Men’s Alpine World Cup 2023/24

[Ivan]

The point of a protest is to disrupt and bring attention to a cause, so in that sense the climate activists succeeded.

At the same time, they made a lot of people angry. They could as well protest right after the last racer crossed the finish line.

From Wiki: "In the same month [May 2023], in Vienna, an emergency patient died in congestion caused by the group. A speaker of the group stated that it had made the mistake of not informing the ambulance service centre." Climate change is a very important issue, and there is nothing wrong with bringing it to public's attention, but there are better and smarter ways of doing it.

 

[Tony Storaro]

They were climate activists from the “Letzte Generation” (Last Generation) an association of climate activists active in Austria, Germany and Italy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_Generation_(climate_movement)

Did they pour blood on the snow at the finish? Was it their blood or did they do a ritual sacrifice of animals or virgins before the event?
Lol Henrik would have floored that skinny glassed dude.

 

[Rudi Riet]

Did they pour blood on the snow at the finish? Was it their blood or did they do a ritual sacrifice of animals or virgins before the event?
Lol Henrik would have floored that skinny glassed dude.

Orange chalk or dye powder from the look of things. Using orange paint is their trademark.

 

[Primoz]

Politically correct or not, I just hope that once police took them in backstage, they punished them harshly, so they will think twice before doing such thing again next time. I certainly agree climate change is big deal, but spraying chemicals on snow high up in mountains (yup pretty ecological thing to do), or pouring tomato soup over Mona Lisa won't do anything, neither will bring any attention, at least not right kind of attention.

 

[Teppaz]

But how do you bring attention then, if not by disrupting? Disruption is precisely what makes people pay attention. And they did not endanger the skiers as far as I could tell. I’d not be happy if they used a toxic product on the snow, so they need to rethink that little stunt. Still, we’re taking about a sport that blithely used a toxic wax for a long time (as we were reminded with Mowinckel’s recent DSQ).

 

[Cascadecowboy]

Enough of these tiresome AGW religious fanatics already. Henrik’s reaction to these narcissists is entirely to be expected. They were inferring with his livelihood and it’s a wonder the WC crowd took it as well as they did.

 

[4ster]

Protest aside, those last 5 got iced but I think the light played a bigger role.
l watched every racer in the first run & there was a lot of great skiing outside the top 30. Some big ruts kept many of them from the finish line but lots of potential coming up. Kudos to those few high bib #’s that did get a second run.
Austrian sweep in Austria is cool & it’s been awhile!
Amazing first run from Manny!!
Incredible 2 runs from Schwarz! Wanted to pick him for the podium but figured his bib # was too high (my actual picks guesses were way off). He looks like perhaps a contender for the overall after his sweet Solden run!
Big congratulations to Michael Matt, nice to see he’s still got it!

It was nice to see a venue with winter snow & a few powder tracks in the background. It looks as if they had recent snow which may have made for inconsistent course conditions but hey, that’s ski racing & each podium skier got there in a different way.

 

[JTurner]

I know the American tech men aren’t a top focus of many of the contributors here, but it was interesting that to my eye at least they were trying to ski on two skis more than anybody and none of them fared well. Just seemed like a distinctive commonality in their style that didn’t serve them well on that terrain.

 

[4ster]

I know the American tech men aren’t a top focus of many of the contributors here, but it was interesting that to my eye at least they were trying to ski on two skis more than anybody and none of them fared well. Just seemed like a distinctive commonality in their style that didn’t serve them well on that terrain.

Luke Winters has always seemed to ski in a bit wider stance, is that what you mean by skiing on 2 skis?
Today his line choice seemed to drop him into the ruts & he struggled the whole way. Once you fall into that trap it’s hard to get out. Those late starters who succeeded got their direction early & avoided the bottom of the rut but many of them got sucked in eventually & weren’t able to finish.
Ben Ritchie looked good for a second & Jett Seymour was done before he started.

 

[JTurner]

Yeah, a lot of weight on the inside ski and at times a wide stance. Looked like it resulted in a lot of ski divergence at the end of each turn which made it hard to keep a square and separated upper body. The ruts probably didn’t help, looked like a bit of a rodeo at times for many of the late runners.

 

[4ster]

 

[Teppaz]

I don't think anybody can threaten Odermatt for the 2024 overall, but could Schwarz give Kilde a run for his money for second place? Today's result means he's competitive in three events, maybe even four (apparently he's been trying to beef up for downhill).

 

[Average Joe]

But how do you bring attention then, if not by disrupting? Disruption is precisely what makes people pay attention. And they did not endanger the skiers as far as I could tell. I’d not be happy if they used a toxic product on the snow, so they need to rethink that little stunt. Still, we’re taking about a sport that blithely used a toxic wax for a long time (as we were reminded with Mowinckel’s recent DSQ).

“Bringing attention” does not mean damage/destruction of artwork nor interfering with someone’s livelihood.
Watch Steen Olsen’s run after being iced in the start house for 5 minutes - it most definitely adversely affected his skiing. Henrik knew his teammate was next up, and he knew it would not help his performance. And I believe that a ski racer who is in this situation after a race delay is at a higher risk of falling

The ultimate irony is that these idiots most likely got themselves to the venue in fossil fuel burning vehicles. And yes, their orange vests were made from…..oil.

