Alpine combination
The Alpine Combination is a competition in the disciplines of Alpine skiing and grass skiing . As an all-around competition, it combines the downhill or Super-G with the slalom . A distinction is made between the classic combination and the alpine combination (also called "super combination " ).
Alpine skiing
History of the combination competitions
Early forms
Until the 1990s, combination competitions were usually held using the point system. The ratio of time lag and best time was multiplied by a constant for all sub-competitions. Then the results of the partial competitions were added up. The athlete with the fewest points won.
Classic combination
A classic combination consists of a downhill run and two slalom runs , with both sub-competitions being held on different days. Such a “combination” was first held in the World Cup on December 18 and 19, 1993 in St. Anton , with Renate Götschl winning ahead of Pernilla Wiberg and Bibiana Perez .
Alpine combination
An Alpine combination consists of a downhill or super-G run and a slalom run , with both sub- competitions being held on the same day. Such a “super combination” was held for the first time in the World Cup on January 14, 2005 in Wengen , with Benjamin Raich winning ahead of Lasse Kjus and Didier Défago .
history
The first international combination competition consisted of a downhill and a slalom race and took place in 1928 at the premiere of the Arlberg-Kandahar races . In the early years of skiing, combination ratings were very important to the athletes and the public. Even the gold medal in the world championship combination had the higher recognition than that in the individual competition (this is practically in contrast to now). It should also be mentioned that in the 1930s even so-called “four-man combinations” were held (for men) (downhill, slalom, ski jumping, cross-country skiing), which made true “ski kings” for their time.
At all world championships , except 1931 , 1950 and 1952 , world champions were determined in the combination. From 1956 to 1980 , in addition to downhill and slalom, the results of giant slalom were also included. This mode is also known as a three-way combination and is still used today at the Junior World Championships . There were already debates in November 1956 about installing a two-man combination instead of the three-man combination at world championships (perhaps as early as 1958), which would be driven separately because it was considered more valuable from a sporting point of view. Problems were seen in the fact that separate slopes would have to be available and the program could no longer be completed within a week.
At the Olympic Winter Games in 1936 , when alpine skiing was on the program for the first time, the combination was the only alpine competition. At the Olympic Winter Games in 1948 , it consisted of its own "combination slalom" and the special downhill run (this special downhill run was therefore classified as a separate Olympic competition). From 1952 to 1984 the Alpine Combination was not part of the Olympic program. Since the Olympic Winter Games were also considered the World Ski Championships until 1980, combined world championship medals were awarded to the top three of the three-way combination of the Olympic competitions downhill, giant slalom and slalom.
The World Cup encouraged more specialization. However, the slalom riders felt they were at a disadvantage even beforehand, because the downhill result was decisive for the starting order of the big combinations , not only the “Arlberg” - Kandahar combination, but also those on the Lauberhorn and Hahnenkamm. This meant that the best of the downhill race received the front start numbers and the slalom runners who were naturally behind in the downhill runs had to start further back, perhaps even not allowed to start because of limited starting fields. A safety valve was then installed by various organizers , which guaranteed the proven slalom specialists - regardless of their performance in the descent - a favorable starting place. So until the introduction of the World Cup only the Kandahar remained, which (for the time being) allowed this development to bounce back, but its regulations did not correspond to the World Cup guidelines (see separate article).
It was only from the 1973/74 season onwards that the combination was "upgraded" to the effect that a runner was awarded a doubling of the World Cup points achieved if he / she made it to the World Cup ranks in both the speed and technical competitions (i.e. Top Ten) placed. However, this was extremely seldom the case, because the top ten in a descent usually could not classify themselves in the top ten in the slalom or quite often did not participate in the slalom (and vice versa). It was not until the 1974/75 season that there were several combinations per winter. These are mostly made up of individual results from downhill runs and slalom, but sometimes also from downhill and giant slalom, and later also from Super-G and slalom. Combinations of 2 technical competitions are not evident, on the other hand there were some combinations of downhill runs and super Gs up to and including the 1985/86 season. (It happened for the first time in 1982 with the men, whereby the Swiss Franz Heinzer won this combination of the Super-G in Val-d'Isère on December 12th and the downhill run from Val Gardena / Gröden on December 19th . 1983 won again Franz Heinzer - and again in Val d'Isère - on December 10, 1983, this time both the Downhill and the Super-G. Pirmin Zurbriggen , SUI, appears as the winner of Garmisch-Partenkirchen on January 29, 1984. Peter Müller , SUI, was twice successful: on January 27, 1985 he won in Garmisch-Partenkirchen and on February 3, 1986 in Crans-Montana , with the Super-G in connection with the already held on December 7 in Val d ' Isère. Ultimately, Markus Wasmeier , GER, won in Morzine on February 8, 1986. Gerry Sorensen , CAN, won the women's race on January 8, 1984 in Puy-Saint-Vincent .)
