straining, sometimes bring less experienced athletes for several seconds. Masters do not make unnecessary movements, do not fuss, as if with diarrhea, this creates a somewhat false impression that they are not in a hurry ... In fact, they imperceptibly to the eye of an inexperienced spectator make serious efforts to accelerate in each turn, these movements are short and economical . Hurry, don't rush...

Smoothing out is initial, when viewing, and intermediate, in between the participants. As a rule, make amends every 20-30 participants. Any smoothing goal is to carry soft or waste snow as far as possible off the track. In addition, with an average hardness of the coating - "erase" the "rails" and remove the inner parapet. Therefore, there are several tasks, and there are several ways to smooth down, but, as a rule, they make it a plow with maximum abduction of the outer leg, but at the same time, the toe of the outer ski should pass as close as possible to the inner flag, and the inner ski should go on the other side altogether, and the flag is between the legs. At the same time, since there are many smoothers, those who are not among the first should evaluate what their predecessors succeeded in and what they didn’t and already correct along the way, for example, they smoothed it too narrowly, the outer parapet is dangerously close, especially for those who don’t the most experienced participants - it means that it is necessary to focus on expanding the ironed part and removing the parapet away from the track.

The most serious mistake when smoothing down is throwing off the used snow into a ditch, sort of like for leveling. Another typical mistake during the initial smoothing during viewing is an incorrect assessment of the future trajectory towards a higher one than it actually will be. In this case, less experienced athletes bump into the outer parapet, which sometimes leads to unpleasant falls.

(A question about the tactics of passing the modern slalom course. The trajectory of the skis is understandable. On steep sections, the entry is high and at the flag the skis are already directed to the next high entry. On gentle approaches, almost to the flag and turn a little higher, but as if around the flag itself. The essence is approximately like that?)

The gist is something like this. But on a steep one near the flag, you don’t need to direct the skis too much into the next turn, but just a little, otherwise you will drive much more closed than the track is worth. And it's easier to ride if you don't turn over. And if you try to go too early, you will definitely turn over. In general, I remember how a long time ago in Hinter, I once, "insolent", went much straighter, it turned out an order of magnitude faster and scarier, but surprisingly easier! It's easier, albeit at a higher speed, but still make less closed turns. Here you just need to get used to it, raise the speed barrier, not only physically, but also psychologically.

When attacking the flag, the slalomist looks inside the track, as if inside a corridor. The rest of the time, too. At the same time, it repeatedly changes the angle of view along the vertical and looks first at the nearest gate, then at more distant ones. He does not look under his feet and at the attacked flag. He does not turn his head behind the skis. As, however, and the body. The trajectory of the body is similar to the trajectory of skis, only more direct.

It is extremely rare to use the outer guard in a turn, not only because the outer one goes further, but also because the inner one is always slightly ahead.

As for blocking - indeed, you usually hit with a stick right near the end of the protection of the hand, because of which the sticks "get tired" and break ... Still, it is better to do the main work on blocking the flags not with your feet, but with your hands, so the flags slow down less skier, it is speculatively easy to imagine, without even going into physics. In general, external blocking has a lot of nuances, especially when it comes to young and / or inexperienced skiers. In particular, if, for example, the skier does not go close enough to the flags, and still reaches for the flag with his outer hand, he turns the body in the direction of the turn, unloads and unrolls the outer ski. Sometimes it's better than the inside. For example, even children in the canopy. Removing flags like in a giant, they don't lose as much kinetic energy, which kids have innumerable... In the figures, you can't do without a combination of internal and external blocking.

(From watching KM, the same Neureuther, one gets the impression, especially in sharp turns, that the brush goes through the "internal" poles, the stick only takes it slightly outward, and then the lower leg does the main work. No matter how they bother with poles, they simply carry hands inside the corridor .. And some of us with might and main hit the poles with protection of our hands, and even inside the turn.)

Hands are carried inside the corridor. They don't box. But they don’t take it away, if the blockage is not internal, they really knock it forward and finish it off with a shin. Children, as I said earlier, ride with internal blocking in order to lose less speed when colliding with each stick, their masses are more commensurate with the sticks than adults. With deep, distant ditches, children with their smaller stature have another reason to ride with internal blocking - in order not to pull the outer hand to the flag from afar, with the shoulders and body turning after the skis and losing edge and cut dribbling.

