Speed Skiing

speed skiing, competitive skiing event in which racers equipped with special short skis, skintight suits, and aerodynamic helmets compete to achieve the fastest speed on a steep, straight, and meticulously prepared track. A dangerous pastime, it is frequently billed as “the fastest nonmotorized sport on earth.”

Speed skiing began in the 1930s as an advertising stunt for a ski resort in St. Moritz, Switz. Racers experimented with cones that covered their backs from the helmet down, which presented a more streamlined and aerodynamic figure when a skier was crouched into a “tuck” position. Some racers skied with as much as 71 pounds (32 kg) of ballast on their skis to increase their acceleration. By 1933 speeds of 85 miles (136 km) per hour were being reached by skiers carrying such weights.

Ski manufacturers stood to gain economic advantage when their equipment produced the fastest speeds, and they began using wind-tunnel tests in search of better designs and to provide scientific evidence of their product’s superiority. The sport generated international interest when American skiers, training in South America, were unofficially timed at nearly 108 miles (174 km) per hour. After preparing specific courses in their home country (the most famous of which is at Cervinia), Italians pushed the record up to almost 109 miles (175 km) per hour in 1964. Americans returned to the fore in the 1970s and early ’80s with speeds up to about 125 miles (200 km) per hour.

Since the 1960s speed skiing has become a mix of amateur and professional sport in which men and women compete on a circuit of tracks around the world, though mostly in Europe. The main governing body for speed skiing events is the Fédération Internationale de Ski (FIS; International Ski Federation). As an advisory body to the International Olympic Committee (IOC), FIS has lobbied for the inclusion of speed skiing in the Olympic Winter Games. While the IOC wants to limit the speed of the skiers to about 125 miles per hour, such measures have proved controversial; in spite of several deaths in the sport, the top racers are adamantly opposed to such limits. The IOC sanctioned speed skiing as a demonstration event at the 1992 Winter Games in Albertville, France, but since then it has not appeared on the Olympic program.

Speed skiing was once nearly an exclusively male sport, but it began to attract women in the 1960s. In 1963 the women’s record stood at just over 89 miles (143 km) per hour, some 19 miles (30 km) per hour slower than the men’s record. In the 1970s and ’80s, as a result of women’s increased interest and participation in sport generally, and because of the growth of what is now called “extreme sports,” women took speeds to more than 125 miles per hour in the 1980s. Meanwhile, men reached speeds in excess of 150 miles (240 km) per hour, speeds which later were also attained by women.

Speed skis must be exactly 2.4 metres (about 7.8 feet) long, no wider than 10 cm (a little less than 4 inches), and weigh no more than 15 kg (33 pounds). Other special equipment includes fire-resistant foam ski suits to avoid friction burns during a fall, fairings (little wings) attached to the suit behind the calves to reduce wind resistance, and aerodynamic helmets. The expense of the specialized equipment, along with the danger of extreme injury, limits speed skiing to a small segment of skiers. Many of the racers are ex-downhillers who still want the thrill of speed as they age but no longer have the reflexes for the quick turning required in competitive Alpine skiing.