jimbo wrote:

Why are the new skis faster?

If you could figure this out definitively, you'd have a new career.

Manufacturers make dozens of race skis to each racer's specs, as
identical as they can, but the supposed identical skis still are
different. The whole suite of "identical" skis are taken out for speed
trials to find the fastest matched pairs, which then end up in a World
Cup racer's quiver where the technician pronounces incantations and
passes precious ointments over the base and strokes the edges with holy
tools, and there are STILL differences in speed between "identical" pairs.