What a great article.

The second ski race coach I ever had was an Italian-American who
completely idolized Gustavo Theoni, even down to reciting "pianta su"
(Italian, or very close to it, for "plant up"), over and over again,
to remind us of what he wanted us to do while trying to make those
carved turns.  I believe there was even a book he gave us by the same
name written by somebody named Baer, if I recall.

Of course, 15-20 years later or so, I had to "unlearn" a lot of that
with newer technique due to all the equipment changes.  Good ski
racing technique today seems a lot more about body position and
letting the skis do their thing (less "work") than it is about a lot
of individual movements and synchronizing them correctly.  Of course,
the latter does come in handy in some free skiing situations.


On Tue, 30 Nov 2004 10:11:12 -0500, Stuart Cole <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Very interesting, Ben, I like it. Initial comment: Gustavo Theoni was a
> major progenitor of the carved turn, and the attendant evolution in ski
> design with Persenico/Spalding Sideral and then Rossignol. The skiing public
> lagged behind the technique evolution by some 15 years, still stuck on
> feet-glued-together slid parallel turns. Zurbriggen, Girardelli, and Tomba
> racing in the late 80's made for a very exciting circuit. I remember
> watching the three battle it out in Slalom at the first World Cup of 89-90
> at Waterville Valley. The crowds were big and it was televised on NESN. I
> shot it on my own video, still have it.   More later -- Stuart Cole
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Benjamin T. Kulas" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Tuesday, November 30, 2004 2:14 AM
> Subject: [SKIVT-L] Now that the world's best are back to racing...
>
> > Here's an interesting evaluation of the greatest ski-racers ever that I
> > lifted from some website.  Written in 1999, so it's slightly dated,
> > although I don't think the conclusions would change much.  A couple of
> > interesting points:
> >
> > -How few Austrians have won the WC overall
> > -How Phil Mahre owned Ingmar
> > -How Girardelli did it better than anyone else with so much less (national
> > team support)
> > -How Marc & Pirmin absolutely dominated the sport 1984-1991 (in spite of
> > Tomba's fame)
> > -That Thoeni guy (had never heard of him before)
> >
> >
> >
>
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