One problem arose, especially for the interested audience, in that various combinations, sometimes planned in this way, sometimes due to the cancellation of one of the two competitions (mostly the one in the speed area), were held at different locations and often with a considerable time interval of up to a month. At the beginning of the 1980s, the Hahnenkamm combination , which was decisive for the World Cup ranking, consisted of a previously in a different location (these were in nearby Bavaria ) and the downhill run in Kitzbühel , while the "original" Kitzbühel combination (with the slalom on the Ganslernhang ) "went down". Only in later years was this included again in the World Cup program.
From 1982 the combination was an independent competition at the World Championships and from 1988 at the Olympic Games, which consisted of a shortened combination downhill run and two shorter combination slalom runs. In contrast, the combinations in the World Cup initially consisted of two individual races.
From 1994 onwards, the results were no longer determined using a points system, but the running times of downhill and slalom were simply added up. However, both in the point system and in this new mode, the stronger slalom runners were generally preferred. This advantage was only to be weakened a decade later with the introduction of the super combination and the associated reduction to just one (slightly longer) slalom run. In any case, the mode with just one slalom run was more suitable for all athletes. To abolish the point system: In the early days, the winners of the downhill competition were rewarded with 100 points, as were the winners of the slalom competition. The points for those who were placed behind were determined by a complicated calculation system, as it were aliquot to the time lag. This later changed. Now there were zero points for the respective winner - which means that victories in both the downhill and slalom (possibly also giant slalom) were referred to as the "ideal score of zero". Toni Sailer (Cortina 1956) and Jean-Claude Killy (Grenoble 1968) won the world championship gold medal with this ideal grade of zero. But the call for more transparency increased. Especially for the viewers of the ski races, these calculations were not understandable, while this does not pose a problem if the running times are simply added.
Since 2005 , the combination in the form of the super combination has also been an independent competition in the World Cup. The last classic combination took place once a year until 2013 at the Hahnenkamm races in Kitzbühel . It consisted of the individual results of the downhill on Saturday and the slalom on Sunday and, like the super combination, counted towards the combined World Cup ranking.
With regard to the starting order for the combination slalom, the result of the respective speed competition decides, whereby the first thirty start in the downward sequence and then those from rank 31st. To avoid "tactical finesse", which consisted in an association having various ( not promisingly placed) starters for the combined slalom withdrew in order to help a runner who would otherwise be placed behind the first thirty to jump into the favorable "thirty field", there was a rule change. This was already a done deal after the 2007 Super Combi on the Lauberhorn. The Austrian Mario Matt was the last (big) beneficiary of the previous regulation at the said competition in January 2007: After the descent to 34th place, he moved up to 30th place thanks to various failures and was allowed to go into the race first - and he won. According to the applicable regulations, all runners who appear behind 30th place after the speed competition - regardless of whether or not they may not start - only start after the start of the best-placed runner from the speed competition.
However, there were exceptions to the starting order for the time being in the combined competitions, which were held separately for the first time from the 1982 World Cup and the 1988 Winter Olympics. Here each competition was started separately in the order of the current FIS point lists, so the downhill skiers started from start group 1 and the downhill skiers did the same. The dates of the two sub-competitions were several days, even over a week apart, which reduced public interest. But even on the part of the organizers, the desired care was not always shown with regard to the implementation of the combination; especially the men's combined slalom at the 1992 Winter Olympics caused criticism (especially from Paul Accola ) because of the lack of slope preparation . The scheduling of the two sub-competitions was changed, for the most part the entire competition was carried out in one day, with the slaloms increasingly taking place as "night slalom" (also known as "night event") thanks to the floodlights on the racetracks. - In a few cases (mostly due to the weather) the slalom started. In the case of major events, this was the case for men at the 1996 and 2001 World Cup (here as a “night event”) and the 1998 Winter Olympics, and for women it was the case at the 2006 Winter Olympics (programmed in this way from the start) .
