Taha Day 11

Final Day - coldest yet - but the sky was clear so the sun was able to keep us comfortable. Using the camera with thick gloves on was a bit tricky so the video is not as well filmed as usual. There was a "temperature inversion" with the cold weather front and so with the cold air low down in the valley there was a sea of cloud all day. It was snowing lightly in the valley all day. You can see the ice crystals floating in the air and some of the effects of the sun on the airborne ice in the photographs.

Slalom Competition

No new technique today - being the last day. It was time to put it all to use. We warmed up with light skiing and then a little carving and "racing skating"  prior to starting the slalom competition finals. 

Mete was the one to beat in slalom and in a Dual Slalom race Cagatay blew him away with a new famiy record of 33.65 seconds - the first ever to go under 34 seconds. This feat is extraordinary when you consider that Cagatay was snowploughing down the course only a week ago. Mete responded soon afterwards with a new record of 33.24 seconds and took the lead back again. Meanwhile Taha was improving and came very close with 34.18 finishing up with less than one second separating first from last place. In the end Mete won.

Mete had been working at increasing dynamics but by trying to lower his bottom into the turn instead of his shoulders. He was managing to improve this but the timing was still too late to get the most out of it. If he had improved his timing and line then he could have kept up his speed instead of losing it. 

Cagatay was trying to use his centre of mass more and was clearly attacking the course. He was still bending at the waist and keeping his leg too straight and stiff - instead of bending at the hips and knees. He had a very fast run close to the end of the competition but fell when his ski came off - but that was due to the stiff leg. 

Taha had a breakthrough with his understanding of dynamics and motion of the centre of mass on his last and fastest run. Although he had understood the theory it was only now that his perception properly caught up and he really "understood" it and felt it. 

Gulsum progressively recovered her confidence  after being traumatised yesterday and she finished up skiing again with a higher speed. One consequence of the higher speed is that it gives a sense of rhythm which brings along with it a stronger stability. It was good for Gulsum to finish on a good note and skiing strongly again. I kept on calling out to her when skiing to get her to look up instead of at the ground near her feet. Over time she started to focus more on what her body was doing - so the emotional impulse do do a "snowplough" was gradually replaced by more effective movements.