One factor that has not been touched on is the inner workings of each Federation that deals with their supplier "pool"
In many countries there still exists the classic relationship with the race equipment suppliers that have supported the teams and the athletes with the best equipment and the best service personal to achieve success. Historically it has been very difficult for a new brand or a new product category for a brand to just swoop in and "buy" the best athletes in the Federation to ski on your new and or unproven material. In many federations the rules of participation are clear that you have to pay for access without being able to sign top tier athletes until a length of time has passed. These types of stipulations were in place years ago. I do not know if these rules exist everywhere and whether they are still honored.
Using Liensberger as an example. Keep in mind this is conjecture on my part, however having been on the supply side as a race manager in North America, I can say that there is a lot that goes on behind the scenes that is not normally public knowledge. Liensberger was an up and coming athlete that potentially was available to make a product switch based on either not having a contract or having a contract that was relative to her ranking at the time that her contract was signed. She tested, and liked the Kastle ski. From that point forward it was a cat fight as more than likely the Austrian Federation was potentially stretching their own rules about new brands or new products being allowed to be skied on top level athletes. To fight Kastle's arrival the other brands dug in and said OK Liensberger, go ahead and ski on those skis, we will not supply you with boots. Two results from that twist in the story. The first was that the Federation more than likely told Liensberger/Kastle that this arrangement will not work without causing damage to the existing Austrian material suppliers relationship with the Federation, and the second result was Kastle's deeply funded owners said OK if that's the way you are going to play, we will develop a race boot so we can come and play in your system. Based on that experience Kastle was able to have some exposure with a few lower level athletes from Austria that were not on their National Team but in both cases skiing for Federations that have no rules or consequences for equipment choice. There was the brother/sister team skiing for Isreal and Breitfuss skiing for Bolivia and also dabbling on the US Pro Tour.
So to the Van Deer situation is not very different from the Kastle situation. Marcel Hirscher does not get a special path into the material supplier group for Austria or more than likely any Federation that has a path to entry into that countries top athlete group. The purpose to that form of protectionism is to prevent the easy in, easy out, fly by night companies the right to promotion of athletes and Federations until their products have proven themselves. If you are Head, Atomic, Fischer, or Rossignol, as a company they will not have a nice cumbaya meeting with the Federation and say, "Yes we like Hirscher, and he is such a great guy and an Austrian hero, lets let him and his ski brand into the pool and we would each be happy to "give" away one of our best athletes to help this fledgling race brand not only compete, but beat us to the top step of the podium from time to time. Now if you follow that logic, if you were a ski brand that to date has not sold any skis into the market, where would the funding come from to supply any top form World Cup athlete with a contract, and material, and the quality of service it would take to mount a successful World Cup campaign?
What can you do as Van Deer or Kastle? You can sign athletes from Federations that do have limited or no history as a valuable promotable group for the major race supplier brands. hence Great Britain, Bolivia, and Isreal. Or perhaps I should not be so singleminded in my focus... There always is the possibility that the next Girardelli is out there trained and prepped to storm the World Cup, but is unhappy with their relationship with the Federation of their birth, so they pledge allegiance to another country with no federation or pool and ski on whatever equipment they want.
There is a story to be written and told, however it is just a tad early for it to be clear and relatable. In the mean time good luck to Charlie Raposo. regardless of his skill set and current World Cup rankings, what an amazing opportunity to have Marcel Hirscher in your corner helping you to develop and grow. And what a great story it will be if Van Deer and Hirscher can help transform Raposo into a world beater! From an expense to entry point of view, if this pans out and Raposo improves above his his current status overnight by switching ski brands to Van Deer, it will send shock waves through the World Cup!!!
Just for clarity sake this is sarcasm and humor on my part attempting to point out the oldness of the "good ole boys club" of the Federations and the suppliers "pools" in the sport of ski racing. Now the real news story on development of new product is a report that in an underground laboratory somewhere in the Swiss Alps, a new ski brand with cutting edge technology has assembled World Cup greats Gustavo Thoeni, Ingemar Stenmark, Pirmin Zurbriggen, Franz Klammer, Herman Maier, Ted Ligity, and Bode Miller that have all committed to a new brand of skis called Peak and are secretly training in this underground lab to return to the World Cup and decimate the existing status quo by winning each discipline title and the overall WC title this coming season They have been given special dispensation from the Pope to be able to compete as independents and the first ever "Peak Factory" team like Formula 1. This has them outside the view of the Federations protectionist practices keeping new and exciting technology down and unavailable to the average skiing public. For me personally I think the whole sport of Alpine ski racing would benefit if the World Cup became more like Formula 1. It would bring product development along faster than ever before, and raise the bar for subsistence for a larger pool of top level athletes. It would also get the NGB's out of the development business of ski racing athletes. LOL,
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