Yes, you don't have to go anywhere. Wherever it lies, it is dear to her ... It just flies forward in the direction of the skier at the moment the pole is touched. Nobody takes aim. She can’t get under the skis in any way, she can only hit the skis from above, which is unpleasant for skis and flags in severe frost, but you can’t get anywhere ... The most important thing here is not only not to aim, but in general to pay as little attention as possible on the flags, concentrating as much as possible on skiing. And from sticks ... - so, lazily brushing aside, as from annoying flies ... Without being distracted from the main occupation ...

Such assessments are a thankless task. As the weather forecast ... Ointment - from 0.2 to 0.5 seconds, depending on the condition of the snow and skis. Clean skis - 0.2, incorrectly deposited - 0.5. Jumpsuit - from 0.3 to 0.5 sec. Depends on the setting of the track and speed. Start - about 0.3 sec. Not clean skiing - more than 2.5 seconds.

Actual question. Absolutely relevant for everyone. Even those who do not admit that they are worried before the start, they are actually worried. Even those who do not recognize themselves. Benny Reich is worried. He is so worried that at the final he gives away the World Cup again and again. Pranger is worried. To overcome the excitement, he starts himself with a furious buzzer, which he was taught by sports psychologists. Miller is worried. Convincing everyone of the opposite with his indifferent appearance, he convinces himself. Everyone has their own way. The Swiss coach taught me something like this: going to the start, think that it's a great day, a gorgeous track, now I'll ride it with PLEASURE ... Hmm. And if the starting number is 113, ditches, fog, sworn "friends-rivals" are waiting for your mistake and the opportunity to tear you apart at last?
I have my own way. I'm not sure that it suits everyone, but I'll share it anyway. We need to come up with some key action for ourselves, well, like with Pranger, a mimic buzzer or some kind of song ... Here I have a Beatles song. Standing at the start, one or two participants before the start, I begin to sing it (slowly, you can do it to yourself) and thereby transfer the excitation of the nervous system from the plane of fear to the plane of a kind of enthusiastic anger. Condition (did not try, but, I think, such), as under "ecstasy" at teenagers at a disco. It is very important here that it is possible to convert the excited nervous system from fear-excitement into just excitement and delight, seemingly unreasonable, but useful for the first 3 gates. After the third gate, everything falls into place for ALL. And if you don’t fight the excitement, it also falls into place, but three gates (out of 20 on Moscow rides) you rode on wadded stiff legs, losing to yourself, not worried, from a second to infinity! Beyond that, of course, with experience comes relative calm. If you go to competitions often and for a long time, then you begin to treat them like a regular job. But not to the end. Because after all, you can just get drunk on valerian and feel absolutely indifferent at the start. But this is also bad. Maybe even worse than an excess of adrenaline. Therefore, excitement at the start is normal and necessary. You just need to learn how to transform it and use it to achieve the best result.

It is difficult here to at least somewhat reliably estimate the real radii. I have some assumptions, partly based on simple calculations tied to the radius of the skis and the angle of the lower leg, partly on the visual perception of the tracks ... It all depends on the class, both a strong skier and a weak one. In the limit for a weak skier, the radius on a rounded trajectory approaches the radius of the geometry of slalom skis and is equal to 12-13 m. If the skier is a little stronger, then 10-11. All these radii are possible on gentle and soft - otherwise the weak will start to be blown sideways. A strong amateur or veteran has 9-10m. For a strong athlete of the KR level, this is 6-7m. The top skiers of KM have another meter less. Of course, we are talking about slalom.

It is not forbidden to pick up speed to the barrier, this is just the main goal of a technically executed start, Killy's start. Another thing is that the sticks must be stuck in the snow BEFORE the barrier. Otherwise, of course, you can accelerate from five meters to the barrier ...
They stomp with skis in order to warm up the feet, for self-winding, emotional uplift, just to shake off the snow sometimes ... Moving forward is not at all the main thing, but a secondary movement.

Hands here are an important component of success (and failure) and, perhaps, it's all about them. Or maybe not. Perhaps you are riding the hairpins too straight (but, by the way, it would be difficult to understand whether it is the hairpins or also the snakes that cause difficulties). In any case, figures can be passed directly only if one of them is an open wide exit on a flat section of the track. In all other cases, in the figures it is necessary to turn at least for the flag before the exit - without fail, thereby preparing the next closed turn. It's just very difficult, having driven in a straight line, suddenly start turning again.

As for the stance - there are no indications for its change in any direction in the figures. Another important thing is that in snakes and hairpins, shorter turns are passed only due to the work of the shins and knee angulation - there is no time to work with the hip (we don’t talk about the body at all).

Tactically, for me personally, a hairpin or a snake is an opportunity to catch up late and take a break before the next series of hard closed turns. It is always easier to get into a figure, even if you are late. Get out short and high.

