Ski cross is excellent addition to Olympics

When it came time to vote for a new Olympic event last year — women's ski jumping or ski cross — it was the new game, ski cross, that won.

It came down to old versus new; a century-old sport versus a new upstart in the skiing game.

And, after seeing an event — the first World Cup race held in North American a couple of weeks back at Deer Valley — it's easier to understand the selection outcome.

Ski cross isn't difficult to figure out. The first skier across the finish is the winner. There's no guesswork, no waiting for judges' decisions and no second-guessing those decisions.

Which is obviously why it was selected as a new addition to the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver. And why, in the selection process, the International Olympic Committee said it was chosen "because of strong appeal for the younger generation."

I agree with those I talked with at the event that ski cross is a fun, exciting event and one worthy of the Olympics.

I heard rumblings around the event that ski cross could be the booster-shot the free-style program needs, particularly in aerials.

Bill Marolt, president/CEO of the U.S. Ski Team, in reviewing the U.S. program, talked about how strong all disciplines were, with the exception of aerials, "which needs work."

Aerials is not a skiing event skiers gravitate toward. You don't ski down a run and suddenly decide to do a full-full-full, or three flips with three twists. Thus, the field of applicants is small.

Ski cross, now, is very different. It involves four skiers racing down a course composed of jumps, turns, banks, hits, rollers and natural terrain features. Or, features every skier encounters now and then on a typical ski day.

Admittedly, the two big flaws in the event are the start and passing. The skier who is first out of the gate is very likely going to be the first across the finish.

And, passing a skier taking the fastest line down the course is sometimes next to impossible. One official reported going to a race where there was not a single pass.

Course designers are trying to lay out courses in such a way as to allow for passing. There were several good passes made on the Deer Valley course, including two memorable ones by Casey Puckett, a former U.S. alpine racer, the last one in the final heat that gave him second place.

The sport is new, however, and still in the design process. Several racers I talked with admitted that U.S. course designers were far ahead of their European counterparts, so it's very likely the course problems will be figured out before 2010.

It was also obvious at the Deer Valley event that the U.S. men have embraced the sport and the women haven't. Now retired U.S. alpine racers, like Puckett, Daron Rahlves and Jacob Fiala, have moved over to ski cross "to extend their careers." The new U.S. coach, Tyler Shepherd, said he's talked with several former women racers about ski cross and has yet to get any takers.

I don't think there's any question that ski cross is an event permanently implanted in the Olympic Games, if for no other reason that it's the one alpine event that offers viewers and spectators instant gratification.

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E-mail: grass@desnews.com