Hi, in this video we are reviewing 3 ELEMENTS of modern and advanced ski racing technique. We are looking at it from a SL view angle and trying to find out if the same ELEMENTS apply to GS. Have fun and please leave a comment :) reg Tom
Hi Vlad. I totally agree. On lesser crowded slopes GS skis are the most fun to ski on. I usually carry both GS and SL skis with me to the slope and in the early hours I rip on the GS skis and then I move to SL skis as crowd starts to litter the slope.
My biggest takeout was in flexing in the transition. It’s a very similar action to that of skiing deep powder. I had never made the connection. Once again these are great tips to help coach my son, and for me as a skier. Thank you.
Thanks for sharing!! And thanks for watching. You are kind of in the same situation I have been with Chris. Working on my own skiing gave me lots to build my coaching on. And yes, the flexing part is really what it is all about. That is where I learned how to flex at transition. That and bumps. And Im good at all that stuff because I had the revelation. Please let me help you and your son develop greater skills. Reg T
I really appreciate that these are skis from 2016/2017 and not this year. It gives me confidence that us who can't afford numerous pairs of skis each year, let alone one new pair each year, let alone a new pair any year, let alone being able to buy skis that aren't used, that our skis are still enough. They may be floppy, but that's what we have and we can still race!
Wow, what a nice comment LB. Yes, many of us are not littered with money or new gear. We do this out of the passion for the sport with whatever we have. Every year is a puzzle. If you haven't seen MY Story (ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-wAeLgCcCGSQ.html) check it out for perspective. Glad you appreciate what we are doing and how. Yes, be confident.... thank you for watching and all the best from us to you :)
Yes that max outside pressure ,displays nice bowing of the ski. This clip runs well off your last - “3 levels “ and gives a good visual of the “sitting on the bowl” with roll. Also , arm and pole position, is true to your explanation of the “how to practice with poles”.
Thanks a ton! Thanks for watching. There is a time and place for everything. Beach and lodge. This winter I will try to work on my own skiing for a change.
Some of my instructors have always told me to extend the legs during transition and to direct the upper body to valley. But your explanation seems much clearer.
AFAIK, both, up unweighting and down unweighting are used, although most athletes probably use the latter now. Up unweighting helps to relax the muscles more. And of course, it depends on the turn as well that you would have to make.
As Andreas so well pointed out, both kind of transitions are being used. Depending on the situation. But there is a slight difference between extending up and up-unweighting. Since up-unweighting is not required as we carve cleanly arc 2 arc from one set of edges to another set of edges the extension does not need to produce an up-force to unweight the skis and pivot them into a sideways skid. Just the movement of extending up. It is commonly called Inside Leg Extension ILE. Because you extend the inside leg at the end of the turn and vault you over into the next turn. I use this wording a lot. ILE prevents the skier from being caught in the back seat. Use this to save energy as Andreas also so correctly pointed out but also if you have time. That said, I have not heard many coaches talk about the kind of transition Chris is using. Flexing through transition. It builds on the concept Flex To Release. So Im not surprised you have not heard it. Also, do not be surprised if your coach does not prescribe to the way I teach. You are kind of all on your own. But I will be here for you. You can ask me anything and I will try to give an honest answer. You can also reach me by email. Its free of charge. At least for the time being. T
Thanks, will do! I would also like to make more videos of kids and jr's skiing and training but RU-vid policies are preventing that kind of content. Sorry. But glad that the videos I make are inspiring and helpful. I have a back log of 20 videos and there is new material flowing in all the time. Say hi to your son and tell him to stick to it. Watch My Story and have a nice season :)
Yes. Excellent. We all need to understand that the carving radius starts at the sidecut radius and tightens to maybe 2m (dependent upon skill). The tightening happens because of ski tilt.
Good day Sir, glad to see you are back on. Looking forward to winter and looking forward to your videos from Levi. Hope you are well. Cheers, Tom Barbeau
I'm doing fine thank you. Up north we had half a meter of snow the other day so winter is on the way. All the best to you and looking forward to making many more videos this season for you to enjoy :)
Many things are right what you focus on, but in my eyes he is in a backseat.he don't move at all fwd/towards the falline after he release the skis at the end if the turn
I have great video footage from that day. There was a coach of ours, x-wc racer, that did a very strong up and forward move at transition. She was totally shocked after she saw the footage as she thought she skied like modern WC racers. I am trying to put together a video where I give my instructions on how to stay low to the snow. I will use that footage in comparison to Chris skiing in this video to highlight what I am talking about. Stay tuned. Not saying you are wrong, just trying to focus on certain elements and thereby missing out on other elements. Can you do both at the same time? Or do you need to adjust the elements in rates depending on the situation at hand. Kind of tactical decisions at each gate or sections of the course. If you go forward with your hips you also need to go up. Sometimes there is no time for that.