Not really. The steeper the slope in the presence of a hard surface, the sharper, and most importantly, the shorter both the impulse and the turn itself should be. And the harder the slope, it doesn’t matter if it’s steep or flat, the shorter Maybe be a cutting impulse.

Roughly speaking, about three meters before the flag, you need to cut in your socks, quite a bit before reaching the flag, you need to reach the maximum edging, then - we remove both the pressure and the angle of the edging, unload the skis, go straight diagonally, not reaching the next one, we start the flag everything from the beginning ... By the way, it is also very important to start the next turn before reaching the next flag, not only vertically, but also horizontally. And then many on a steep one, reinsuring themselves, not reaching the flag 3-4 meters, are already above it.

I don’t know how to pass the slalom route along the optimal trajectory. But I know well about the wrong trajectories: too straight and too round. Therefore, by the method of "on the contrary" you can find your own trajectory. It must be warned that the reasoning is controversial and very subjective.

Trajectory in the slalom course

As already noted in, the passage of the route implies turns exactly where you need it, and not where it turns out. This is an obvious difference from the free descent, where you can fit arcs into the features of the terrain, easily and naturally control the speed. But the main thing is not even that. In free descent, it is much easier to use your level of technique to 100, to put pressure on the skis with all your might, to turn over to the limit. Even more. If there is a gap in the technique, then the corresponding part of the arc can simply be skipped without noticing this gap. When moving to the track, everything is exactly the opposite. Technological gaps grow to capture a significant part of the arc, power and edge are reduced, and the movement itself becomes more compressed, which worsens the arc. Unfortunately, it's normal when visually two different people ride along the track and in free skating. Even worse. I think that at any level of a skier, you can put such a track that he will not be recognized.

Trajectory shape

According to my observations, the trajectory on the track strongly depends on the specific skier, not only on the class, but also on the habit and physical data.

Too straight path. When I started to walk along the track, my trajectory consisted of segments of straight lines. The phase of oblique descent to the pole, a turn near the pole, then again the phase of oblique descent. Of course, this did not work in the giant, high speeds did not allow to stay in such a sharp turn. Therefore, the rule worked for the giant: the direction of the oblique descent from the pole to the outer flag, that is, 10 meters away from the track. The turning point is when the next flag is under you. Then he transferred the same approach to the slalom, but to a lesser extent, he aimed at 1-2 meters away from the flag when exiting the turn. So I traveled until the beginning of the era of carves. In general, the question of the trajectory then did not arise for me at all, although the skis went in a small arc, but according to internal sensations, they were oblique descents, so it was possible to put pressure on the ski without fear that it would suddenly turn the wrong way.

Too round trajectory. He taught his son to immediately drive in round turns on carves (more details), so when he began to walk the track, the pairing of the turn arc with the pole was quite difficult, he was carried far from the track all the time. But at the same time, he famously pressed the ski on the entire arc, and the skis went without slipping.

These are the two extreme cases of the trajectory. Of course, out of habit, I gravitate towards a too direct trajectory, which is not correct. But I can also set the task to go through completely round turns so that I can drive across the slope near the pole.
And although this is also wrong, I tried to ride in the 2016 season in this way, because in my case I need to work with the “head” settings, unlearn from direct shots.

Work on the trajectory

In training, when you iron the same track, it is possible to feel different arcs. The criterion for correct arcs is when you can go not only without slipping, but also squeeze acceleration out of the arc. Unfortunately, it depends not only on the trajectory, but also on the setting of the route. Not all turns (in my case) can be done this way. I will give a couple of indicators by which you can find out the wrong trajectory.

Trajectory too straight, if a static pose appears when entering the pole. Even more compressed. This means that you can neither crush the ski more, nor edge, nor go lower, because otherwise you will “grab” the pole. True, I don’t feel that you “grab the pole”, it remains in the subconscious. And in my head it’s “good”, because it’s cool to go to the pole and calmly (after all, you’ve already done everything) you are waiting for when you can make the next movement. A static posture is often accompanied by still unpleasant scraping, and the outer ski can still “walk” because it lacks loading. This is a good criterion because it is easy to see. In the next descent, you need to force yourself to “away” from the track and then, as it were, return. To begin with, by 10 centimeters (according to internal standards), and then another 10. The main thing is that the “freeze” is completely gone, that is, he approaches the stick with the natural end of the movement of the body down, but not to the limit.

