What have you noticed at the Olympics Parallel Giant Slalom?

[Luci]

I knew you would say this.
You made a mistake. You wrote "top riders" instead of "top racers". It's not the same, the goal in a slalom is very specific.

Real top riders should not need any plate.
Actually it's more related to the board. A real good board, which is well designed and built, should not need any artifice or any plate to work properly.
Of course there are also the bindings: how the bindings are working with or against the board.

Now some racers are complaining about the weight. A few ones are already going to thinner plates (soon you will see no plate ), and even to lighter bindings (I have the example of a German racer using Redline instead of F2).
Patrice Fivat

Hello Patrice,

I don't want to comment your first statements here. Maybe your account was hacked and/you want to correct this a little bit later on, if the comments are related to race boarding at WC level

Concerning the statement on the German racer using the Redline binding..
Probably this needs some clarification..
You know, that i have bought a Redline binding to replace my F2 Race Titanium.
I am from Austria and i am a simple freecarver, using actual top race boards with Allflex plates and Point951 boots.
I have different requirements than racers have and continuously try to optimize the equipment for my needs.
Currently my board/plate setup is the best compromise for riding at all snow conditions with the best performance - from ice, groomed, bumpy, slushy to < 30cm powder on slopes - for me. For 80% of the time i use a plate because it is better and more safe and more fun for me. At certain and special conditions i prefer a plateless setup to have more fun.
I also select the weight of the equipment carefully for freecarving - not too heavy, but also not too light - and safe.
The advantage of the Redline for me is its small stack-hight, its low weight at high quality metal engineering (safety advantage over F2?).
In combination with the Allflex plate it is only 5mm higher than the F2 mounted on a board directly.
Additionally i wanted to find out if the provided sideflex is an advantage for me.

Note: We are not talking about equipment for your special EC riding in this thread, because this is already well designed for that purpose and well proven. I have nothing to add on that.

Cheers,
Luci

[olive]

Wintergold, maybe I was not very clear with my explanation.

I also love snowboarding in all it's aspects.
When I was referring to racing technique it was literally, as at the Olympic Games.
I was not talking about your video.

My aim was just to emphasize the fact that the gear adapted to one riding technique might not be suited to another technique.

I like your video, I find especially awesome the way you are able to carve backwards.
Maybe in your next video you will show us some extremecarving turns performed with and without a plate and share your feelings with us?

Olivier

[WinterGold]

Of course you will use the equipment which perfectly supports your riding style and one setup can´t do it all. It will always be a compromise.

I guess my extreme carving skills are not film worthy ...

Let´s go out and have fun on the slopes ... no matter what equipment we use ... at least I use "extreme carving approved" Northwaves .900

[frunobulax]

While I have talked badly about parallel races quite regularly, this year I noticed that it was lot of fun to watch the races, since the conditions were good, is was a sunny day and the riders were doing a great job. There was more angulation, more speed and more dynamics than the Olympics before (was it Vancouver where it rained so badly that watching the races was painful? When one rider (don't recall who it was) stopped immediately after the startgate to proceed to next round? That was an embarrassment.. ). I'd still say that GS would look better if the parallel format was dropped, and the race courses could thus have more variation and make more use of changes in terrain, but you can't have it all..

Esther Ledecka's two Gold medals can't be over-estimated. Actually she's achieved something nobody has achieved before. Yes there were guys who won biathlon and crosscountry, or crosscountry and nordic combined, but to win in skiing and snowboarding, two really different sports, that's close to a miracle.

I agree with you Patrice about the plate issue, as far as you say that raceboarding equipment is too expensive. I'say when my boy is eight, and wants to compete in races, I could either buy him (if I buy new gear, not used), FIS children's skis with bindings (plates if necessary) and boots for roughly 600 €, and will not find anything in the snowboard department because there's no kid's hardboots on the market. And when he's fifteen, I can try it again, and he will ask me to buy the best equipment possible, which is some 1500 € for ski equipment and over 3000 € in the snowboard department if I buy let's say the SG/Allflex/F2/951 combination. That's repellent.
Most of the price tag difference is above the board. It's not only the plates, but the combination plate/binding/boot adds easily up to 2000 € while in skiing you can hardly spend half the price on that.