 

[Average Joe]

Luke Winters has always seemed to ski in a bit wider stance, is that what you mean by skiing on 2 skis?
Today his line choice seemed to drop him into the ruts & he struggled the whole way. Once you fall into that trap it’s hard to get out. Those late starters who succeeded got their direction early & avoided the bottom of the rut but many of them got sucked in eventually & weren’t able to finish.
Ben Ritchie looked good for a second & Jett Seymour was done before he started.

Run 1 seemed to rut up quickly, by bib 20 things were looking sliced up.The later seeds were taking high risk lines to stay ahead of the grooves and that led to quite a few straddles.
The ruts on run 1 were made worse by an overzealous slip crew, you could see them dishing out the ruts in the TV feed.
WC events often suffer from inexperienced slip crews, it seems to be hit or miss as the organizers rely on local race clubs and ski schools for their crews.
Run 2 looked like it held up better.

 

[Teppaz]

“Bringing attention” does not mean damage/destruction of artwork nor interfering with someone’s livelihood.
Watch Steen Olsen’s run after being iced in the start house for 5 minutes - it most definitely adversely affected his skiing. Henrik knew his teammate was next up, and he knew it would not help his performance. And I believe that a ski racer who is in this situation after a race delay is at a higher risk of falling

The ultimate irony is that these idiots most likely got themselves to the venue in fossil fuel burning vehicles. And yes, their orange vests were made from…..oil.

I'm pretty sure climate change is going to threaten the livelihood of ski racers a lot more than the actions of those activists.

I'm still not sure how a delay that was considerably shorter than some caused by crashes would undermine the performances of athletes who are trained to be in the zone. I guess it's easier to blame than a deteriorating course or the natural mental pressure of a second run.

 

[SBrown]

Big guns have made it to Copper.

 

[Average Joe]

I'm pretty sure climate change is going to threaten the livelihood of ski racers a lot more than the actions of those activists.

I'm still not sure how a delay that was considerably shorter than some caused by crashes would undermine the performances of athletes who are trained to be in the zone. I guess it's easier to blame than a deteriorating course or the natural mental pressure of a second run.

Climate change is not the issue. Comparison to an unintended race delay is not relevant.

The question is, does anyone have the right to obstruct or hinder the activities of others?

Justification for one's belief does not allow laws to be broken.

If the same stunt had been pulled on an Olympic gymnast as she was about to begin her final floor exercise, in contention to win a medal, and she slipped to 15th, I would not dismiss her disappointing performance by saying "she was trained to be in the zone."

 

[S.H.]

The question is, does anyone have the right to obstruct or hinder the activities of others?

Absolutely. That can't be your actual question. Everytime I get in a line or wait in traffic, people are obstructing and hindering my activities.

Laws obstruct and hinder activities

My neighbors obstruct and hider my activities by existing and by playing their music, even at a "reasonable" volume

Moderators on this site obstruct and hinder the activities of others

Border patrol obstructs and hinders the activities of others

People resisting assault hinder the activities of others.

If nobody had the right to obstruct or hinder the activities of others, human interaction would be basically impossible.

Ski races obstruct and hinder the ability of other skiers to use that trail. SHOULD SKI RACING BE ILLEGAL!??!?!?! I mean, come on.

Justification for one's belief does not allow laws to be broken.

Justification for one's belief absolutely allows laws to be broken, but it doesn't absolve you of consequences. I suppose you'd be okay with it if the civil rights movement never happened? Minorities should just accept being second class citizens, never protest or inconvenience others? Slaves should never have objected to slavery because it's legal? There might be consequences, sure. But action might be worth the consequences to some.

 

[dbostedo]

Absolutely. That can't be your actual question. Everytime I get in a line or wait in traffic, people are obstructing and hindering my activities.

Laws obstruct and hinder activities

My neighbors obstruct and hider my activities by existing and by playing their music, even at a "reasonable" volume

Moderators on this site obstruct and hinder the activities of others

Border patrol obstructs and hinders the activities of others

People resisting assault hinder the activities of others.

If nobody had the right to obstruct or hinder the activities of others, human interaction would be basically impossible.

Ski races obstruct and hinder the ability of other skiers to use that trail. SHOULD SKI RACING BE ILLEGAL!??!?!?! I mean, come on.


Justification for one's belief absolutely allows laws to be broken, but it doesn't absolve you of consequences. I suppose you'd be okay with it if the civil rights movement never happened? Minorities should just accept being second class citizens, never protest or inconvenience others? Slaves should never have objected to slavery because it's legal? There might be consequences, sure. But action might be worth the consequences to some.

Before this goes any further, all of those things mentioned are not up for debate here. This will not turn into a thread to debate the actions of the protestors or any related material.

Please get back to the focus on skiing and impacts to it; and in this thread, the Men's world cup events.

 

[Teppaz]

Climate change is not the issue. Comparison to an unintended race delay is not relevant.

With all due respect, we can disagree on tactics and protests, but climate change is very much the issue here. WC skiers bring it up on ski podcasts and in the press. They see it first hand: they are well aware this is something the snowsports industry in general and FIS in particular need to plan for. Among other things, the WC calendar as it is cannot last and must adapt, which is something that's been debated on this very site. Some of these issues of timing and location are discussed in this AP article.

Edited: sorry, mod post came up right as I was writing this and I hadn't seen it. This is the last I'm saying on the subject (here at least).