Trajectory is too round, if the body is too far out of the "corridor" of the track, that is, beyond the landmarks. This refers to the feeling at the beginning of the turn. Usually I try to direct the body down and forward, to the next pole, when I pass the middle of the corridor, that is, so that only the legs go further out. This often leads to a too direct trajectory, but if you “gape”, it immediately takes you out of the corridor. In general, this criterion is not so clear. It is possible that there are still revelations in the next season 🙂

Two more observations that may contradict each other. The first is advice from Alexander Geraskin (he gave it about 10 years ago), it is highly desirable to insert a straight section down into the trajectory (when he reached the pole). I found a picture on the Internet with one of the many interpretations of the phases of rotation. I put landmarks (red circles) on the picture, and the trajectory, as I think, corresponds to the movement of the skis, that is, the trail. In the terminology of this picture, “1st third of the turn” refers to the topic ““, but “2nd third” is just this “straight section from Geraskin”. The second piece of advice I heard from several coaches, but this season Boris Proshlyakov formulated it most clearly. Directly before the pole, a straight section should be inserted across the slope, and the turn should be made before this section. (in the picture, the segment is from the middle of the “3rd third of the turn” to the middle of the “Slanting descent”). And on this section you just need to put pressure on the skis in the lowest stance and calmly go to the pole, then also calmly pass it and only after that prepare for the entrance to the next turn. I brought these two points here, because too much emphasis on the first of them will lead to a too straight trajectory, and an excessive emphasis on the second - too round. It's all so confusing 🙂

Trajectory predictability

All the arguments above would work fine if you were skating on a rink. In a real track, even in the training track where you go for the 5th time, I can’t be sure how the skis, legs, body and arms will behave. Even worse. In the free descent, I see how the skis go in an arc, and in the track all the attention goes to the poles and the trajectory of the body, so the trajectory along which the skis go falls out of sight. As it turns out, this can work. Somehow, on the day of free skiing, part of the slope turned out to be dug up to the ice in the form of slalom arcs, and it was unpleasant to ride the rest of the slope, because of the "doughness" the skis were dug in when edging. Decided to walk this spontaneous, unmarked slalom course and found that the feeling was quite similar to the “real” track, the movements immediately became stiff, and the turns were more jagged, but neat on the trail. Introduced this into a set of exercises for free skating. You don’t just drive, but as if you draw an arc in front of you with your eyes and drive along it. I like the feeling, it will be necessary to roll it next season. And if you imagine what could happen in a few seasons, then I imagine ski goggles (modern mask) with augmented reality, with projection into the vision of a trajectory drawn in the snow and set landmarks that do not exist in reality 🙂

Believe skiing

It is necessary not only to observe the trajectory, but to squeeze out of it "rail-like". That is, do not be afraid (and at the level of instincts) to crush the ski. To do this, you need to be confident in the behavior of skis. I have such confidence, unfortunately, not often. Without this, it is better to ski and not try to push, instincts will translate the effort into a heel drop or even scraping. Over the course of this season, confidence in skiing has increased. In general, according to the current understanding, it is better to gain confidence in skiing in free skiing, descending turns of various steepness and overloads in different stances, but with obligatory clean arcs.

Cohesion of the trajectory

Sometimes I catch a wonderful feeling from the unity of the turns of the track. This is especially noticeable in the figures. For example, a closed turn, followed by a hairpin, which you barely have time to fit into (so the body does not rise, as usual in a hairpin), and again a closed turn. That is, it turns out, as it were, a large “giant” arc with a “relay” of edges in the middle. So, if at the same time there is only a feeling of a “big arc”, then, as it seems to me, this is the ideal trajectory with an ideal “rail” passage. On the Ogasaki, I began to catch such sensations much more often, apparently the fact that I have some incompatibility with the Atomics in the form of discontinuity in the arc at the entrance to the turn.

On-the-fly trajectory correction

Let's assume that all of the above is obtained. But things can go wrong along the way. For at least two reasons. First, these are all sorts of uneven slopes, grooves, tubercles, which can throw the skis a little in the wrong direction. The second is the necessary drift, i.e. early scraping. This is due to the fact that the trajectory of a carved turn in this case may simply not exist. How to get out of such situations I know so far only in theory. There is a special place in the trektorium for adjustments. Apparently this is the “straight section” at the entrance, which Alexander Geraskin spoke about. At the entrance to the turn, you need to put the skis on the edges, but show restraint and do not press immediately, gradually increasing both the pressure and the angle of the edge. This makes it possible to “aim” well for the main pressure on the approach to the stick. In this case, you can adjust the trajectory by holding back or increasing the pressure on the skis and edging. Unfortunately, there is nothing more to say other than that. I hope that next season I will catch exactly “my” feelings.

