Alpine events digest

The motherland of the skiing is shared between Norway (as the founder of slalom) and Austria (the initiator of the alpine events). At the present the skiing competitions include the following events: slalom, speed slipping, alpine biathlon, triathlon, giant slalom, super giant slalom. The history of the skiing championship traces to 1767, Norway and 1905 ? the first official event.

The word ?slalom? has a Norwegian origin and means ?getting down print?, ?the print on the hill?. Long ago Norwegians that became ancestors of the slalom as the sport were getting down the hills using the skis. It happened not far from the present Oslo. They executed skillful turns by the means of special sticks that were using as brakes of one or another side.

In 1767 the Norwegians competed for the first four prizes that had to be divided between skiers. The main task of the skiers was over passing of the wooden slope (mountainside), getting through all bushes. At that time there was still no distinction between the flat and mountain skiing. The technique of alpine events started its formation in the neighborhood of the town Telemark on the south of Norway.

The first club of alpine events was founded (according to the historians) by the enthusiasts of this new sport in 1875 in the present Oslo. Two years later the club opened the slalom school. The first separated skiing competitions took place in 1879 not far from the Oslo (Christiania then). Today's alpine events borrowed some terms from that time: ?telemark? turns and ?Christiania?. But according to some alpine events history specialists the real founders of future sport became Austrians.

The first real alpine events took place in 1905 in Alps. The International Skiing Federation included alpine events, super giant slalom and speed slipping for men and women into the alpine skiing world cup. During 1920-s ? 1930-s the skiers did not keep strong specialization and took part both in flat and mountain skiing competitions.

The alpine events course is one of the directions of the skiing sport that represents getting down on the skis on the special routes. They include such disciplines as slalom, giant slalom, super giant slalom, speed slipping ( that are distinguished by the factors of routes distance, the differences in start and finish drop, the quantity of turns) and also skiing biathlons program (its official name ?alpine combination) that consists of slalom and speed slipping. They are the integral parts of the International skiing championships since 1924.

The program of skiing competitions in the winter Olympics has been gradually changing since the first experience in 1936. Then it included speed slipping and slalom (alpine biathlon); since 1948 ? speed slipping, slalom, alpine biathlon; since 1952 ? speed slipping, slalom and giant slalom; since 1988 ? speed slipping, slalom, giant slalom, alpine biathlon, super giant slalom.

During the slipping down the sportsmen have to overpass special routes, marked by the flags and gates. The results are determined in accordance with the time indicators ( the sum of two attempts in two different routes and attempt in another event). The route distance in slalom is 400-500 m. The amount of the gates for men is 60-75, for women 50-55, the altitude drop ? about 200m. The maximum slipping distance for men is 3800 m, and minimum 2435 m.
