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To straddle or straddling a gate in skiing means a certain mistake where the inside ski passes the wrong side of the gate pole and as a result the pole slides between inside and outside ski. Mistakes like that are especially common in alpine ski racing, but can also appear in other sports like ski cross or snowboarding.

Rules[edit]

According to rule 661.4 of the international ski competion rules (ICR)

Famous examples[edit]

In January 2012 several supposed straddles by Marcel Hirscher in the FIS Alpine Ski World Cup caused a controversy. After actually straddling a gate in the Wengen and Kitzbühel slaloms without noticing, rumours spread that he might have also straddled the first gates during his victory runs in Zagreb and Adelboden. His rival and contender for the overall world cup Ivica Kostelić was infuriated by that. After hours of video analysis Hirscher and his mate Felix Neureuther who also was accused of straddling in the Zagreb race could be acquitted from the allegations. What was dubbed "Einfädler-Affäre" ("straddling affair") by Austrian media was settled by a public handshake between Hirscher/Neureuther and Kostelić before the slalom night race in Schladming.^[1] From that on Hirscher used special fixtures for his ski tops that shall reduce the straddling risk while skiing through the gates the narrowest line possible.

Possibly race-deciding straddles during important races ocurred to Bode Miller and Benjamin Raich whilst competing for the Olympic gold medal at the alpine combined in Torino 2006^[2] or Marcel Hirscher in the world championship slalom in Beaver Creek 2015. Stefan Luitz straddled the final gate of the first run during the Olympic giant slalom in Sochi 2014 just before crossing the finish line and setting the second best intermediate time.^[3]

References[edit]

^ "Versöhnung in Schladming" (in German). ORF. 2012-12-25. Retrieved 2019-12-17.
^ "Alpine Skiing: Miller disqualified from combined event". The New York Times. 2006-02-14. Retrieved 2019-12-17.
^ Jens Hungermann (2014-02-19). "Drama um deutschen Youngster kurz vor dem Ziel" (in German). Die Welt. Retrieved 2019-12-17.

[1] "Versöhnung in Schladming" (in German). ORF. 2012-12-25. Retrieved 2019-12-17.

[2] "Alpine Skiing: Miller disqualified from combined event". The New York Times. 2006-02-14. Retrieved 2019-12-17.

[3] Jens Hungermann (2014-02-19). "Drama um deutschen Youngster kurz vor dem Ziel" (in German). Die Welt. Retrieved 2019-12-17.

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