Vadim Nikitin

Giant slalom occupies a certain middle ground between downhill and specialty slalom. Its usual parameters are the length of the route 1000-1500 meters, the average speed is 60-70 km/h, the duration of one descent is about 100 seconds. The steepness of the arcs is less than the slalom by about one and a half to two times, the duration of the slide in each turn is much longer, the total load also exceeds the slalom. Gates 6-8 meters wide are marked with twin poles connected by one flag (when knocked down, they sometimes get tangled in the legs and can cause a lot of trouble). Considering this, collisions with poles on the giant slalom course are undesirable. Unlike special slalom, they are almost never deliberately knocked down, only allowing themselves to deflect the shaft with a sliding touch of the inside shoulder. All this leaves an imprint on the technique and tactics of the giant slalom.

The turning technique is dominated by the desire for a flat-cut glide with a maximum load of the outer ski and cutting the edge into hard snow or sliding along the counter-slopes of a broken track. Here, more often than in the slalom, it is possible to carry out a purely cut turn with a flat-cut slip in the conjugation of the arcs (Fig. 89).

Rice. 89. Carved turn with maximum loading of the outer ski along the entire arc and vigorous repulsion from it

Just as leaning on the top ski in an oblique descent is considered a mistake, so leaning on the inside ski in a turn is also undesirable, since the inside leg is more bent and therefore can carry less load and fatigue more quickly. However, it should be borne in mind that the long-term loading of the inner edge of the outer ski is sometimes associated with a weakening of the grip of the skis with snow, to strengthen it, the knee is shifted inside the turn, making a lateral deflection, which causes the thigh and lower leg to be not in the same plane. As a result, the functionality of the lateral ligaments of the knee joint decreases and the number of knee injuries increases.

If the conditions on the track allow, skating take-offs with a wide amplitude of the side step are beneficial, which is only possible in a deep squat on the inside leg. Therefore, an athlete must have a sense of proportion in all his actions and give preference to the most profitable of them (Fig. 90). In giant slalom, strength training and endurance play an important role, making it possible to be active from start to finish.

Rice. 90. Purity of sliding is achieved by reducing the curvature of turns: 1 - ordinary turns with side slip; 2 - excessive rectification of the main phase leads to braking in mates; 3 - theoretically possible path along straight segments; 4 - long arcs with flat-cut sliding; 5 - carved turns with lateral step in mates

Ski action is not about sitting passively in a low stance with extremely flexed joints that transmit less pressure to the lead ski and are able to carry less load. Flexion of the joints is inevitable, but it also causes additional stress on the muscles and ligaments. Too much bent leg is difficult to quickly and powerfully push off. Therefore, in order not to find yourself in an unpleasant situation of “wedging” in the position of the scissors, you need timely and strong extrusion forward and upward, otherwise you can get stuck on the inside ski in the rear stance.

Young skiers who are poorly prepared physically and technically often find themselves in a similar situation and fly off the track in a squat on an inside ski. However, this should not be an argument against "transferring" from the outside ski to the inside, the purpose of which is to transfer the body to a higher trajectory, as well as to ensure speed stability during the process of pushing off and sliding the outside ski along a steeper "oblique" slope. And the closer the end of the turn to the traverse, the more tangible the advantage of this technique, which was repeatedly used by the 1984 Olympic champions Debbie Armstrong (Fig. 91) and Max Julin (Fig. 92).

Rice. 91. 1984 Olympic champion Debbie Armstrong

Rice. 92. 1984 Olympic champion Max Julin

Improving the technique of skating repulsion, one must sensitively capture its duration, especially the beginning and end. If the athlete “opens” early in the scissors, then braking will result; if he lingers on the outside ski longer than necessary, it will turn too far, and lateral vibration and slipping may occur. A sense of time and sharpness of repulsion is developed in multiple repetitions. For greater activity and maneuverability in the giant, it is more profitable to make turns on half-bent legs, which retain the ability to withstand heavy loads longer.

Sometimes the transfer of body weight from the outside ski to the inside takes the entire second half of the turn in duration. Thus, by the end, his outer ski carries almost no load, which indicates a lack of emphasis in repulsion (Fig. 93). On fig. Figures 89 and 93 show typical giant slalom turns using the skate stride. Each of them has its own characteristics, depending on the steepness of the slope, the curvature and speed of movement, as well as the condition of the snow. The skating stride with a wide angle of ski divergence is more often used on steep turns by athletes with strong legs. This technique requires exceptional aggressiveness and redoubled attention when pulling up the toe of the outer ski so as not to catch it on the pole below the standing flag. The arc along which the outer ski slides can be of constant curvature, decreasing or increasing towards the end, resembling a lash. The latter technique is usually used in cases of the threat of “escape” of the support, as well as when a higher entry into the next turn is required.