At world championships, the super combination has been held in place of the classic combination since 2007 , and since 2010 also at the Olympic Games. Even with the super combinations, both in the aforementioned events and in the World Cup, the slaloms (especially those for the men in Kitzbühel ) are occasionally driven as "night slalom". Contrary to previous practice, the men's super combination was started on February 19, 2016 in Chamonix with the slalom due to the weather conditions (snowfall) - the starting order for the downhill run in the afternoon was based on the same guidelines as in the usual cases in the reversed order of the slalom result (whereby those classified from 31st place only came after the first thirty). There was something similar (also for the first time) among the women at the competition on March 14, 2016 in Lenzerheide , where the Super-G had to be postponed due to the dense fog.
For some years there has been a discussion about abolishing the Alpine Combination in favor of a parallel competition. At least until the Alpine World Ski Championships in 2021 , however, the Alpine combination should be retained.
statistics
The Norwegian Kjetil André Aamodt is the most successful medal winner in the combination ( World Championship: 3 gold, 1 silver, 1 bronze; Olympics: 1 gold, 1 silver). The Frenchman Alexis Pinturault took the most victories in the discipline world cup (6). Most individual victories in World Cup combinations were achieved with eleven Phil Mahre , Pirmin Zurbriggen and Marc Girardelli each . In a comparison of nations, after the competitions in December 2016, Switzerland is ahead of Austria (women and men): women: 27:22, men 30:22.
The women's record holders are Christl Cranz (five world championship titles and Olympic victory in 1936), Hanni Wenzel (eight World Cup victories), Janica Kostelić (double Olympic champion and double world champion) and Maria Höfl-Riesch (double Olympic champion and world champion).
Grass ski
The combination initially consisted of slalom and giant slalom. From the introduction of the Super-G in 1987, the combination was the overall ranking of a Super-G race and a slalom race. In 2007 it was replaced by the super combination, in which a super G and only one slalom run are driven on the same day.
Individual evidence
- ^ Alpine Skiing at the 1992 Albertville Winter Games: Men's Combined Downhill. In: sports-reference.com. Sports Reference, accessed March 25, 2019 .
- ^ Alpine Skiing at the 1992 Albertville Winter Games: Men's Combined Slalom. In: sports-reference.com. Sports Reference, accessed March 25, 2019 .
- ^ Alpine Skiing at the 1992 Albertville Winter Games: Women's Combined Downhill. In: sports-reference.com. Sports Reference, accessed March 25, 2019 .
- ^ Alpine Skiing at the 1992 Albertville Winter Games: Women's Combined Slalom. In: sports-reference.com. Sports Reference, accessed March 25, 2019 .
- ^ A b The International Ski Competition Rules (ICR). (PDF; 2.2 MB) Book IV - Joint Regulations for Alpine Skiing. In: fis-ski.com. Fédération Internationale de Ski, July 2018, p. 102 , accessed on March 25, 2019 .
- ↑ Official Results. In: fis-ski.com. Fédération Internationale de Ski, accessed on March 25, 2019 .
- ↑ Official Results. In: fis-ski.com. Fédération Internationale de Ski, accessed on March 25, 2019 .
- ↑ Again Alpine two-man combination? In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna November 18, 1956, p. 28 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
- ↑ “Is the alpine combination still up to date?” In “ski - Official Organ of the German Ski Association” (Unionverlag Stuttgart), Volume 19, Issue No. 4 of December 1, 1966, page 230
- ↑ World Cup ranking , Arbeiterzeitung Wien from December 11, 1973, page 15, right
- ↑ The dead live longer: Alpine Combination will also be held at the 2021 World Ski Championships. Retrieved February 14, 2019 .