Skiing is one of the most common winter sports that includes cross-country skiing, ski jumping, Nordic combined (jumping and racing), descend from the mountains on a special track - slalom, giant slalom and downhill, biathlon (the race with rifle shooting). Ski flights, speed downhill on a special direct route are also developed as a type of skiing.

Skiing involves cross-country skiing, fly-country skiing, downhill, biathlon, ski orienteering. Alpine skiing is put in a separate section.

Race is the most widespread type of ski. They are arranged in a rough terrain on a specially prepared trails, distances from 500 meters to 80 miles - depending on age and sex of participants; classic - international distance: for men. The driver must have power and speed endurance, master ski equipment moves, climbs, descents, cornering, braking and be able to use it depending on the terrain, conditions of sliding.

What does it take to become a champion in skiing, go to the Olympics and get a chance to become the best in the world?

If the answer to this question was simple, skiing would not be what it is - sports, which requires enormous stamina. An athlete is required a unique combination of physical abilities, many years of training, transforming the abilities into a powerful sports “engine”, almost perfect technique, the world’s best equipment, support groups, good luck and respect for the two psychological rules. The first rule is called a “killer’s instinct”. It causes an athlete to train in the face of such an awesome job, as fighting for the title of world’s first champion, almost superhuman will, courage and determination to break forward as long as necessary to reach the end of brutal Olympic race. The second rule - “spiritual balance.” Reaching the pedestal of victory is not easy, and on this path it is necessary to overcome many psychological barriers. There will be injuries and setbacks, disappointments, and temptation to deviate from training schedule or overtraining, not allowing the body fully recover. All of these obstacles require an athlete’s psychological and emotional stability, which will not allow him leaving the path to victory.

To be born with a big heart and lungs
First of all, you all need to have appropriate physical data. In fact, skiers are very different. Unlike other sports, where winners outwardly resemble each other, the height of ski sports champions ranges from 1.68 to 2 meters. You may have noticed that skiers, compared to other athletes, are thin, but it is not so. An average skier weighs more than a runner, but less than a rower. However, what is really important for the skier, is inside.

Inside the skier - the biggest sports “engine” in the world. The bigger is only in a thoroughbred race-horse champion. Engine power depends on an athlete’s ability to saturate the body with oxygen muscles need to convert glucose into energy. Therefore, skiers need big lungs and a similarly large and powerful heart. To some extent, in order to be born with outstanding data, the one should be “lucky” with genes. However, Champions are special people, not only because such a small percentage of population has genetic advantages, but also because even among those few, only a small part can make all training and have necessary mental attitude to achieve success.

Thrust exercise
What the nature gave you means nothing without long years of hard training. You’ll never find a young champion in skiing. To acquire endurance needed to stay on track, the one takes years. The average age of champion - from 27 to 29, and sometimes even up to 35 years. This fact can be explained by the fact that heart is a muscle that becomes stronger only after training. Skier’s heart can pump 40 liters of blood per minute - in a single hit it emits more than 200 ml of blood, chasing it through the body. Skiers train up to 30 hours per week!

Above all, exercise gives you time to hone various skiing techniques. During the race we have to use different techniques: ridge swing, classical and two-support, and an athlete must not only have a perfect knowledge of them, but also know the situation they should be applied in. None of skiing techniques can be called easy, they all require an ideal precision of movements, which takes years of learning. By the time when skiers “ripe” for participation in the Olympics, the difference in effectiveness of different techniques is only 5-7%.

Best ski outfit
Outfit of champion, no doubt, should be the best in the world. Most of the results of ski competitions improved due to improved equipment in the past 30 years. Improvement means better weight deflection of skis, improving sliding surfaces of skis and the quality of lubricant. Correct weight deflection makes it possible to evenly distribute weight along the length of an athlete skis. Optimal weight distribution of an athlete - is a fine art, and the one should take into account the state of snow and skiing technique. Sliding surface of modern skis is done with small cavities. This eliminates adhesion of water film which skis move on. Finally, lubrication - chemical coating of skis - a combination of science and experience, giving the champion a magical opportunity to slide on the snow surface perfectly.

Great Team
Ability to have good equipment at the right time is directly dependent on the ability to advocate for a good team. A good team attracts sponsors - equipment manufacturers, supplying the latest, practically art models, which can greatly help a champion. Moreover, a good team always has a system whereby each member is provided with a set of skis and grease, relevant to weather conditions on the day of race. This task is performed by a number of technicians “greasers” and skiers that left the pedestal, inspecting skis and lubrication at the time as athletes are resting.

Features
Features play an important role on the path to victory. You have more chances to become a champion, coming from remote area, where skis were a part of your growth and education. Living in such places instills a love for fresh air and hard physical labor, forcing a champion to go out for a daily workout at any temperature.

Killer’s Instinct
Now to the final components. Therein lies the difference between the Champions acting at the Olympics, and very good athletes who do not participate in the Games. A real champion has a fighter’s spirit, which can not be overcome. One of the greatest skiers of all times Björn Dali’s motto: “I always try 100%.” He described his desire to succeed in his book “The Hunt for the gold. He compares the fight for the championship title with the rise of the stairs. According to his philosophy, “there are no limits for those who really want to succeed.” Bjorn believes in order to continue climbing the stairs, it is necessary to have willpower and desire to succeed. The whole world’s talent is nothing compared to the iron will. Twenty-year old Dali climbed the hill near his home in Norway, making a five-minute breaks between the rise. Weather conditions did not matter for him - if it’s dark or cold or rainy. Each interval required such difficulty that after overcoming the next step, he fell from exhaustion. After lying a few seconds, he went down again to begin a new rise. He repeated it again and again. Will-power and desire to become the best controlled his workouts. He believes it’s not enough simply to be a leader in the weekly standings and dream of title - a strong and constant desire to achieve this title should replace a dream.

Spiritual balance
So, let’s get to the last component. Will-power and desire can drive one crazy, is not it? Yes they can, and here it is the necessary to train the mind. Along with the desire to achieve success in physical sense, that is to become the fastest skier, a potential champion has to focus on relation of body and mind. He must find a balance between too easy and too heavy workouts. To find the “golden mean”, you need to learn listening to the body and controling mind, work with the body and mind together, send them to achieve a peak shape, and stay at that peak. This is not an easy task only some people reach perfection in, which gives them an opportunity to show their potential. Without this, they are ill, injured, reach peak too fast or do not reach it at all, or simply cease training. Dali was an absolute master in how much and how long to load the body during exercise.