Monique Y. Herman wrote:

Anyway, historically, I've been bad at making short, tight turns. This
means that on smooth runs, I'd make long, slolomy turns that did nothing
to slow me down.

Presumably you meant "Giant Slalomy" turns?
"Slolomy" (sic) turns ARE short, tight turns.

(The order is:
Slalom - tight, quick turns
Giant Slalom - moderate turns, at speed
Super G - very high speed, very broad turns
Downhill - no turns, just guide gates to go from this near cliff to the
next near cliff; repeat.)

In any case, Giant Slalom turns can slow you down just as much as any
turn, IF there's sufficient room on the slope - just hold the carve
until you've lost sufficient speed, even to the point of carving uphill
a bit.