Slalom

slalom is a word of Norwegian origin used, in English and in other languages, to indicate certain sport specialties where a course marked with obstacles is to be followed.
Failure in following the course is usually penalized with a number of seconds added to the course time.

• Alpine skiing has Super G, Giant Slalom, Slalom and even Parallel Slalom, and so does snowboarding.
• Water skiers slalom on courses laid out with buoys.
• Kayakers run slalom courses marked with poles hanging off wires strung from one riverbank to the other
• there is also a thing mountain bikers do called Dual Slalom
• lastly, dannye said something about synchronized swimmers but he was probably pulling my leg

Slalom, also known as special slalom is one of the four disciplines of alpine skiing.

In slalom, the gates are just two poles through which you have to pass. The gates usually alternate one blue, one red. A gate can either be set horizontally or vertically, ie. the two poles are either at the same level or placed one below the other. As the object of a slalom is to go through the gates as quickly as possible (both skis and both feet have to go through the gate), the idea is to go as close to the inside pole as possible, often having to hit it with some part of the body.

When they are set horizontally, they are called open gates, when there is one gate set vertically, it is called a banana (because of the shape of the long bend you are forced to make) or undergate ; when two or more vertical gates are set one below the other, they are called verticales (pronounced v'ertic''a:li). Open gates are separated by a distance of 12-15m and verticales by 7-10m. There has to be at least 70cm between the bottom pole of one verticale gate and the top pole of the next.

               .
               |.     |
             . ·    
           ·         
    |     .|    <--- open gate           
           · .        
               ·  
               |.  
               ·
              ·    <--- verticale 
              ·|
              ·|     
               · .
                   · 
               |   |.      | <--- outside pole
                 . ·
                ·
        |      .| <--- inside pole
                · . 
                    · 
                    |.      |
                    .
                 |.
                ·   <--- banana
              · 
      |      .|  |

A typical run will usually have around 35 open gates along with several verticales (both double and triple) and usually a banana. A course will be as hard and icy as possible so as to keep the same conditions for all racers.

A slalom is run in two different legs, each of which will take around 50 seconds to complete. The end result is the sum of the times on each leg. If a racer does not complete the first leg, he can not start the second. If the racer does not go through the course according to the rules, he will be disqualified : either because he missed a gate or because he straddled (passed a gate with a foot on each side of the inside pole).

As racers often hit the gates with their hands, their arms or their shins, they wear shin guards, padding on their arms and protections on their ski poles. Most racers also wear helmets or at least a gum shield.

Because of the progress in ski manufacture, slalom racers now use very short skis (155 - 160cm 165cm¹) which are heavily waisted (carving skis which are much wider at the tips than in the middle) and the technique is growing similar to that of giant slalom.

Slalom is probably the most spectator friendly of the alpine skiing disciplines, as it is usually possible to view the whole course from a single vantage point. Because of the shortness of the skis, any racer that leans back gets caught on the tails is quite likely to fall on his back or even do some sort of flip.

In a FIS (International Ski Federation) race, a racer's starting position is determined by his fis points. The first 15 get shuffled around and the rest follow in fis point order. For the second leg, the first 30 of the first leg get to run in reverse order as the course tends to deteriorate. This makes it harder for the first of the first leg to keep his place and gives others a better chance. There is a maximum of 140 racers at the start, so it often gets very difficult for the last runners to get down.

1. Because of the number of accidents involving flipping, in 2004, the FIS brought the minimum length up to 165cm for men, and from 150 to 155cm for women.