Coefficient of Difficulty in Running a Sports Course in Alpine Skiing
Source abstract
Abstract
In alpine ski disciplines, it is common for competitors to record incomplete runs. In some instances, up to 40% of competitors have failed to complete a course. Possible reasons include incorrect preparation of skiers (lack of adequate motor preparation) and poor tactical approaches. However, there are also some errors in the setting of gates on a course. The aim of this paper is to determine the objective difficulty coefficient of alpine skiing competition courses, based on course geometry and the kinematic parameters of the run. This research monitored alpine skiers during the FIS World Cup. All four alpine skiing disciplines (i.e., downhill, super giant, giant slalom, and slalom) were considered. The average value of the coefficient of difficulty (W.tr) was the highest for the downhill style runs and amounted to 1.20, the super giant and the giant had comparable values of 1.13–1.14, and for the slalom, the W.tr value was the lowest at 0.97. Based on the determined coefficients of route difficulty, it is possible to derive a quantifiable metric to estimate the degree of risk associated with different sections of a course.
Source: crossref · Quality: baseline
Research context
OpenAlex topics: Winter Sports Injuries and Performance · Sports injuries and prevention · Cryospheric studies and observations
SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.
Affiliations
Faculty of Physical Education, Gdansk University of Physical Education and Sport, 80-336 Gdansk, Poland
References (17)
Show source-provided references
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