Parallel: What it is, what it isn’t, and what happens when you put it in November?

What it is

Today, in the world of alpine skiing, parallel means parallel giant slalom. Equipment regulations are exactly the same as those that govern standard giant slalom: GS skis only. Distances between the gates, however, are significantly shorter — 16 and 20 meters. The average distance in a regular GS is in the high 26-29 meter range, so it’s a bit tighter. There is a qualifying round, which is open to the same skiers that would qualify to compete in any World Cup discipline. Sixteen racers qualify to compete in a head-to-head format. Each heat consists of a run-rerun format, switching courses for the second run of the heat.  

What it isn’t

Gone is the City Event, which was by invitation only. Thus, absent was the qualifying round. These were all contested with slalom distances between gates and with slalom equipment. Also, gone is parallel slalom, which was similar in appearance to the City Event, but was held on longer courses and often with single-elimination heats, meaning they did not switch courses.

Prognosticator’s warning

If you’re the wagering type, forget everything you thought you knew about parallel when it was slalom. Tall skiers, particularly among the male ranks, dominated. The six-foot, six-inch Ramon Zenhaeusern could topple the panels with ease, each hand punching the two gates holding the panel that people of his stature could more easily see over. His long legs reached around the gate leaving his towering upper body in the perfect position to plow through the panels. 

He and tall slalom specialists like him simply don’t factor in parallel GS, where the ideal build favors the compact. With the double block rendered ineffective in GS, skiers go around — not through — the panel. With only moderate offset and a simpler course set, the shorter-legged can ski a shorter path. There will always be exceptions, but in looking for a rule, past World Cup “parallel” successes will send you off course. 

The men have competed in only one parallel GS each year since it was put on the calendar in Alta Badia, Italy in 2015. In that time, course-setting has evolved from dead straight – favoring big skiers with big starts – to bigger turns favoring the smaller, more typical GS physique and technique. 

In 2020, an additional men’s and women’s parallel GS was added but used a single-run format, which was roundly criticized for being unfair … because it was. Last year, the Lech parallel GS was added to the program and went off without a hitch. Good courses, fair format, exciting racing.

Problems that persist

Max deficit rule of 0.5 seconds remains:  If you watched the parallel event at the world championship in Cortina, Italy last year, you were made aware that the discipline still has some failings, which remain unresolved. 

The chief culprit of the issue was the half-second maximum deficit rule: A skier who skis out or falls well behind their opponent in the first run of a heat is given a maximum deficit of 0.5 seconds. In the second round, that skier’s horse-gate then opens exactly 0.5 seconds after his or her opponent. First person to cross the finish wins. 

The shortcoming of this rule emerges when the difference between the two courses averages out to be greater than 0.5 seconds. Because there is no “cap” to the time skiers can put on their opponent in the second run, the skier who starts the heat on the slower course has a major advantage. 

It became very clear in Cortina that one course was far slower than the other. Skiers on the slower course routinely found themselves more than 0.5 seconds behind their opponent, but still enjoyed only a half-second deficit. Then, in every case, those skiers made up the 0.5-second deficit and then some on the faster course and won. It was an unmitigated debacle. 

Meanwhile, the solutions have long been in place. In sports like parallel snowboard, which has used the parallel format for well over a decade, the rules mandate a course reset when the average of the top-six times in qualifying show a disparity between courses greater than 0.75% of the total time. In Cortina, that disparity was more than three times the threshold in snowboard. Snowboard rules even reserve the option to reset before the final round. What’s more, this has led to such consistent course setting that they use a single-run format and no one cries foul. 

On the World Pro Ski Tour in the U.S., they use a 3% rule. The deficit is defined as 3% of the number of direction changes, thus more accurately reflecting the conditions at hand. A 20-turn GS, like in Cortina for example, would amount to 0.6 seconds. Also, on the Pro Tour, an athlete representative holds a position on the jury and has the deciding vote on whether to continue racing in the existing conditions or to adjust before continuing; that’s the ultimate difference. 

They’re the ones doing it, they’re the ones who know, says World Pro Ski Tour CEO Jon Franklin. “The Tour doesn’t succeed unless the athletes succeed.”

Overcrowded calendar

There is no turning a blind eye to the world-class snub Lech will receive this weekend, the likes of which I’ve never seen at the World Cup level. 

Three of the most recent female overall World Cup title winners are passing: Federica Brignone, Petra Vhlova and Mikaela Shiffrin. Shiffrin, back issues notwithstanding, never intended to participate, and if it remains on the calendar in the middle of the preparation season, I doubt she ever will. 

