World Cup Update

[Ski]

Austrian Benjamin Raich won the final GS of the season at Arae, Sweden, clinching the season-long GS Title. Raich, this year's Overall Cup winner, is also the Combined champion.

 

Rahlves finished 6th and Ligety finished in 7th.

 

Bode was a DNF in the first run.

[skifreak]

Benny Raich is the man. No surprise there on bode.

[Ski]

The final World Cup slalom of the season was just won by Sweden's Markus Larson...

 

 

Bode fell down.

[4 more wars]

The final World Cup slalom of the season was just won by Sweden's Markus Larson...

Bode fell down.

 

who else finished less than first in the world?

[Metz the Jersey boy]

Not too many other people who command as much public attention as bode.

 

Join Bode.

[mbike-ski]

Oooohh, I get it... it's Join Bode...not Joint, Bode?

[Ski]

who else finished less than first in the world?

Fair question, so lets take a closer look.

 

Today's slalom, which is one of the five Globes Bode hopes to win next season, is his specialty and the key to his success in the Overall, since he'll have to win at slalom and the slalom portion of the combined and supercombined events.

 

So who was better this season?

 

Ted Ligety, of course. Bode's rookie teammate finished fourth overall behind Rocca, Palander, and Raich.

 

Who else? Well, the Japanese have NEVER won a World Cup slalom race, but Akira Sasaki, Kentaro Minagawa, and Naoki Yuasa were all better than Bode this year. Never heard of Minagawa or Yuasa? That's okay, not many people on the circuit have either.

 

Who else? Grandi of Canada and Tissot of France.

 

Who else? Herbst, Larsson, Vidal, Myhrer, and Svindal.

 

More? My favorite slalom racer, Rainer Schoenfelder, who is somewhat of a REAL badass. He's a rock start in Austria and is known to take off a ski after a great run and hump it on TV. You should have heard the American broadcasters describe it the first time he did it. Funny stuff.

 

More? Kostelic, Matt, Neureuther, Bourgeat, Thaler, Janyk, Jansrud, Vogl, Pranger, Brolenius, Hansson, Albrecht, Deville, Moelgg, Omminger, and Hans-Petter Buraas.

 

Sorry, that's all the racers I can think of that were better than Bode in his #1 specialty this season.

[Ski]

Ski999 could yoiu beat Bode???

With what?

[4 more wars]

I didn't ask who beat him... that doesn't seem to matter.. winning, that is.. it's all about who lost, right?

 

Why not just fail to mention everyone who lost(including Bode)..

 

it's like someone makes a post about Bode losing... completely disregarding those who did better--like it's any news that Bode lost...

[VTmark]

With what?

bostaf

[Ski]

World Cup ski racing is all about winning, unless you're some rich goofball from Venezuela that is able to barely qualify for the Olympics and pay the entry fees.

 

Professional sports are about winning. That's what you don't seem to get. It's not my rule, it's just the way of the world. People get paid huge amounts to win for their sponsors, country, fans, whatever. Amateur athletics are where people compete for other goals.

 

Did Bode accept $1 million from Rossi to do anything but win?

 

Did he accept multi-millions from Atomic to do anything but win?

 

Bode is paid MILLIONS of dollars, not to party late and show up hungover, but to take his best shot at winning.

 

 

 

 

Why not just fail to mention everyone who lost(including Bode)..

 

 

If you follow sports, you'll recall that whenever results are listed, also included are teams and people of interest. In ski racing, whenever someone says 'such and such won', it's always followed by 'how did Bode do'.

 

The Giants lost today. But Bonds hit two solo homers.

 

The Bulls lost to the Celtics. Jordan had 52 points.

 

The Cosmos were shut-out today. Pele left with a knee injury.

 

Again, this isn't my rule. It's the way of the world, Assassin.

[4 more wars]

Bode is paid all that money to remain on the tongues of fans of skiing, better or worse.. there is no such thing as bad publicity...

 

I can assure you, Atomic isn't pulling it's sponsorship of Bode Miller because he's losing.. in fact, every time you post more negative trash about him, he makes more money.

[Ski]

Assassin, maybe that works for his pasta sponsor, but it's not the same for ski companies. They pay for winners.

 

It's like companies that sponsor NASCAR drivers. Tide or Hefty may get some face 'mileage' out of a goofy driver that crashes, but Goodyear needs performance results.

 

The vast majority of ski sales are to recreational skiers. And although they only slightly resemble what the World Cuppers are using, 100% of the innovation of today's skis come from World Cup racing. It's the highest level of testing that can be done. All that technology trickles down to the stuff on the rack. X Games guys can be wack job personalities, but World Cup guys are test pilots for next year's models.

 

And people just don't ski on sh*t that finishes 32nd because Bode Miller wore sandals to his high school formal.

Edited March 19, 2006 by ski999

[Metz the Jersey boy]

Yup, they ski Volkls because Ted Ligety is tearing it up

 

Sorry... shameless plug.

 

Assassin- I see what you're saying about the sponsorships and all the press that Bode is getting. Yes, everyone does know who Bode is now. Though I think you raise a very valid point, we might have to agree to disagree on this.

[4 more wars]

we will agree on the Volkl's, however.

[sibhusky]

Slalom USED to be his specialty, it hasn't been in a long time. He bulked up for speed and lost his quickness.

[Ski]

Slalom USED to be his specialty, it hasn't been in a long time. He bulked up for speed and lost his quickness.

 

Yeah, Sib, you're right. Slalom has become such a 'quick twitch' muscle sport that it's hard to imagine a 30 yr old being able to do the same things as a 20 yr old. Male athletes become stronger with age, but not quicker.

 

When I played baseball, we were always told to back off in the weight room. Bulky muscles slowed down your swing. Bonds' steroid regimine found the perfect mix.

