BOWLES' BLOG:

Canadian Cowboys stuck in the slow lane

Ski pick, prep contributed to a lost weekend
 

Nov. 28, 2010     ♦ Photo: Robbie Dixon was near flawless in the downhill but couldn't find the speed (Paul Morrison)

By Gordie Bowles, S-Media

Ski racing is a very simple sport. Racers goes from Point A to Point B as fast as possible. The more inclination on the slope, the faster they go. The fastest time wins.

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But behind the scenes, there’s a lot more going on than meets the eye. It’s a complicated mix of factors that go into each and every World Cup medal. At the opening World Cup speed races in Lake Louise over the weekend, two of those ingredients reared their ugly heads: ski selection and preparation.

The science — and even politics — behind the make-up of a fast ski is staggering. Us layman folks might have thought the unfortunate victims of slow skis in Lake Louise “missed their wax.”

Robbie Dixon, for example, was the captain of the slow ski club and was certainly on the losing end of the fast ski spectrum. After two flawless runs in Saturday’s downhill and Sunday’s super-G where he nailed the turns and technical sections, his hometown medal possibilities disappeared faster than it takes most of us to tie our shoelaces. On the bottom flats he “lost” more than a second in a 17-second very flat portion of the course. Ouch.

Many, I’m sure, thought “What happened?” At least I did, so I put my media credentials to good use and interviewed Jeff Jond, Rossignol’s World Cup team manager, in the finish area after the super-G race.

Jond informed me on the process for Rossignol’s ski production, testing, tracking and allocation of the fastest and best skis to the fastest and best ski racers. Think Formula One here. Each racer has a product (ski brand) that supports them, generally earlier in their career, supplies skis and a service man (ski technician) to manage the ski selection and preparation. Jond said Rossignol does its best to use a fair process to get the right skis to skiers and to continually monitor those skis.

Dixon, Manny O-P and Jan Hudec, all Rossignol skiers, have a pool of 40 skis to choose from.

“We have two lengths, three different models and every downhill ski we also have three bases with two or three base structures,” Jond said. “So we know (a ski) that runs well here (Lake Louise) would not in Val Gardena (Italy), as the snow is different.”

The pressure for ski technicians to choose the right ski and prepare it to perfection must be intense. I bet they're as nervous as the racers themselves.

Robert Rouselle, the Canadian ski team managing director, mentioned it is critical to have the ski manufacturers directly involved in ski preparation, as they have the inside track on the best skis. “There’s a lot of secrets involved,” he said, “so (ski brands) don’t want to pass on that information so it spreads to other companies.”

“There is definitely an advantage to be at the front,” Rouselle said. “If you’re number one in the world, you get the first pick. The skis are owned by the company so they can shift the skis from racers to racers, depending on who’s skiing fast.”

The bottom line is that slow skis equals slow racer, just like a faulty F1 engine would keep drivers far from the winner's box. I’m not saying Dixon was going to win the race, but with faster skis — or a better ski selection — he would have been a heck of a lot closer to the front of the pack.

He deserved a better fate.  S-Magazine
 

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