The duration of the main phase of sliding in the turns of the giant slalom makes it necessary to pay special attention to the skier's stance. On fig. 94 consecutively shows five postures of the skier. The turn to the left is carried out by him on a relatively gentle section of the slope with a bend in the middle of the arc, which required him to additionally bend his legs (Fig. 2). With access to a steep section, the athlete increased the forward inclination, his stance is distinguished by the free position of the hands, bringing them forward with a light, pendulum movement of the sticks, usually ending with a short-term injection (in this case, without it). The general pattern of the upper body in all poses is almost the same and gives the impression of a closed stance. But this is the peculiarity of the modern technique of turning in the giant slalom - without a pronounced lateral bending in the lumbo-pelvic region, on an almost straightened outer leg, with a cut glide. This is something common that is now inherent in all the strongest skiers in the world. When repulsed (Fig. 3), he transfers the weight of the body simultaneously with the step from the outside to the left ski advanced forward. Pulling up the outer ski starts with a toe off, for this it ends with a push through the heel, but without a squat. As a result, in FIG. 3 and 4 he is in a better position, with complete control of his body and skis. Continuing to slide for some moment on the outer edge of the left ski, it gradually turns it over to the inner edge - thus, at the conjugation of arcs (Fig. 4 and 5), it performs a full cycle of flat-cut sliding.

Rice. 93. Carved turn with a wide abduction of the outer ski and a soft transfer to the inner


Rice. 94. Typical execution of turns in giant slalom


Rice. 95. Christa Kinshofer has good style and finesse on the slopes.

In conclusion of the conversation about the giant slalom technique, let's analyze the cinematography of pairing two ordinary turns performed by the athlete Christina Kinshofer (Germany) (Fig. 95). Finishing the first carved turn on the bent outer ski (Fig. 1), it passes into the second (2) with a flat-cut slip, starts a carved turn to the left, maintaining a forward inclination in the main phase (4). At the end of the arc, while maintaining the main stance, pressure through the heel increases the deflection of the back of the outer ski and, completing the “transfer” to the left ski, from the toe will pull the right ski to it. In FIG. 5 clearly shows that the toe of the right ski is already in the air, while the heel is still "cutting" the arc. As for the positions of the torso and arms with sticks, they correspond to the general scheme and are similar to the one we saw in Fig. 94: the transition from one turn to another occurs without a prick with a stick, the stance is open - the body is mainly frontal to the movement, the gate is passed without touching the poles. We see similar racks in Fig. 110, and 110.6 for the 1984 Olympic champions.

As for the tactics of passing giant slalom routes, with the transition to shortened routes and determining the results by the sum of two attempts, it became much closer to slalom. The compacted arrangement of the gates, the increased risk during the double passage, the almost double duration of the competitions held on the same day - all this gives a significant physical and, most importantly, mental stress. In this regard, the strong-willed training of an athlete is of particular importance.

The steepness of the slope significantly affects the tactics of the descent, since on long arcs of the giant slalom it is very easy to “overshoot” the speed and not fit into the optimal trajectory. Optimal we call such a trajectory, sliding along which gives the best result with a given level of technical skill, sports form, which the slalomist has today. Thus, this term is collective, taking into account the stability of the descent.

The stability of the descent during two attempts is an important factor. It is largely determined by the reliability of the technical and psychological preparation of the athlete and his ability to feel the optimal speed.

Optimum speed, optimum trajectory, optimum risk, optimum technical and volitional readiness are the components of the skier's sports form.

Optimal trajectory of turns. Obviously, the shortest path on the slalom course is the broken line connecting the inner gate flags. However, high-speed overcoming of the slalom distance along such a path is practically impossible, because the skier is not able to create a huge reaction of the support during the edging for the formation of the proper centripetal force. Therefore, the fastest trajectory in slalom is the optimal undulating curve passing near the inside flags at each gate. Optimal descent requires a smooth alternation of turns with allowable loads at the moments of edges.

The most dense sliding to the flag is performed using special techniques: removing the shoulder and knocking down the flag. Knocking down the flag can be combined with a shoulder retraction technique and is performed by an "opening" movement of the shoulder (less often, the forearm or the back).

Knocking down the flag, causing a sensitive impact, greatly slows down the movement and can disturb the sliding of the skis and the balance of the slalomist. Here full confidence in the tactical expediency of such a reduction in the turning arc is necessary, with an accurate consideration of the risk of collision with a firmly established pole.

