OK. I started the day by making more mistakes setting out the slalom course than I’ve made in the rest of my life altogether. Perhaps leaving my lunch in the fridge at home was indicative of what was to come.
Getting the Banane Right!
Last night Alex dwelled on the fact that he still wasn’t using the fronts of his skis strongly enough – though with the Double Skate and the Skating Transition the tools to make it happen were already in place. Today the weakness was exposed only by a difficult banane right in the middle of the course – one difficult turn at almost 90 degrees across the hill where you can lose all of your speed. Alex was consistently pitched back as the course became faster. When studying the video it became clear he had resorted to the emergency “stivot” – which guarantees ending up in the back seat and losing about 50% of the speed at a critical point in the course. This manoeuvre also automatically eliminates the Double Skate. The solution was to focus on the Double Skate and nail the turn from the start. Once that was in place Alex felt he coud relax and the problem was gone.
Tomorrow we move onto the steeps – where once again it will be a challenge to hold it together – but the basic necessary skills are now clearly understood and we can work with them to continue the progress.
