team hopeful David Backes, a forward on the St. "The physics of it are astounding-even to me," says U.S. When a player blasts a slap shot 30 feet from the net with 125 pounds of force, the goalie has less than 200 milliseconds to react to the flying 3-inch-wide, 1-inch-thick puck. Both events demand that athletes master a high-speed onslaught of gravity, friction and inertia.ĭavid Backes, forward, St. The giant slalom event has about 10 fewer gates in a course of more than twice the length (5256 feet) and vertical drop (1476 feet). The slalom course is 2507 feet long, with 65 gates and a vertical drop of 722 feet. "A lot of us can leg-press 900 pounds, but that's easy compared to this race," says Ted Ligety, a Park City, Utah, native and reigning Olympic gold medalist in the combined skiing event, which is based on the total time from one downhill and two slalom runs.įor the 2010 Olympics, Ligety is focusing on the slalom and giant slalom events. ![]() ![]() And when steep sections of a run flatten out, it takes a world-class athlete to stay upright despite the downward inertia. ![]() Olympic skiers subject their bodies to as much as 3.5 g's-more than space shuttle astronauts endure during launch-and to velocities that would earn them speeding tickets in most states.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |