MEN'S World Cup 2022-2023

[DocGKR]

Not that I recall--our school used to rent a run for training mid-week. Usually the one currently called "Martin's Lane", but I think it had a different name back then....

 

[no edge]

Can you imagine a race looking like this now?

Freakin gates are too close together and the skis are too long. I like watching it though.

 

[James]

Can you imagine a race looking like this now?

Pretty sketchy. Plus spectators so close!

 

[Pete in Idaho]

Ah, the world before too many lawyers-those were the days.

 

[DocGKR]

Have any of you been following the FIS “Down the Line” series?

 

[Swede]

Right down the line!

 

[Moose32]

Can you imagine a race looking like this now?

Here is another run.
Looking for Hansi's run on this course

 

[Moose32]

Here is another run.
Looking for Hansi's run on this course

Here is Hansi falling in the mud.
Not sure why I am so fascinated by the visuals of this race. I think it reminds me of late-season training in WNY as a kid.
Of course, we would never see this today in the World Cup.

 

[Rudi Riet]

Here is Hansi falling in the mud.

So he was "twisten in der Pisten," eh?

 

[James]

Here is Hansi falling in the mud.

He had the tip blocks on.
Problems with Garmisch snow even then.

Here’s Are, 1979. Not much snow either.
They knocked out a lot of poles coming down in slalom.

 

[Rudi Riet]

You can see why the invention of the Break-a-Way gate was a game changer, both for competitors and gatekeepers...

 

[4ster]

You can see why the invention of the Break-a-Way gate was a game changer, both for competitors and gatekeepers...

I remember watching Nationals Slalom at Mammoth when it was still bamboo. Phil Mahre came down & literally took out every gate!

 

[James]

Bamboo had some freak accidents too.

I skied with someone who told me about teaching at Vernon Valley Great Gorge in NJ back in the 70’s. (Now Mountain Creek)
One morning they had the ski school instructors out lined up to watch a slalom demo. It might have been a regular thing, I forget.
The schools director was killed when somehow the bamboo pole broke and went into his eye.
As far as I can tell, would’ve been Walt Westerveld in Jan, 1973

 

[Moose32]

You can see why the invention of the Break-a-Way gate was a game changer, both for competitors and gatekeepers...

My last year or so in high school they had break-away gates that were largely saved for race day.
Training was still (largely) on bamboo poles and coaches spent a lot of time monitoring the course and putting back the poles.
Obviously, mastering the hinged gates or cross-blocking was more difficult when training on bamboo.

 

[Rudi Riet]

Cross-blocking didn't really come into the playbook until 1985 when Rok Petrovič stormed onto the World Cup stage with his "highly unorthodox" method of blocking gates, one that he devised with the help of his coach, Jose Sparoveč. Almost everybody was still inside-arm clearing (including Marc Girardelli who was the standard bearer in slalom in the 1984-85 season) and Petrovič simply obliterated the field with his new technique, winning 5 races and easily capturing the season title.

By the 1986-87 season most of the top slalom skiers had transitioned to outside-arm blocking - i.e. cross-blocking - and the rest is history. Petrovič never won a World Cup slalom race after his amazing season, his only podium being 2nd in the Kranjska Gora race in December 1986.

Petrovič retired from ski racing in 1988 (after finishing 8th in the slalom at Calgary) and died in a diving accident in 1993.

 

[Moose32]

Cross-blocking didn't really come into the playbook until 1985 when Rok Petrovič stormed onto the World Cup stage with his "highly unorthodox" method of blocking gates, one that he devised with the help of his coach, Jose Sparoveč. Almost everybody was still inside-arm clearing (including Marc Girardelli who was the standard bearer in slalom in the 1984-85 season) and Petrovič simply obliterated the field with his new technique, winning 5 races and easily capturing the season title.

By the 1986-87 season most of the top slalom skiers had transitioned to outside-arm blocking - i.e. cross-blocking - and the rest is history. Petrovič never won a World Cup slalom race after his amazing season, his only podium being 2nd in the Kranjska Gora race in December 1986.

Petrovič retired from ski racing in 1988 (after finishing 8th in the slalom at Calgary) and died in a diving accident in 1993.

Yep, I was off to college (played small time football, did not ski race) by the time cross-blocking made it to high school and USSA levels. Inside arm clear was still the predominant technique.
There were times, I would take the gate across the entire chest (again football) but helmets were not the norm in slalom so that approach had diminishing returns. Head and goggles were knocked around a bit by the end of the run.