For anyone who skis speed, they wind up training in North America. Lech adds an overseas trip for a single race, followed days later by a trip to the Arctic for the weekend, then back to North America, all the while trying to prepare for the five different disciplines calendared over this next month. 

Even those who specialize largely in giant slalom have passed, such as Tessa Worley (bronze in Cortina parallel) and Alice Robinson, both opting to train. 

For the men, overall title runner-up Marco Odermatt is passing, along with his Swiss teammates, Loic Meillard and Justin Murisier. All are currently stateside preparing for the North American speed races. Norwegian parallel stalwart Sebastian Foss-Solevaag is also passing, as are his teammates Alexander Aamodt Kilde (2020 overall title winner) and Lucas Braathen (World Cup GS winner) who are opting to use the time to prepare rather than race as they return from injury. Without exception they’re all capable of top placing in parallel.

Some perspective

In the inaugural year of the World Cup culminating in 1967, there were 17 races that ran from January to the end of March. By 1971, that number jumped modestly to 23 for the women and 24 for the men. A decade later, the year before super G became a discipline, there were 29 women’s and 32 men’s races not including combined, which was ultimately a paper race rather than a separate race on a separate day. By then, the season had crept into early December.

The 1991 season kicked off in a novel manner with Mt. Hutt, New Zealand hosting the opener in August, but racing didn’t resume until mid-December. Still, the tally reached only 28 races for both men and women. 

Enter the era of October glacier races, and “more” is the mentality. In 2001 there were 33 races. By 2011 that number hit 38. Keep in mind these are all world championship seasons, so do not include those starts. In the ‘70s and ‘80s, that meant an additional slalom, GS, downhill and combined. By the 90s, super G was added. By 2011 there was also a team parallel event. In 2022 there are 38 races on the World Cup calendar and an additional seven events on the Olympic program with individual and team parallel. 

That’s a whopping 45 potential starts with another 20 days of travel between them.

I love the parallel, and so do most of the athletes I speak with, and Lech does it as well as anyone. In a sport that has a history of showing its stars for two-to-three minutes over the course of a six-hour day, the parallel offers upwards of 10 chances to watch your favorite do his or her thing. 

Every heat is consequential; the program is packed from start to finish with very few lulls like the two-hour halftime featured in tech events. It’s got a lot of draw for would-be or could-be fans. But when the calendar gets more and more packed every year, everything suffers — and unfortunately, Lech 2021 will be Exhibit A. 

Women’s preview 

There’s hardly an extensive body of knowledge for the bookies to set the odds for the upcoming women’s parallel GS this Saturday in Lech/Zuers. There was the one held last year at the same venue, a fair and riveting contest, and that’s about it. There have been a few others over the last few years, but the outcome — due either to format issues or irregular conditions — made the results somewhat inconclusive. 

Still, when you parse through it, it is hard not to wind up with American Paula Moltzan as a favorite, if not, the favorite coming into the weekend. Not that she would cop to it. 

“I don’t really see it like that,” she said. “I know I can be fast in training. But so many other girls have been working so hard over the summer. Parallel is a discipline where you really can’t count your chickens before they hatch.”

If she doesn’t see it that way this year, one can only imagine what was going through her head last year where the entirely unbilled skier nearly won. First, she dispensed with Italy’s Marta Bassino, who went on to win both the giant slalom title and the world championship parallel last year. The next round she cruised past Switzerland’s Lara Gut-Behrami, winning both runs. In the final, Moltzan looked to have closed her run-one deficit over last year’s overall title winner Petra Vhlova just before crashing in sight of the finish, landing her in a spectacular second. 

Each of Moltzan’s wins was followed by a look of disbelief. Each interview with the bright and articulate skier revealed only a smattering of syllables followed by smiles. 

“Every time I came across the line I couldn’t believe it,” Moltzan recalled. “I think every skier carries this self-doubt. I knew I was fast, but until you compete and start beating the best you don’t really know.” 

She went on to finish fourth at the world championship parallel. That was dictated more by course selection than performance. The co-winners included Bassino and Austria’s Katharina Liensberger, who did not advance past the first round that year in Lech. The bronze medalist, Tessa Worley, this year joins a long list of marquee skiers who will not attend the race in Lech primarily due to its timing. 

It sits smack dab in the preparation season with a busy month of races ahead in four different disciplines. So we won’t see Mikaela Shiffrin, Petra Vlhova, Federica Brignone (ITA), Alice Robinson (NZE), Sofia Goggia (ITA) nor Michelle Gisin (SUI). 

