My take on skicross

This morning, I watched the first skicross world cup ever run in North America at nearby Deer Valley Resort. The competition, won by the Canadian David Barr in men and the French racer Ophélie David in women was interesting, but definitely not captivating and didn't look either serious or promising. For one thing, the start appeared to determine the outcome and once a racer took the lead, there seemed to be no way for the other three to dislodge the leader. The course should be wider or encompass certain terrain variations to make passing or shortcutting possible - with added risk of course - in order to spice-up the whole event. In fact, the present product looks more like a “show” and is a poor rendition of what a real competition ought to be. In my view, skicross is a significant notch below the old dual pro race format. This event that blends-in well at roller-derby-inspired events like the X-Games is made for television as it shows visual superiority between participants quite clearly, but is likely to remain another “orphan” of ski competition unless the field of competitors gets bigger names, the sport gains wider participation, the media gets serious about it and its course is fundamentally redesigned or re-engineered. In addition, resorts must start building good courses to validate the whole concept and develop interest for it. In summary, a brave attempt, but we’re not there yet!