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slalom

 

Skier competing in the slalom.
(click to enlarge)
Skier competing in the slalom. (credit: Fabrice Coffrini — AFP/Getty Images)
Alpine skiing event in which competitors race one at a time down a zigzag or wavy course past a series of flags or markers called gates. The course is carefully designed to test the skier's skill, timing, and judgment. A skier who misses a gate is disqualified unless he or she returns and passes through it from the proper side. Men's events use 55 – 75 gates, women's 45 – 65. The giant slalom has characteristics of both slalom and downhill skiing; giant-slalom gates are wider and set farther apart, and the course is longer than in the slalom. The supergiant slalom ("super-G") is closer to downhill; its course is steeper and straighter than that of the other slalom events and features longer, more sweeping turns taken at higher speed.

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Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more