@@Triggerboy62 GS is a mix of low and "high" transitions!When i say "high",i mean only so much vertical as needed to execute the fwd/inward(towards the fallline) movement.in my opinion doing only cross unders will get your CM more and more back! Again: i want my athletes to do small as possible vertical and only so much as needed! I think we talk pretty much about the same👍🏽✌🏽
@@Triggerboy62 you are welcome! My daughter is going into her third year of ski racing and I have her watch these, and I watch them for myself because I need to improve my carving. I can confirm that these lessons can even help old guys. 😂
Sure these videos can help older people. I can tell you that I play much better tennis now than when I was younger because Ive learned so much from RU-vid. Same goes for skiing. Or any other sport. Keep at it and good luck both you and your daughter :)
We were once on a GS racing camp in Austria and everyone had GS skis. The coach asked us what we wanted to practice on the first day of skiing, short of long turns he asked. I said that maybe long turns as we have GS skis. He said that you can easily make short turns on GS skis and then went on to make normal up-unweighted brushed parallel turns. So not all turns need to be carved. This is very important. However, if you want to tighten the turns be it GS or SL or DH skis, you need to put the skis on very high edge angels. Flexing through the transition is a very important component. Note, we all have problems turning tight carved turns with GS skis. Hope this helps.
@@Triggerboy62 I only train short turns on GS skis - it requires really to lean down and isolate the upper body. Pretty hard if your body is not flexible enough. Btw also short turns on SL skis are challenging if the slope is too steep.
Hi Tom, My 9 year old started racer development this year. He had a few races and ended up beating the whole competitive team in the last couple. I think your videos played a part in his success. He has been flexing into the transition (against the direction of his instructors lol) as you suggest and extending into the turn and it has worked well for him. He is going into U 12 next year so hopefully he can continue to build on his success. I wanted to give you a big thank you for the great videos. I also have a video request. Could you please make one explaining how to get larger radius GS skis to turn without having to skid sideways into the turn? Like r21 to r30. I can't seem to find any good videos out there on it. Would be nice to understand the mechanics of it and you are so good a breaking the details down in a way that us easy to understand.
Hi and a million thanks for such great feedback. So happy for your son and you have every reason to be proud. Yes, a major show stopper in sports are the coaches. But it is an extremely difficult situation you are put in as a parent or athlete. On one hand you are depending on their coaching services and on the other hand you have to put up with their poor understanding of the sport. I personally have given up the prospect of making an impact in the real world and moved my coaching over to RU-vid where I can reach thousands and thousands of students from all over the world that are open minded and looking for advice. So glad my videos have been of help. Good call. GS has played a lesser role here on my channel but hopefully that will change as we have been skiing lot of GS this year. Both training and especially FIS racing. Funny thing is that Chris can ski with his r30m FIS GS skis without any problems. Straight out of the box. They turn really tight. Still there is a lot of skidding at the top of the turn but we have gradually been decreasing that in order to go a bit faster. But our experience is that we approach GS from control to speed. First we skid at the top and as we get more experience and confidence we skid less and carve more. So many around us crash out because they go too fast and loose control. We try to work on our technique and also physical strength. Your growth needs to be organic. Just look at My Story to see how Chris developed through out the years. Keep the fire burning. Cheers, Tom
@@Triggerboy62 Thanks Tom. Yes I can Imagine Chris would have no issues at his level. For me it is problematic. I can carve amazing on my older r16 gs9's. But when I try the same thing on a pair of r21, I basically just fall over. Even at slightly higher speeds. Extending into the turn helps a bit but I still can't make it carve a reasonably tight gs arc. I feel like I am missing something in the technique.
