Stefan Luitz beats Hirscher!

Stefan Luitz beats Hirscher!

Postby alex_aku » Wed Dec 05, 2018 9:37 am

Stefan Luitz won GS in Beaver Creek and brought back to Germany some skiing "Stolz"/pride.

Reilly had a go on analyzing Stefan's technique: https://youtu.be/dmmiCMZusYw


What do you think of Stefan's technique? I am not the one to judge WC-level skiers, but what I find striking is how wide his stance is (not what we learn in PMTS). But he seems to compensate for it by a very quick retraction.

Best
Alex
Last edited by alex_aku on Thu Dec 06, 2018 5:18 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Stefan Luitz beats Hirscher!

Postby BrettBPotter » Wed Dec 05, 2018 12:07 pm

These are just very gifted athletes with MILLIONSof turns under their belts. Clearly it wasn't luck! But I do hope a guy like JBotti or Max and hopefully HH will post on this as well!
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Re: Stefan Luitz beats Hirscher!

Postby Max_501 » Wed Dec 05, 2018 7:35 pm

Hirscher is the best GS skiers on the WC. When he doesn't win I look at his runs to see what happened.
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Re: Stefan Luitz beats Hirscher!

Postby jbotti » Thu Dec 06, 2018 3:56 pm

I had asked HH about the Beaver Creek GS after I watched it on Sunday. I was less curious about Luitz (who was a top 5 racer before his injury so at least for me not terribly surprising that he was on the podium and won even if he did beat the best GS skier in the world) and more curious about why Tumler's time held up so well and for so long. Here is what Harald wrote back:

"This is a really weird GS hill because it's the total outlier from almost every other GS on the circuit. The snow was very grabby not the standard boilerplate. You could see the skis dig in and react quickly to pressure. I'm guessing the last few turns before the flat made the difference. A slight error of over edging or edges too sharp can easily lose 1 second on that part of the course. I don't like that hill for GS."
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Re: Stefan Luitz beats Hirscher!

Postby jbotti » Fri Dec 07, 2018 1:35 pm

Well here's an interesting development. We will have to stay tuned to see what the final decision will be:

Luitz’s Beaver Creek Victory in Jeopardy After Use of Supplemental Oxygen Revealed
Germany’s Stefan Luitz is in danger of forfeiting his giant slalom victory from last week in Beaver Creek, Colorado, after it was revealed that he and other members of the German team took supplemental oxygen between runs of the GS race.

Confusion arose because supplemental oxygen is not banned by the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) as of January 1, 2018, but oxygen tanks are banned at race venues by the International Ski Federation (FIS). The German Ski Federation has admitted to administering oxygen in Beaver Creek, which has an elevation of 0ver 8,000 feet (2,500 meters), but claims they were under the impression that FIS had adopted the WADA rules. WADA rules allow inhaled supplemental oxygen but give ultimate authority to individual sport governing bodies like FIS.

“There was no protest after the Beaver Creek race,” FIS said in a statement on Friday. “The case has been forwarded to WADA, which is investigating. No decision yet. The Germans will be at the start of the giant slalom in Val d’Isère.”

Pending a final ruling from FIS and WADA, the fate of Luitz and his Beaver Creek victory is uncertain.
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Re: Stefan Luitz beats Hirscher!

Postby alex_aku » Mon Dec 10, 2018 2:23 am

Interesting development ...
But even if Stefan won due to the oxygen use, it certainly wasn't oxygen that made him ski with such a wide stance :wink: and a inside leg so much forward.
What do you think - how can he be so fast ?
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Re: Stefan Luitz beats Hirscher!

Postby Max_501 » Mon Dec 10, 2018 8:22 am

alex_aku wrote:What do you think - how can be so fast ?


Was it that he was fast or that Hirscher was slow? Jbott's post from HH has a good hint on where to look to get the answer.
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Re: Stefan Luitz beats Hirscher!

Postby alex_aku » Thu Dec 13, 2018 7:02 am

Here are both runs of Hirscher





I don't see any major mistake.
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Re: Stefan Luitz beats Hirscher!

Postby Max_501 » Fri Dec 14, 2018 7:56 am

alex_aku wrote:I don't see any major mistake.


HH said:

"This is a really weird GS hill because it's the total outlier from almost every other GS on the circuit. The snow was very grabby not the standard boilerplate. You could see the skis dig in and react quickly to pressure. I'm guessing the last few turns before the flat made the difference. A slight error of over edging or edges too sharp can easily lose 1 second on that part of the course. I don't like that hill for GS.
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Re: Stefan Luitz beats Hirscher!

Postby B.Mulligan » Fri Dec 14, 2018 1:47 pm

Is Beaver Creek a bad hill for Hirscher?? I'm not so sure, I mean he's won GS there three times-including last year, and he's even won a super G there.

I hope Luitz's victory holds up, any wins head to head in GS against Hirscher in this era are quite a feather in your cap.
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Re: Stefan Luitz beats Hirscher!

Postby HeluvaSkier » Fri Dec 14, 2018 2:55 pm

B.Mulligan wrote:I hope Luitz's victory holds up


Looks like it will not. FIS announced today they plan to strip the victory.
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Re: Stefan Luitz beats Hirscher!

Postby Max_501 » Sat Dec 15, 2018 12:07 am

B.Mulligan wrote:Is Beaver Creek a bad hill for Hirscher??


HH said he doesn't like it for WC GS races, he didn't say anything about it being a bad hill for Hirscher.
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Re: Stefan Luitz beats Hirscher!

Postby dj_61 » Sun Dec 16, 2018 12:14 pm

Looks like Luitz will be disqualified. So, probably just another Hirsscher victory. He looks unbeatable this season.
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Re: Stefan Luitz beats Hirscher!

Postby h.harb » Tue Dec 18, 2018 4:25 pm

Nice discussion. Luitz is perfect of this hill, he's long legged and powerful. He can't ski this way at Val d'Isere or Alta Badia. He also can't ski slalom, he has the Legity syndrome, tighter turns on steep hills don't suit him. Hirscher in my opinion over skied the hill. This means he made the turns harder than they were because he was bending the ski and trying to get a high energy rebound. Sure he can do this better than anyone, however, this hill isn't suited for that approach. The set is farther apart and the hill has many flat spots, so you have to let the ski run out more. Too tight to the gate and using a short round arc around the gates is how Hirscher wins most GS races. Beaver Creek isn't suited for that kind of skiing. Hirscher can win anywhere; however, he has to back off slightly and let the skis run out with less hook at the bottom for this hill. He looked slightly over hyped up as well. It's obvious he has found his stride now winning the last three GS events.
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