Austria will field it’s best including the world champion Liensberger and her ever-improving teammate Stephanie Brunner. Recently the U.S. was hosted by the Austrian Team at their exclusive parallel training venue just outside of Innsbruck. 

According to U.S. coach Magnus Andersen, they looked fast, but so did his team. That will include Nina O’Brien, who, unbeknownst to the world, had shattered her thumb the day before the race last year. 

“She’s the toughest person we know,” said Moltzan. “She just told us, ‘Oh it hurts a little,’ but you know, your hands are kind of important in the start in parallel,” Moltzan said.  

It was later revealed O’Brien required surgery with a metal plate, six screws and another five pins. As of this writing, she’s healthy and fast. 

Teammate AJ Hurt, fresh off her career-best giant slalom in Soelden (20th) is known as a racehorse who thrives under the pressure of race day. A taller athlete, she still has some work to adjust to a more compact style that is so effective in parallel, says Andersen. “But she has a very fast start.” 

It’s not impossible that the U.S. women could maintain their lead in the Nations Cup standings after the weekend. While that might be fleeting, it’s also not a bad place to start the year. 

If Moltzan is a favorite based sheerly in her speed and power in this format, Lara Gut-Behrami could be a favorite based only on her sheer experience under pressure. The tenacious and consistent Swiss got better and better through the 2021 season and was only narrowly beaten by Shiffrin in the opening GS. Parallel may not be her forte, but it is hardly a weakness. 

Sweden and Norway are always tough in any head-to-head format. They finished first and second in the team parallel in Cortina, and while they may lack stars currently, they often perform like them. Given how many are absent this weekend, it could be rife with surprises. Slovenia is poised for that role. They put three racers in the top 30 in the opening GS led by Meta Hrovat in sixth. 

Men’s preview

France’s Alexis Pinturault will look to defend his parallel title in Lech from last year and get a jump on the overall title race. His odds of success are bolstered significantly by the simple fact that he is going. 

His chief rival in the overall, Switzerland’s Marco Odermatt, is not, choosing instead to continue his speed training for the upcoming races in North America. Even his Swiss teammate, Loic Meillard, who has proven to be one of the fastest in the world in the parallel, is passing as well along with Justin Murisier. 

All have been critical of the FIS in that they have not acted on the agreed-to rule changes after the debacle in Cortina 2021. Both Murisier and Meillard intend to add more super G races to their program this year, and chose to stay in the U.S. to train for the upcoming races in North America. 

Injury has also impacted those who will make the start. In all, only five of the top-15 finishers in the opening GS will make the start in Lech, most injured or nursing their way back to health and opting to train. 

Austria’s Roland Leitinger, second in the opening GS, has torn his ACL and is out for the season. World GS and parallel champion Mathieu Faivre strained his ankle and will sit out.

Days later, American River Radamus suffered a knee strain and must pass on Lech. Radamus has shown great aptitude for parallel in the past. Combined with his sixth-place in the opening GS, the U.S. loses a contender for the late rounds. 

“It’s a bummer because he had been ripping in training,” said Ian Garner, head men’s tech coach. Garner won’t be sending any other Americans, such as Ryan Cochran-Siegle, Bridger Gile, Luke Winters or Jett Seymour. “It just doesn’t make sense to go all that way for those guys for one race and interrupt our training. I like the event, it’s just in a bad place on the calendar.”

That is not to say the rounds won’t be heated. The men’s field is deep, and though he has not been a fan of the event over the years, Norwegian Henrik Kristoffersen has started to make friends with the dual formal, finishing second last year in Lech behind Pinturault. 

In general, all Norwegians seem to ski above their level in parallel. But what has become true of men’s giant slalom can also be said of parallel: Many teams have someone with a chance at the podium. 

In the opening GS in Soelden, the top-10 was occupied by nine different nations. Croatia will lean on the compact and dynamic fire of Filip Zubcic. Slovenia has artisan Zan Kranjec. Austria, despite the recent spate of injuries, has Adrian Pertl who just missed the podium last year. 

Though the Swiss look like they’re coming with their B team: five-foot, eight-inch Semyel Bissig and Gino Caviezel have the ideal physique and technique for parallel. Last year, they went fifth and sixth. 

Germany didn’t look so good in the opening GS, but if they have a best event over the years, it might just be parallel. Italy has Luca De Aliprandini and Simon Maurberger. Canada has the silky-smooth Erik Read. 

Yes, there are many contenders, and the horse gates have never been more wide open than they will be for Lech 2021.