Check out my "the secret move in ski racing" videos from a few years back. The position is sitting back but its actually just a passing phase when flexing through the transition. And Happy Trees is right, just like Hirscher :) Thanks for watching and thanks dmoto64 for your comment :)
@@Triggerboy62 I think it is kind of semantics. Some people think the race is "sitting back" but this is (as you know, you are an expert on this) it is not like sitting back on jet sticks. I have had many coaches talk about ball-arch-heel but still to keep the front of the boot engaged. So yes, for a split second the hips are behind. I think there are some skiers who think they should intentionally try to get on the tails at the end of the turn. I remember the quote in the Masters USSA newsletter, saying that 98% of Masters racers sit back, and so do the other 2%! It is not easy to overcome the forces.
@@drmoto64 you are correct. Properly done there is no pressure in the skis so the back seat position is technically not a back seat position. The racer only needs to stay balanced and then when he regains pressure he has extended his legs and hips are forward.
Looks great, just 2 points: poles are really long? and also I think you should get more upright in the middle of the curve before flexing for the turn.
Thanks for watching. Thanks also for the feedback. I have found out over the years that how extended your outside leg is during the turn is very individual and depending on many different factors. However, nothing says that what you are saying is not true. We have now been training GS, something Chris never did before, just participated in some races, so new footage is to be released later as soon as I have time putting a video together. About the poles, I see now that those are an old pair of Leki ski poles I used to use many years ago. Im taller than Chris so these are not specifically for him bought gear. Nothing was actually. Those are also my old skis. Anyway, dont remember how long his ski poles are now but he is also taller. In GS and SG we try to use longer ski poles to get a better start. BTW, did you see the short video of the guy braking his ski pole? But good call. I think that ski pole length should be considered more. I should make a new video on that topic. Do you have any specific ideas on how long ski poles should be? Cheers, T
Here I am! Looks good indeed. Chris is doing a good job on these GS. I only do not really understand the 'flexing into the turn' part? How can I make sure to ski tight turns on high radius skis? Thanks
Check out my video Carv Like A Boss or more comprehensive 3 Levels of Carving. Lots of information on the channel. You can also email me directly if you have video of yourself skiing. Its free of charge. I give you my honest opinion. Or post a link here if you want. Flexing through the transition will give help you quickly increase the edge angles. However, it is a high level skill and maybe carving very tight is not the most important thing in skiing. It will come over time. Check out the videos and let me know what you think. Reg, Tom
There are distinct upper body differences between the two disciplines. In SL the upper body is almost always pointing down the fall line. In GS the upper body can follow the skis more, especially in longer GS turns.
The other major difference, not so visible here because of the moderate slope, is the use of skid-pivot in GS to manage tighter turns on steep pitches with the long turning radius of FIS GS skis. While some of that is visible in slalom in some situations, GS (unfortunately, one may say) demands it a lot.
Absolutely, did you see the video How to control your speed when carving? Check it out and many others on my channel including skid-pivot. Thanks for watching and keep them comments coming :)
Hey I am racing skiing right now with my team and I just started a year ago but I was wondering about how to deal with the ice my coaches said to go high and then make the turn so you are close to the gate to avoid the ice but I keep running into the gate when I do any tips?
Thank you for watching and for asking such a great question. I think you need to separate between "right/optimum technique" and "adapting to the circumstances". For example I have myself very seldom skied on a perfect race-course during competition. I compete in Masters and have so far been starting as the 50th racer about. In the middle of the field anyway. First starts all women and then it starts with men, oldest first. So the race course is never in the same conditions it was during inspection. There have been rare occasions when the race course has been WC prepared and iced but I think I encountered conditions like that two or three times during all these years. And even then there were other challenges due to the icy surface. Anyway, much can be done by the maintenance crew. On club races or where I can have a say, in GS or SG, I always instruct the crew to sideslip all the snow off the course in wide circles around the gates because just as you say, we need to leave space between ourselves and the gate in order to create the angles we need. In SL this is not such a big issue as we pass the gate very close. However, in all disciplines the bad skiers ski with a low line (because they are late), approach the gate straight at and then they skid at the gate and below creating a rut before the gate and a potato field at the gate and after. This is where your coaches gives you the advice to stay close to the gates, to avoid ruts, patches of ice and walls of snow. I do that also when needed even if I like to leave space between the gate and my skis. On the other hand, I don't see very many "amateur" coaches understand modern ski racing technique and the fact that you should ski differently to lets say 20 years ago. Personally I try to coach all my racers to ski correctly during training on a course that is correctly prepared and then at races just "deal with it". This is where overall skiing skill level plays a major role. If you are versatile with great skills it is easier to deal with a course in bad condition. Hope this helps. If you have any further questions just ask. You can also send me an email to tdk.skiracing@gmail.com with a video of you skiing for personal MA or just for fun. Cheers, Tom
Thanks and thanks for watching. I just got back from Mallorca. Son Sera de Marina! If I had the chance I would live there from September to January. Then go skiing until end of April. I skied in Andorra once. It was during a storm and we were the only ones on the slope. I did not see much. Summer tires on the car. Rear wheel drive. Nice :)
@@Triggerboy62 Mallorca is a very good choice to live, I've got very good friend living there and i've been for three times. In my own town, Gijon, wich is in coast of the north of Spain we have 3 small ski station so near about 1 hour, so you can go ski in the morning and go surfing in the afternoon. So good luck. Keep waiting for your lessons.
