Going downhill fast
Skiing can be many different things to different people. Some like nothing more than to ski gently from café to café between the pine trees. Others prefer to test out their skills on fearsome black runs. And then there’s speed skiers – people who are prepared to risk their lives in the ultimate pursuit of downhill speed.
Speed skiing can claim to be the oldest of all ski sports, originating in the late 19th century in the gold rush of the Californian Sierras. Norwegian miners would time each other on 10-feet long wooden boards. In 1897, American Tommy Tod was unofficially clocked at 87 mph.
Official records began in the Alps in the 1930s, with Italian Leo Gasperi recording an 89 mph run.
The first person to break 100mph was American Ralph Miller who hit 109mph in 1955 in Portillo, Chile. Another American, Steve McKinney was the first person to break 200 km per hour (124.4 mph), also in Portillo.
Speed skiing competitions are held on specially designed high speed ski runs, of which there are 30 or so around the world. Usually around 1 km long, the first, steepest, 400m are used for acceleration, the next 100m for the speed measurement, and the remaining 500m for slowing down.
Skiers wear specialised equipment including dense foam lower leg fairings, specially shaped helmets and slippy, skin-tight polyurethane coated ski suits.
Possibly the fastest ski course in the world – pic via vars.com
Obviously not for the faint hearted, speed skiing throws up some impressive statistics. On their initial acceleration run, skiers accelerate fom 0-200 kph in under six seconds – faster than a Formula 1 car. Their 200+ kph speeds mean they are travelling faster than a sky-diver in a freefall belly-to-ground pose (around 190 kph). When travelling flat out they ski 100 metres in approximately 1.4 seconds.
Speed skiing made a brief appearance at the Winter Olympics, as a demonstration sport at the 1992 Les Arcs speed skiing course. However it was deemed to dangerous for the Olympics following several recorded deaths. The sport itself continues however with an FIS approved calendar of events every year.
At the time of writing the current world record is held by Frenchman Simon Billy, who on the 22nd of March 2023 was timed at 255.5 km per hour at Vars in France. The world’s fastest woman isn’t far behind – Italian Valentino Greggio recording 247 kmh, also at Vars, on the Chabrières piste, currently considered the world’s fastest.