Former Italian Alpine skiier Kristian Ghedina, (he was Italy’s top Skiing World Cup competitior, with thirteen wins), believes that modern skis are responsible for the current spate of high profile competition crashes. Writing for Eurosport, the columnist points to the injuries sustained by John Kucera, TJ Lannng and Deinise Karbon to back up his belief.

The problem, Ghedina believes, is the deep sidecut. The on-snow result of this evolution is a dramatic increase in the turning speed, allowing much shorter turns. This can have the effect of increased instability; I’m sure it’s not in the realms of the Stealth bomber’s inherent built-in instability, but it does make me wonder! He’s calling for a poll of competitors to consider a slightly backward step, with competition skis having slightly less sidecut.

Watch British Eurosport this weekend to see if Ghedina’s right; it’s the Alpine Skiing World Cup in Val d’Isere. The somewhat scary Bellevarde Face is the slope you need to get to if you’re in the area, to see the Super Combined (from 10:00 local time) and the Super Giant Slalom. The Women’s races start on Thursday, the 18th.

• Men’s Downhill Combined – Friday 9am LIVE
• Men’s Slalom Combined – Friday 2.45pm
• Men’s Giant Slalom 1st Run – Sunday 9.15am LIVE
• Men’s Giant Slalom 2nd Run – Sunday 12.15pm LIVE