Wow, you are indeed lucky. Looked at the map.... Estación invernal y de montaña Valgrande-Pajares? And a couple of others? When is the best skiing season over there?
Great vid Tom, also there is one new vid idea for you: how to get rid of summer leg fast? Also how to get used to new skis fast? I am asking this coz I have only about 10-15 ski days before my first ever race in my life and I need to get a hand of both of my new SL ski and GS ski… If you can please tell me or make a vid on that would be great !!
Hi and thanks for watching. Great ide. I have actually planned a video like that for ages now but we never really got around to making one. However, if you are a gym person, start to train legs. Also, walk and jog a lot. Climb stairs, dont take the elevator. The thing is that getting in shape is something you can do at the same level as any WC racer if you so wish. T
Flexing through transition. The small slow motion phase which you choose to show is making me think that you are back seated in the transition phase, was that on purpose? Is that what GS racers do or was is just a small slip? Tha k you for the great video and I wish you lots of fun out there on the slopes! Mike.
Hi Mike, thank you for watching and for leaving a comment. Be sure to watch my How to Carve Low video. In a retraction transition where you flex at your knees to a very deep position is a valid technique for advanced skiers and ski racers. Cheers, Tom
Could be... needs to be looked closer at. But he did the right thing anyway, kept on carving. Many try to adjust the line with a pivot. Thats now the right way. Just keep carving.
It's all cool and dandy until one tries to clear FIS GS gate layout with current FIS-mandated GS skis. It mostly does not work - it's just not possible to carve through the more difficult gates which need turn radius closer to 20 meters with FIS-legal skis with 30+ meters turn radius. Just looking at the Soelden 2021 GS contest I had a feeling like being teleported to the eighties. FIS should make the GS layout with faster, bigger turns - or to allow GS skis closer to 25m turn radius. What happens now in WC FIS giant slalom is quite painful to watch, IMHO...
Hi Tom, I can see in this video that Chris is using GS skis with wide (67,5mm) waist. Have you compered that with skis according to FIS regulation (waist 65 mm). My reason to ask is that I as a master skier is allowed tu use all kind of ski with and radius. Witch is the fastest?
For proper GS racing Chris is using an older women FIS ski 188/30. We havent gotten the new FIS mens skis as we are very tight on funds and focusing on SL for the time being. If you watch the stay low video, Chris would have been faster with the 188/30. For masters I would not go with 190/30 if you are not a pro. The 183/24 is a good compromize. I use 185/21 (old womens model). Cheers, Tom
@@Triggerboy62 thanks for answer! I am 67 years and are racing Augment 185/25 today but have found that (FIS U16) 188/27 is faster, but more dificult to turn. Maybe because its faster from edge to edge as they are smaller in waist. Br/L
I have a question: how do you counter? Whenever I tried to flex into transition I end up on my inside ski and I loose control of my outside one. How do you find pressure on the outside ski so early in the turn if you are so back due to being flexed in transition?