When choosing one or another technique on a particular section of the route, the following factors must be taken into account: the trajectory of the descent (for a turn, this means the magnitude of its radius and circular angle), the steepness and topography of the slope, the state of the snow cover, the speed of movement and the nature of the subsequent descent.

So, in unfinished (with a circular angle up to 120 °) medium and gentle turns of slalom, the technique of the main and throw turns, the use of a short side press are the most effective. In medium turns, the most commonly used are lateral bending of the knees, rotational throw of the pelvis, turning the skis with the feet, advancing dive, avalman. On steep slopes, especially in small radius turns, the most effective techniques are push and avalman turns. It also uses different combinations of leading dive, lateral bending of the knees and bracing. For braking, bench press and screw movement can be used.
In steep and medium turns with a large circular angle (120-180 °), as well as in turns with steep exits, ending in steep traverses up to the horizontal direction (see Fig., Gates No. 14-15), a ridge turn is used. Typical fragments of tracks for this tactical solution (horizontal gates no. 3, 4,11 set aside, snakes shifted horizontally) are a characteristic element of the configurations of modern slalom tracks (no. 12-14, 15-17).

The difficulty of overcoming the displaced vertical snakes is that in the upper snake the skier uses a narrow trajectory of turns on parallel skis with active work of the knees (the upper body ensures only the correct passage of the figure by removing the shoulders or knocking down the flags), after which he has to make a sharp turn with entering the next snake. In this case, the greatest gain in time is given by a cut glide in a skating turn with a slight drift of the backs of the skis, which is characteristic of it. On fig. against the dotted background of a normal turn on parallel skis with a strong sliding of the backs in the end of the arc, the advantage of the cut sliding of the skating is shown, braking is practically eliminated here, and the support on the upper edge of the inner ski contributes to a high entry into the next snake.
The gentle turns of a large circular angle (complete turns) use a step-turn, which allows you to get the most out of the carved slide on icy tracks.

Giant slalom is rightfully considered the most technically complex discipline in skiing. The best athletes in the giant must demonstrate the speed of the slalom and the speed curve of the downhill. That is why when preparing athletes and especially juniors, it is recommended to devote about 70% of the total training volume to the giant slalom. We talk a lot about this at coaching seminars. However, just spending time on long giant skis does nothing. What is important is the correct approach to the formulation of technology.

As experience shows, in most cases it is impossible to immediately start cutting out very round turns, even remotely resembling those that Kalle Pallander demonstrates on the track of the World Cup giant.

Instead of carving an arc like this one (left by 2007/08 giant silver medalist Manuela Mölg of Italy in training before the World Championships),

Author's photo

juniors often either just slip sideways or carve very gentle arcs along the slope. None of these cornering options work even on a simple course and bring them closer to true giant slalom turns.

What is the way out?

In this article, I will share the technique of setting the technique of correct turns. This technique is based on a combination of two exercises representing extreme turns - a pure cut turn and a full arc slip turn.

Before proceeding directly to the methodology, let's figure out what is the problem of athletes who either cut along the slope, or vice versa - drop their skis sideways. As a rule, the problem in both cases is the same. The athlete simply puts the skis on the edges and stands on them, cutting out the arcs given by the radius of the ski. This is a very static ride, consisting of a "locked" position on one side and the other, I think everyone is familiar. The legs practically do not bend between the arcs and do not straighten to the beginning of a new turn. Therefore, as soon as the slope becomes a little steeper or the track requires a less gentle turn, the skis are simply dropped and shoved sideways. The main reason for this skating is the lack of proper footwork and incorrect edge mechanics.

I propose to solve each of these problems separately. In particular, perform the following exercises: dynamic gentle turns along the line of fall of the slope to set the correct shift for edging the skis and extremely round turns with smooth slipping of the skis along the entire arc of the turn to set forward and flexion-extension of the legs. Further, the technical skills developed separately in the exercises gradually add up to the technique of real giant slalom turns.

Let's dwell on the first exercise - gentle turns, also called banana turns.

