Much more than a simple skiing technique, telemark skiing is a harmonious dance between man and mountain, a communion with nature that liberates the soul and lifts the spirit to unsuspected heights.
All you need to know about the discipline and the tests
Telemark competitions are a compendium of alpine and Nordic, downhill and uphill. Indeed, a telemark competition is a giant slalom, a jump, a “loom” (360″ banked turn), and a skating part. All these elements follow on from each other. The telemark position, inner leg bent with less than one boot length between the 2 feet, must be respected at every turn in the giant slalom, just as it is for the jump landing. Penalties in seconds are added to the timed time if the position is incorrect. A one-second penalty per gate can weigh heavily at the finish.
Three disciplines exist in telemark competitions: the classic, the classic sprint and the parallel-sprint. The classic is the most physically demanding of the three: it consists of a single run lasting several minutes. The more explosive classic sprint consists of 2 runs of around 1 minute each. Finally, the parallel sprint is a confrontation of 2 athletes on 2 parallel giant slalom courses, with springboard, before arriving on a loom (banked turn) and a common skating section, where the first to cross the finish line qualifies for the next round. This is the most spectacular event
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