GLOSSARY

Events Abbreviated
DH - Downhill
SL - Slalom
GS - Giant Slalom
SG - Super G
CO - Combined

Competitions
FIS Alpine World Cup
Alpine Super Series – (NOR AM CUP)
Europa Cup
World Alpine Championships
World Junior Championships

TERMS:

Banked Turn
A downhill turn where the terrain is built up (either naturally or artificially) around the turning gates. It is the easiest turn to negotiate in downhill because the bank keeps the racers on line.

Carved Turn
The act of putting the skis on edge and performing an arc (in which the tail of the skis essentially pass through the same line as the tip of the skis). A "carving" ski is faster than one that is sideslipping.

Combined
Discontinued after the 1948 Olympics, it was renewed during the 1983 World Championships. This event requires the skier to be equally skilled at both downhill and slalom races. On the World Cup tour, it is a calculation of two designated runs. At the Olympics and World Championships, athletes race on shorter downhill and shorter slalom courses.

Compression
An area, usually below a jump, where the slope makes a very quick transition from steep to flat. If the racers aren’t in position to handle the compression, they are often thrown violently on the backs of their skis.

Downhill
The fastest and most dangerous of the five alpine events, in which each racer attempts to record the fastest time during a single run on a course with a minimum number of control gates. World Cup downhills for men must have at least an 800-meter vertical drop (and can go to 1100 meters); women have a smaller vertical drop. Skiers reach speeds up to 130km/h. Control gates are placed along the course, both to control speed and guide the skiers. Course designers attempt to ensure that snow conditions faced by the first racer are the same as for the last. The fastest skier wins.

Fall-away
A downhill turn where the terrain "falls away" from the turning gates. The hardest turn to negotiate in downhill (because gravity is pulling the racer away from the line he intended to ski), fall-away turns are often the site of crashes – usually racers falling on their inside hip.

Fall line
The line that a ball will take when rolling down an inclined plane.

FIS
International Ski Federation. The governing body of ski racing.

Forerunners
A group of non-competing athletes who are sent down the course first to test the conditions and set the track for the first group of racers.

Giant Slalom
Giant slalom requires strength and a good sense of rhythm. As the name implies, this sport differs from slalom by the height of the course: vertical drops can be as much as 450 meters for the men and 400 meters for the women. The skiers must negotiate at least 30 gates, which are placed 10 meters or more apart. The course itself is up to 35 meters wide and runs over uneven terrain. Scoring is by aggregate time achieved in two heats, usually staged on different courses.

Inside ski
The ski that is nearest the turning gate. At slower speeds and shallower inclines, a racer will allow some of his or her weight to remain on the inside ski in order to carry more speed.

Jury
A group comprised of representatives from the FIS (three voting representatives) and the race committee (one voting representative and several non-voting representatives) which decide on any issue concerning the running of the event.

Line
The ideal route a racer must take in order to get down the hill the fastest.

Nations Cup
Launched the same year as the World Cup (1966-’67), the Nations Cup is awarded each season to the nation that scores the most World Cup points.

Outside ski
The ski that is furthest from the turning gate. In a high-speed turn, the racer must put most of his weight on his outside ski in order to battle the centrifugal forces pulling him or her.

Pre-jump
The act of jumping in the air before a bump or obstacle and landing on its backside to minimize the amount of time where the skis are out of contact with the snow.

Press
In the event that a pre-jump is either impossible or too dangerous, the racer will quickly rise just before a bump or obstacle and then "press" down aggressively as he or she reaches the lip of the jump. This also will minimize the amount of time his or her skis are out of contact with the snow.

Section
A segment of the downhill course, usually visible from one end to the other, where coaches will take times and shoot videos to compare the speeds and the lines of their racers. Often coaches will station themselves on the same section of a course year after year.

Seeding points
Seeding points are used to evaluate a competitor’s performance for the purpose of determining the start order for any FIS-sanctioned ski race. Normally, the top 15 skiers are in the first "seed" group and they choose their starting number according to their ranking. The number one-ranked skier chooses his or her preferred starting position first, then number two and so on. The remaining competitors start in the order in which they are ranked. Generally, skiers in the first seed have the most advantageous starting positions. The points are updated regularly by the FIS throughout the season. After each race, the race points for each person (based upon his/her time behind the winner) are added to the penalty points for that race (a numerical rating of the "quality" of the field of competitors). In most cases, the points from the two best results in each discipline are averaged to determine an individual’s current seeding points.

Sideslip
When the forces in a turn are too much for a skier and he or she loses control of his edges, he or she will begin to slide around the turn. This is characterized by a lot of snow being thrown into the air (rooster tail). It is also a braking turn and much slower than a carved turn. "Sideslipping down the course" means sliding down with the skis across the fall line, rather than making turns on the course.

Slalom
Slalom racing requires aggressiveness, quickness and agility. Men’s slalom courses have a vertical drop of between 180 and 220 meters. At least a quarter of their length slopes 30 degrees or more. Courses follow a succession of flagged gates (between 40 and 75), with each gate measuring four to five meters apart. The skier with the lowest aggregate time after two runs on two different courses is the winner.

Snow seed
In the eventuality of a snow storm or soft snow conditions on the course, a group of racers is picked by random draw from the last fifteen-ranked skiers in the race. These skiers will then race ahead of the first seed (the top fifteen) in order to set a fast track for them. Often, being chosen for the snow seed can be a blessing in disguise as the course is much smoother at the beginning of the race than at the end.

Super G
Introduced to the World Cup circuit in 1983, Super G is a hybrid of downhill and giant slalom, a combination of speed and aggressiveness. It requires the participants to be very precise at high speeds. Vertical drops for super G courses are a few hundred meters less than for downhill. However, they are prepared similarly and feature undulating and hilly terrain. Like downhill, super G is decided over one run (but there are no training runs allowed on the course prior to the race). Long, sweeping high-speed high-speed turns are characteristic of super G , and make it a spectacular event to watch.

Technical Delegate
The official representative of the FIS at any given FIS-sanctioned race.

Training Run
Downhill is the only alpine event where training runs are allowed on the race course. Although they have no bearing in the final standings, they are of great importance both to the racer and his support crew. Often the race is determined by the adjustments made during the training runs.

Traverse
Skiing across the hill.

Wax race
A test in which racers are timed on a straight-line section of a hill (off the course) in order to assess different ski bases and wax preparations. A "wax race" is often the derogatory term used for a downhill that is too flat or too easy (i.e. it is the wax and the base of the ski that determine the outcome of the race).

World Championships
Held in odd-numbered years, the FIS World Championships assemble the best alpine racers (both men and women) on one site to determine who will be crowned World Champion in all five events (downhill, super G, giant slalom, slalom and combined). The 2001 World Championships will be held Jan. 29-Feb. 10 in St. Anton, Austria.

World Cup
Conceived by French sports journalist Serg Lange in 1966, U.S. coach Bob Beattie and French coach Honore Bonet, the World Cup recognizes the overall male and female ski racer of the season. The splendid crystal cup has come to symbolize the best that ski racing has to offer.