Here is Rok in slaloms at Wengen and Lillehammer around that time.

 

[James]

Cross-blocking didn't really come into the playbook until 1985 when Rok Petrovič stormed onto the World Cup stage with his "highly unorthodox" method of blocking gates, one that he devised with the help of his coach, Jose Sparoveč. Almost everybody was still inside-arm clearing (including Marc Girardelli who was the standard bearer in slalom in the 1984-85 season) and Petrovič simply obliterated the field with his new technique, winning 5 races and easily capturing the season title.

By the 1986-87 season most of the top slalom skiers had transitioned to outside-arm blocking - i.e. cross-blocking - and the rest is history. Petrovič never won a World Cup slalom race after his amazing season, his only podium being 2nd in the Kranjska Gora race in December 1986.

Petrovič retired from ski racing in 1988 (after finishing 8th in the slalom at Calgary) and died in a diving accident in 1993.

Interesting.
You can compare styles here at Heavenly in 1986. Stenmark is still mostly inside arm clear, Krizaj is inside but dnf’s quickly. Mader is outside, prob would’ve won but dnf’s. Love the sweater on Mader.

No mention is made by commentator Andy Mills (?) on arm clearing, but shin clearing is mentioned.

 

[Rudi Riet]

Interesting.
You can compare styles here at Heavenly in 1986. Stenmark is still mostly inside arm clear, Krizaj is inside but dnf’s quickly. Mader is outside, prob would’ve won but dnf’s. Love the sweater on Mader.

Mader came up through the junior and Europa Cup circuits at the same time as Petrovič so he learned the cross-block at the same time - many of the then-new crop of SL skiers were embracing the faster technique. Note how the commentators mentioned that Mader was starting at the back of the pack earlier in the season and was now a contender - it's the same rapid ascent Petrovič had during the 1984-85 season.

Mader went on to be a dominant SG and GS skier in future seasons, winning the World Cup GS title in the 1989-90 season.

Stenmark learned cross-blocking after the 1985-86 season, mastering it before he retired. His second run at the Calgary Olympics is a thing of beauty. I tried to find YouTube footage but it's not there. Needless to say: a veteran coach challenged him to "win one for the old guys" and he proceeded to have the fastest second run - even faster than Tomba, the fastest SL skier of the season and the gold medalist.

No mention is made by commentator Andy Mills (?) on arm clearing, but shin clearing is mentioned.

Note that this coverage is over-the-air U.S. TV stuff: very watered down. Explaining the change to "shinning the gates" is a lot simpler to explain than the switch from inside-arm to outside-arm clearing to an audience that only saw about 40 minutes total of alpine ski racing coverage each season.

 

[James]

Looks like 1993 was a year where a lot of athletes and former athletes died. Just a few from the AP News article:

Besides Rok Petrovic-
Drazen Petrovic - 28, Nets basketball star, car accident
Reggie Lewis- 27, Celtics basketball star,
heart attack
Davey Allison- 32, Nascar driver, now in Nascar Hall of Fame, helicopter crash
Alan Kulwicki- 38, Nascar 1992 champion, plane crash

James Hunt- 45, former Formula 1 driver, heart attack
Andre Rousimoff (Andre the Giant)- 46, Professional Wrestler, actor in The Princess Bride, heart attack
Don Drysdale, 56, former Dodgers star pitcher, heart attack
Jim Valvano- 47, Basketball coach, led NC State to 1983 title, cancer
Arthur Ashe- 49, Tennis star, Aids
Bobby Moore- 51, English soccer star, Capt of 1966 team that won WCup, cancer
Roy Campenella- 71, Brooklyn Dodgers catcher, 3 time NL MVP, career cut short by paralysis after an auto accident, heart attack
James Jordan- 56, Father of Michael Jordan, murdered

Notable Sports Deaths in 1993

Ja (AP) _ Johnny Most, whose affection for the Boston Celtics and his gravelly voice gave a distinctive air to the team's radio broadcasts for nearly 40 years, died at age 69.

apnews.com

 

[4ster]

Interesting.
You can compare styles here at Heavenly in 1986. Stenmark is still mostly inside arm clear, Krizaj is inside but dnf’s quickly. Mader is outside, prob would’ve won but dnf’s. Love the sweater on Mader.

No mention is made by commentator Andy Mills (?) on arm clearing, but shin clearing is mentioned.

I was at that race! No one had heard of Rok but we all new him after that week. He rocked it! I’ve got local newspaper clippings somewhere.
Thanks for the video. I will be watching right after supper