AUDI Wind Tunnel for Alpine Skiers - Audi FIS Ski World Cup 2012 - Behind the Scenes - Mens & Womens

There are many factors defining a perfect speed run, and if the athletes' technique, the wax on their skis and the choice of the perfect line are often deciding factors for if a race is won or lost aerodynamics plays an extremely important role as well. When you are clicked into a pair of over two meters long skis, wearing a thin spandex suit and a helmet trying to ski down a mountain at speeds higher than 130 km/h, it is important that no hundreds are lost because of the wrong position of the body. Therefore, through the summer various teams include a trip to the Audi wind tunnel in their schedules. The modern facility, designed originally to serve as an aerodynamics testing facility for cars, serves as the perfect venue for the athletes to work on that perfect tuck. The wind tunnel provides the ideal controlled environment where they can work on finding that perfect downhill and super-G positions without the outdoors factors influencing the results. Here they can learn how much impact on their aerodynamics, and consequently on their speed every change in their position has and try to memorize the most effective ones in order to replicate them in the races. Audi, official sponsor of the FIS Alpine Ski World Cup, has been providing a wind tunnel for the athletes to train and get used to the extreme speed they reach during the races. French skier Johan Clarey reached the impressive speed of 161,8 km per hour during the Wengen race this year. His position had to be perfect in order to reach such a high speed. The wind tunnel gives the skiers the ability to test different suits, body positions and analyse everything on a dedicated system provided by Audi. DESCRIPTION: The FIS Alpine Ski World Cup is the top international circuit of Alpine Skiing competitions staged annually. It is considered the premier competition in alpine ski racing together with the quadrennial Olympic Winter Games and the biennial FIS Alpine World Ski Championships. Some experts event consider winning the World Cup to be athletically a more valuable title than winning gold at the Olympic Winter Games or the World Championships, since it requires a competitor to ski at an extremely high level in several events throughout the season, and not just in one race. Today, the FIS Alpine Ski World Cup races are held primarily at famous ski resorts in the European Alps, along with regular stops in Scandinavia, North America, and Far East Asia. Competitors attempt to score a maximum of points during the season in five events: slalom, giant slalom, super-G, downhill and super combined. The fifth event, super-combined, was introduced in 2005 and generally consists of a shorter downhill race and a one-run slalom. Sometimes the downhill is replaced by a super-G. Alpine was added to the Olympic winter schedule in 1936. For further information about FIS Alpine visit: http://www.fisalpine.com/ Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fisalpine Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/fisalpine FIS: As the governing body of international skiing and snowboarding, FIS manages the Olympic disciplines of Alpine Skiing, Cross-Country Skiing, Ski Jumping, Nordic Combined, Freestyle Skiing and Snowboarding, including setting the international competition rules. Through its 116 member nations, more than 6'500 FIS ski and snowboard competitions are staged annually.