Super-G stands for super giant slalom, an event that combines the speed of downhill with the more precise turns of giant slalom. The course is shorter than downhill but longer than a giant slalom course, and includes high-speed turns, jumps and gliding phases. Each skier makes one run down a single course and the fastest time…
Alpine Skiing – ‘The Downhill’
The downhill event is the longest course in which the highest speed in Alpine skiing is reached, sometimes way over 130 km/h. It includes challenging turns, jumps and gliding phases. Each skier makes a single run down a single course and the fastest time determines the winner. A Downhill course normally begins at or near…
Biathlon’s Individual Event – What is it and what matters most?
The Biathlon’s Individual event is the oldest one of them all and where shooting accuracy matters most. Biathletes are required to complete a 20 Km course in the case of men and 15 Km for women (this is the longest race of all Biathlon’s events). Both men and women face 4 shooting range sessions (in each 4km…
Super Athletes – Ole Einar Bjoerndalen
Ole Einar Bjoerndalen is a 40-year-old Norwegian biathlete that holds the record of world cup wins (a competition that goes along a season encompassing several events where points are obtained and summed up in the end) considering all winter sports. Bjoerndalen has a total of 95 victories in Biathlon events (accordingly to IBU, the official Biathlon’s regulatory body). He has an additional 31 wins…
Biathlon’s Mass Start Event – What is it and what matters most?
The mass start event is the only one where Biathletes depart all at the same time, sometimes giving origin to a lot of confusion and falls. In each mass start race only the top 30 current World Cup classifiers have the right to take part in the race. If any of the Top 30 Biathletes decides not to take part in…
Nordic Combined – What is it and what are its origins?
The Nordic Combined is a sport composed of two events: ski jumping and cross country skiing. Until the 1950s, the cross country race was held first, followed by the ski jumping. This was reversed as the difference in the cross-country race tended to be too big to overcome in ski jumping. Although there are several…
Biathlon’s Pursuit Event – What is it and what matters most?
Following our post on Biathlons´ Sprint Event we today describe the main characteristics of another event linked to it, the Pursuit Event. the Pursuit event the Biathlete’s starting order is determined accordingly to its Sprint’s event classification that was held previously. The first 60 biathletes classified in the sprint event are eligible to run in…
Biathlon’s Sprint Event – What is it and what matters most?
Following our post on Biathlon’s origins and its main characteristics we depict today one of its events, the Sprint. The sprint event has a length of 10 Km (men) or 7.5 Km (women) and requires Biathletes to ski on a standalone basis against the clock (Biathletes depart with a 30 seconds interval between each other)…