Holes in your skis? Fischer is on to something fast

By Marina Knight

They say history repeats itself, so when Fischer skis debuted a new slalom ski, featuring a hole in the tip and a semicircle cut in the tail, old-school racers may have recognized the technology as a new twist on an old idea.

Decades ago, from 1975 to 1985, Fischer produced downhill skis with a similar goal: to absorb more vibration and ski quicker edge-to-edge.

A few weeks ago at Kitzbühel, Fischer’s new hole-in-the-tip skis made their full debut on the World Cup, only this time in slalom. Since then, Fischer racers have had seven podium finishes with the new hole ski in five World Cup races.

Mario Matt started the ball rolling with third place in the slalom in Kitzbühel. Other Fischer athletes such as Ivica Kostelic, Manfred Moelgg, Rainer Schoenfelder and Julien Lizeroux have seen markedly better results and have started to climb toward the top of the slalom rankings.




In the most recent race, a super combined at Val d’Isere, there were three Fischer athletes in the top five and Kostelic posted the fastest slalom run. In Chamonix, Fischer had two athletes on the podium — Kostelic and Schoenfelder.

Armed with the new hole skis, Frenchman Lizeroux posted the fastest slalom run, and finished fifth. Austrian Romed Baumann was eighth.

“We think there is definitely something to it,” U.S. Race Director Mike Day said in an interview this week. “Those guys are skiing better and seeing better results than they have in a while on the new skis.”

The primary function, Day said, is for the two shapes to work together. Overall, the construction has been tested to reduce vibration by 25 percent, which means a racer can maintain better edge contact with the snow — or ice, as is the case on most World Cup tracks.

The second function is to reduce weight from the skis’ extremities, making them quicker in transition and providing better edge grip.

“The idea comes from downhill skis Fischer made in the ’70s. Obviously, research and development has advanced the science,” Day said.

Recently, Fischer has been pushing development of a complete package, including skis, boots, bindings and plates. Its athletes use all four products, which allows the company to control performance and make changes without being hamstrung by other partners.

“We’re excited that we are staying progressive and ahead of the game, and that the new product is working so well,” Day said.

Keep your eye out for the hole to appear in other disciplines, too. Day said athletes are testing prototypes of hole skis in giant slalom, and they will appear on the World Cup soon.

Other notes of note
• Bode Miller won his 30th race, taking the super combined at Val d’Isere. Miller had a 1.37-second advantage going into the slalom run and managed to hang on for the win, which also gave him the crystal globe in the discipline for the season.
• Former slalom world champion Kalle Palander of Finland had to call it a season after an operation for a stress fracture on Monday.
Palander hurt himself at a FIS race in Westendorf last month and the extent of the injury was only diagnosed recently.