You should watch the Carve Low video for some tips and a drill you can use. Basically I think your problem is that you are not flexing and regaining pressure quick enough. This type of skiing requires that you have rebound and are able to float through the transition. If you dont, then its more a drill than actually real life skiing. Cheers, T
Mixed feelings... last season made so much damage for our industry. Also to my soul. I always taught that skiing was the ultimate "good" thing to do. All that trawling, all those people, food, restaurants, hotels, sunshine, parties, racing, friends, gondolas, excited children, happy families on holiday, pasta, mountains, powder snow, new skis, ski shops etc was what a big part of me was living for. Now that turns out not to be as good as I taught. If I go back to the small villages in the Alps where I used to ski, will the small family hotels, restaurants and shops still be there? How about all the people that worked 24/7 to keep us content? Lets hope for the best but Im afraid much has changed. That emotional bleeding was more out of concern of everyone else. So what's up with this season? Im kind of exited to tell the truth. We will get new equipment next week and then we will start to prepare for camps. My first ski trip will be to Levi for the WC. Trying to get some great footage filmed again and hook up with some athletes and coaches from previous years. Hopefully I will get to ski as well. Last season only one slope at Levi was open at that time. Lets hope the athletes can ski the whole tour and that Beijing pulls through. And making videos will be my first priority. I was hoping to go to China, Japan and Korea with Chris but that will not work out Im afraid. Local racing, coaching and ski instruction for both of us. reg T
Flexing here refers to "flexing your knees". Check out my video on "Carving Low" for more detailed explanation of "flexing through the transition". ru-vid.com9QPO99EGlG8 Cheers, Tom
@@Triggerboy62 thanks one more question, idk how I developed this problem but I hold my poles too low when racing. Where should I be holding my poles most of the time?
So many definitions. I use the word pivot to describe the ski being pivoted so that it does not carve along its edges but with their edges scraping a bit sideways over the snow. This is also skidding. A pivot is the move to get the skis into a skid. Makes sense?
FIS points: GS 115 / SL 104 Started racing FIS this year. Results from only 3 GS and 4 SL FIS competitions. Yes, he will be good. If he stays un-injured and motivated. He has a very good technique and is consistent. Now he needs to work on fitness and get racing experience. Cheers, T
Regarding the flexing during the transition, how much does timing and centrifugal force play? Do you need a certain amount of centrifugal force to aid in the flexing?
Great question. Timing is everything. I need to make a video of specifically this topic only. At the start of the turn you are turning into gravity which means that you need to rely heavily on turn forces (centrifugal/petal). As you come through the fall line gravity swings around on you and starts working against you. That causes an heavy increase in total amount of forces. Note how everyone skids after the fall line. Not before. This is where you need to be carving. Not skidding. Look at the video how to control speed on steeps. And this is where TIMING comes into play. As gravity swings around and turn forces are pulling on you and your skis are locked into edge locked carving you release the turn, pull up your outside leg towards your chest, float unweighted through the transition and edge change and regain contact with snow on new edges. This is where the pros stand out. Like Chris. If you skid after the apex in a medium or long turn as you are supposed to carve you have no rebound to unweight. Make any sense?
I gotta question. Is it an active pedal movement like on a cycle. If you look at it, it seems like outside leg extends and inside leg pulls up till next turn then it switches?!
Yes, exactly. Or close. Its not really like pedaling as we flex the outside leg to match an already flexed inside leg and then we extend the new outside leg while the new inside leg is already flexed. So there is not really a simultanious movement going on all the time like pedaling a bike. If you understand what Im trying to say. Happy New Year, Tom & Sons
“Flexing thru transition”..?… Flexing what?…. This skier has his hips flexed, his knees flexed and his ankles flexed…. Is that what you r trying to say…?? (Without bending over - flexing the waist)….. To do this you must unweight your skis by lifting them off the snow without standing up….ie your head & shoulders will stay at the same level (height)…… Is there any time you unweight by standing up first?.. In powder perhaps ??!
Thanks for watching and leaving a comment. Good question about the word "flexing". English is not my mother tongue but I always have a hard time visualizing the difference between flexing and relaxing. There are actually two components of flexing in "flexing thru the transition". The first one would be more a "relaxing" movement as you flex your outside leg to release the turn. The next would be a strong retraction movement of the leg upwards involving all your big muscles around your hips, legs and core. This because you are in an unweighted state and its like hanging in the air holding on to a bar and lifting your knees up against your chest. Demanding gym workout. In old classical parallel turns you extend up to up-unweight. The unweighting phase takes place as your extension stops and inertia pulls your feet off the ground. Like jumping up in the air. Most of the time you dont come off the snow, just unweights you a bit. Enough for you to pivot your skis into a skidded turn. Actually up-unweighting and down-unweighting is the same thing. Its the inertia pulling you up in both cases. In the case of down-unweighting you use rebound from the turn or a bump or powder to push you up. Thank you for asking yourself and me these questions. Brilliant thinking. This is how I started to question mainstream instruction and think for myself. Turns out Im not the only one. Yes, there are lots of others but the masses are still fumbling about in darkness :)