Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Email
Answers.com

slalom

 
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: slalom
Home > Library > Miscellaneous > Britannica Concise Encyclopedia

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.

For more information on slalom, visit Britannica.com.

Search unanswered questions...

Enter a question here...
Search: All sources Community Q&A Reference topics

Shopping: slalom
Top
hockey slalom
 
 

 

Copyrights:

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