Monday, January 23, 2017

Deliver us from pre-release?

Kitzbühel's Streif is the most difficult downhill course in the world and on Saturday, as we watched it, I followed with particular interest what happened to Max Franz, an Austrian racer who lost a ski for no apparent reason and managed to save himself, if not a podium.

Well after the race, being the binding expert as I used to be, I observed slo-mo videos and could see that while the ski was pumelled by the wavy, hard snow, it's not the toe piece (Atomic branded Salomon) that gave way, but rather the heel piece that seemed to release sideway (like a Knee binding would), letting Franz's right boot escape.
What happened? I would suspect that the forward pressure springs broke or were weakened or that the heel piece wasn't properly adjusted to the boot length. Hopefully, someone will figure out!

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