Photo by Lev Akhsanov

In this photo, the author demonstrates a banana twist. I believe that after looking at the shape of the left arc, no one will doubt the accuracy of this name. Banana turns are usually practiced on a relatively gentle slope. Since the banana turn takes very little time and is performed almost in the line of fall at high speed, it allows the skier to perform exactly the right edge of the skis by moving inward of the arc simply by straightening the outside leg and bending the inside one. At the same time, the dynamics are maximum, and the athlete does not have time to feel the bending of the legs between the arches and perform an accentuated extension in the upper part of the arch. This is clearly visible in this banana-turn storyboard:

Photo by Lev Akhsanov

This demonstration of banana turns was made with a 10 frames per second camera. It is easy to calculate that in a second the skier completed two turns. Naturally, in addition to shifting and edging in such an extreme rhythm, it is very difficult to set up other necessary movements. So attempts to put footwork and advance forward between the arcs in the banana turn mode will most likely be unsuccessful. Moreover, in banana turns, as a rule, there are problems with re-centering, and athletes begin to "lose" the toe of the outer ski.

Therefore, instead of rolling in the mistakes that banana turns inevitably show up, I recommend moving on to another exercise - maximum round turns, often called S-turns by trainers. The S-turn is a round closed turn in which the skis slide smoothly along the entire arc, as shown by the author in the photo below:

Photo by Lev Akhsanov

I believe that, as in the case of the banana turn, there is no doubt about the correctness of the name of this exercise. In this storyboard, a skier is making a turn on a very steep slope. It is on slopes of medium steepness and on steep slopes that it is recommended to work on S-turns. What are they for? First of all, in order to feel without speed, as if in slow motion, all the necessary movements escaping both in normal and banana turns. This storyboard was made with the same camera giving 10 frames per second. I guess it's easy to calculate that one S-turn takes about 2 seconds. In this case, the transition phase from one arc to another takes more than half a second. This is enough time to clearly bend and unbend the legs and straighten up to enter the turn.

The movement pattern in the S-turn should be exaggerated in terms of extension and advancement into the arc, as shown in the larger shot of the storyboard below:

Photo by Lev Akhsanov

In the S-turn presented here, there is almost a complete biomechanical cycle of movements required in the giant slalom turn. However, everything happens at a slow speed, with edging, but without cutting the arc of the turn. I hope this storyboard clearly shows the straightening inward of the arc. At the same time, the skis smoothly slip, going on the edges. It is the smoothness in the execution of a long and round arc that is difficult for many juniors, who are accustomed to cutting almost straight arcs performed simply by edging the ski and using its sidecut.

As a rule, such athletes reduce S-turns to ski rotation and zigzags. Controlling the speed and holding the shape of the arc is also a problem. The transition from one slow arc to another is also difficult, since without speed the skis hardly pass under the body. Therefore, it is important that the legs extend slightly up and forward (inside the arc) as they do when entering the turn in this S-turn storyboard fragment:

Photo by Lev Akhsanov

Although S-turns are relatively slow, any static positions should be avoided. In this exercise, constant movement and fluidity are very important. Hopefully this is clear from the storyboard above, as the position of the skier in each frame is different from the previous one.

However, in S-turns, both upward movement and excessive body following of the skis can be developed. In order not to "roll" these not quite correct movements, I suggest using S-turns with a one-sided double thrust as shown in this storyboard:

Photo Georgy Dubenetsky

A double thrust creates the correct position of the body and adds to the upward extension a more pronounced advance forward and inside the arc. Naturally, one should only move to S-turns with a double thrust when the form and a certain smoothness in the usual S-turns with a single thrust are achieved.

The next question is how to properly use these two key types of turns. On the one hand, we have a banana-turn - maximum dynamics, displacement, edging and cutting a short sloping arc. At the same time, the athlete experiences a minimum of control over his movements. The main task is to feel the edge of the skis in dynamics due to the displacement inside the future arc. No emphasis is placed on the transition between arcs. For this, the S-turn is used, in which the skier focuses on bending the legs between the arches, advancing and straightening with minimal dynamics.

Of course, in S-turns, static inevitably develops and the feeling of a “clean” edge disappears. Banana turns have a edging feel, but don't have the twist-to-turn elements needed in real turns. Therefore, I would not recommend abusing any of these exercises. Instead, I always alternate between banana turns and S turns. I also often come back to these exercises when an athlete has problems with giant slalom turns. For example, if footwork and progress are lost, I do S-turns or the necessary exercises in S-turn mode. If the athlete loses edge feel and momentum, I go back to banana turns. Naturally, the correct steepness of the slope is important in this case.

I want to note that the proposed technique also works on super-giant skis. It also works on slalom skis, but there are many problems with the development of completely wrong movements. That's why I recommend doing it all on giant skis, and once you've created a good giant slalom turn, it's easy to transfer it to both slalom and super-gi. I hope that the right combination of banana-turns and S-turns will bring success and good turns to everyone.

Photo by Lev Akhsanov
Editing Galina Akhsanova
Photo and editing Georgy Dubenetsky