Olympic Winter Games: Speed ​​skiers burn snow and skin

Granted, braking and cornering will have limited the car’s top possible speed, but Verstappen – and F1 – embody the pinnacle of motorsport speed in a multi-billion dollar industry.

And yet, armed with nothing but two skis, skeletal fabrics and a helmet fit for a Daft Punk comeback tour, humans are hurtling down mountainsides faster than an F1 car.

In 2016, Italy’s Ivan Origone hurtled down a run at La Forêt Blanche ski resort in France, setting a new world record with an average speed of 254.958 km/h (158.42 mph) over the last 100 meters.

For perspective, the World Air Sports Federation states that the terminal velocity of the human body in free fall in a stable head down position is between 240 and 290 km/h (149.13 and 180.2 mph) – fast skiers effectively plummeting through the sky.

Not surprisingly, such descriptions dictate that while skiing is popular in general, speed skiing tends to be a more niche profession – particularly for British skiers, given the relative lack of snow-capped mountain peaks.

But Jan Farrell, Britain’s most successful speed skier of the century, is the exception to the rule.

As the International Ski Federation (FIS) overall World Cup winner in the Speed ​​2 category in 2014, Farrell had the advantage over other Brits in speed skiing by having lived in Spain for 32 years.

Spain may not exactly scream “skier’s paradise” to many, but with 35% of the country being mountainous and there being 32 ski resorts, a six-year-old Farrell was ecstatic from his first lesson in Gavarnie, France.

“As a kid, it was my natural way to ski — just point in a straight line and bomb it down the hill like a lot of kids do, I think,” Farrell told CNN Sport.

The bigger they are, the faster they fall

A nine-year international career has taken Farrell around the world, following the biannual FIS World Cup circuit in Andorra, Canada, France, Finland and Sweden, and traveling to Munich for training every month.

When he wasn’t flying — both literally and figuratively — Farrell was in the gym, following a grueling Olympic conditioning schedule 300 days a year.

Weightlifting, squats, and deadlifts formed the backbone of a program to build dense muscle. While jockeys on horses aim to keep themselves as light as possible, athletes on speed skis maximize power and heaviness – albeit not without limits.

“Aerodynamics is key, so you can’t just be big – you have to be compact and flexible,” said Farrell. “You have to get into a tight squat position, and if you have a big belly, that’s not ideal.

“Weighing so much but also having strong muscles because you have to adapt to the terrain and drive up the hill and you have to be very strong and precise in a very limited range of motion.

“If you just go down as a block, you wouldn’t be very fast.”

crash and burn

Force conditioning also serves another vital purpose – accident survival.

The dangers of motorsport need not be described, but at least the drivers are dressed to minimize damage. McLaren’s F1 driver’s overalls, for example – made from a heat and flame-resistant fiber – can withstand direct fire for 15 seconds, aided by flame-resistant boots and gloves.

No such protection is afforded to speed skiers. With clothing designed just for speed and speed, accidental injuries can be horrific.

Concussions, broken arms and legs—the diagnoses are endless, but friction burns are the most common injury.

In 2016, during a World Cup training run in France, Farrell fell at 216 km/h (134.2 mph) and slipped about 1,150 feet — over three and a half football pitches — and suffered second-degree burns.

More commonly caused by direct exposure to fire and boiling water, partial thickness burns can be excruciatingly painful, but incredibly, Farrell was back on the slopes a day later.

fear factor

Over time, the burns healed, but the psychological scarring remained.

Once unflappable and never having fallen at such a rate, Farrell’s confidence was shaken almost overnight – a critical point in a discipline where there is little room for self-doubt.

“I always say my biggest hurt was my confidence,” Farrell said. “I was pretty good at not falling and not being scared – everything changed after that.

“Most of us who have fallen take some time to come back. It took me over a season and I had to do psychological training and really rethink my approach to skiing.”

Paradoxically, while overly aggressive skiing—“allowing the skis to float too much”—is a cause of falls, overly conservative skiing can be just as unsafe.

The goal of speed skiing, Farrell explains, is to separate your upper and lower body — to release yourself so your legs can relax and the skis can do the work.

Fear and overthinking can be devastating, and Farrell has worked for over a year to resolve these issues.

“You really have to sort of go back and rethink the whole attitude of why you’re doing what scares you and what makes you want to go fast,” Farrell explained.

“It was a very interesting process in which I got to know myself much better as a person.”

Olympia is calling?

After the demons were defeated, Farrell returned to competition for several years before announcing his “temporary” retirement from elite sport in early 2021 – citing a desire to spend time with his two young daughters as a key motive for his decision.

The duo are adjusting to their ski legs before many have taken their first steps and are already well on their way to becoming excellent skiers, but could they follow in their father’s footsteps?

“Hopefully not,” Farrell replies.

“They can play tennis or swim or something. Something that includes snow but in its liquid form – like in water.”

Farrell’s fatherly responsibilities fill an already busy schedule and complement his role on the FIS Athletes’ Commission, his private work tutoring young elite speed skiers looking to enter the sport, and his charity work helping disabled children learn to ski.

As Farrell works to improve the discipline’s reputation, the pinnacle of snowsports events arrives with the upcoming Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics — non-speed skiing games.

The sport has only made one appearance at the Winter Olympics — as a men’s and women’s demonstration event in Albertville in 1992 — and Farrell believes that while speed skiing has the potential, it needs to “do its homework” before it’s officially made back viable.

Farrell highlights the parallels with ski jumping, an event that has been part of the Games schedule since its inception in 1924 and, despite its relative rarity in everyday skiing activities, remains a popular aspect of the schedule.

“It definitely has all the sporting values, appeal and spectacle – it’s very presentable for the Olympic Games at the highest level,” explains Farrell.

“I think the sport needs to do its homework first – get more followers and get more athletes.

“Everybody goes out and likes to ski fast, but speed skiing is a completely different thing – in theory it definitely has everything that’s needed for the Olympics – now the actual sports base needs to grow.”

To this day, for Farrell, it’s work and parenting, and rediscovering a long-lost joy in skiing just for fun.

The question is: does he miss the speed?

“No, I don’t think so,” Farrell replies, referring to friends in Formula 1. “They don’t drive very fast on public roads at all – they’re all very careful, relaxed drivers.”

After years of freefall, Farrell enjoys life on the slow lane.