 

It's hard to even picture "today's" Bode doing the the recoveries that he used to do in slalom, which are the things that Ligety has been doing.

 

Great point.

[Metz the Jersey boy]

Honestly I can see an athlete with a larger frame being able to compete just as well at slalom as a smaller athlete. All it requires is an extremely acute sense of rhythm. If those recoveries are not needed, a larger athlete is on the same playing field. In order to avoid those recoveries, however, the athlete must be able to concentrate at a world class level. This, obviously, is where Bode is currently lacking. Personally, my build is much more linebacker than slalom skier. I know I can ski slalom as competitively as anyone else, as long as I 1.) stay on the proper line and don't get behind the course and, 2.) am in good enough physical shape to complete the actions needed. Do Jeff and Bernie Resch have a distinct advantage on me? Most definitely. They'll get many more women while in a speedsuit than I will... and as far as skiing, I'll have to work extremely hard to be as agile as they are. Anyways, back to the point. Bode could easily be just as dominant in slalom now, but he needs to have the head to do it. If he doesn't want to, then fine, he doesn't want to. No big deal, ditch the sponsors, and be a ski bum. If he does, however, he needs to focus a hell of a lot more.

[skimom]

Anyone can do anything, but quickness, rhythm, ability to change rhythm and mostly a greater degree of technical skill is needed to win SL. I see a lot of compact people doing well in SL because they can duck around the gates more efficiently...just as fatsos have a distinct advantage on straight, less technical courses.

[sibhusky]

Siblet has a tough time with SL and she's small. The good kids in SL are two twin sisters, both built like drinking straws. It's almost like you excel at speed OR tech, but you rarely see people evenly good at the extremes of the events (DH and SL), hence the combined.

[Metz the Jersey boy]

Mum and Sib,

 

I definitely see what you're saying. Slalom will come harder to a bigger person, but believe me, anything is possible. A lot hinges on what kind of training the skier does. Next year I'm planning on doing a heck of a lot more to train for race season. One of my focal points will be plyometric drills. I'd assume both of you probably know what they are, but for the benefit of the rest of the board, I'm speaking of agility drills that you do using a wooden box. The benefits that I reaped doing such drills were VERY aparent when I was playing football, and I can only see them doing the same for skiing. After all, I think that dodging gates on the way to a finish line is much the same as dodging defenders on the way to a goal line...

 

But back to Bode- basically, I really think the guy just needs to have a much stronger focus. If he is mentally tough enough to stay ahead of the course he won't need to make those rapid adjustments that his younger, smaller body would allow him to make. One thing I know for sure: If Bode can get his act together I'll really enjoy watching him, not because he is doing well again, but because it will mean that he mature significantly. We can only hope...

[Ski]

Metzy, my point wasn't directed toward the limits that Masters/ASRA/NASTAR racers may have, but more toward limits faced by World Cup racers. World Cuppers are the best in the world skiing at the very highest level. At our level, we can make up for one problem by overcoming another. We have lots of places for improvement. But World Cup racers have to be 100% 'on' in every way to win. Every small deficiency, just like every small mistake, knocks them down a place.

 

In World Cup, it's generally easier for a big guy, like Bode, to win speed events. Rahlves is just 5'9" and is known as a poor glider. His best DH races are turny courses, more like SG. Beaver Creek's Birds of Prey course is a good match for him if he can stay fast in the top flats.

 

Bode has always looked a little out of control in slalom, even on clean runs. His long arms are all over the place, but his edge angles are amazing. For a while, Bode was physically able to cut every turn at the boot tops, to where he was "better" than the course. By that, I mean, he was hitting the gates so fast and hard at the base of the gate with his boot buckles that the gates were shattering. He was also shattering his skis. His radical line slapped down the slalom gates right onto the tops of his skis and he was sometimes crashing because of it; at the very least, he was shattering his topsheets. Slalom gates, btw, strike the snow at 600mph when blocked by a World Cup racer. Bode was so good, he was making himself fall and was destroying the course like no one else.

 

Any body type can ski fast slalom. It's just skied a little differently. Watching a World Cup combined race is a great place to see it, since all sorts of body-types ski the slalom portion.

 

But my point to all this is just to say that you never get your quick twitch muscles back. And slalom is a quick twitch muscle event. At it's highest level, a 40 yr old is at a huge disadvantage to a 20 yr old.

[sibhusky]

Hmm, it would be interesting to look at the ages of the top SL skiers over the last 20 years compared to the top DH skiers.

 

And of course, their weights.

[skimom]

But my point to all this is just to say that you never get your quick twitch muscles back.

 

Ha, for someone who thinks they are a teenager, you sure sound like an old man. We all have tons of indeterminate (intermediate) fibers which can be trained to act as fast fibers. You can also improve the blood supply and aerobic capacity of your fast twitch fibers with a good exercize program.

 

Use it or lose it, I plan to get faster...

[Ski]

Ha, for someone who thinks they are a teenager, you sure sound like an old man. We all have tons of indeterminate (intermediate) fibers which can be trained to act as fast fibers. You can also improve the blood supply and aerobic capacity of your fast twitch fibers with a good exercize program.

 

Use it or lose it, I plan to get faster...

 

Everything I've read has said that indeterminate fibers act differently for athletes that are 40 as opposed to 20, all other things being equal. I read much less sophisticated things than you, 'Mom...men's mags/internet/someone else's interpretation of what real doctors publish, for example. And then there's ALL THAT TEFLON I'VE BEEN INHALING.

 

You are telling me that quick twitch muscles are equally responsive, if that's a good enough word, in someone 40 as they are in someone 20? Assuming the two athletes have equal training regimines...and, jeez, I'm hoping that what I've read is dead wrong.