FIS Interval Start custom

In an interval start race, competitors are required to start within
+/- 3 seconds of their start time, as shown on the start clock. When
exactly the skier starts within this time frame is independent of their
actual recorded start time, which is determined by their leg pushing the
wand. From watching WC videos, the clock is never visible to viewers;
all we hear is the tick down. I'm wondering if at the WC level, is
there any custom to when skiers start; i.e., do they typically wait
until the zero, or just take off when they want once the 3-second count
is hit?

What got me thinking about this and looking up the rule was a practice
run we did yesterday for up-coming SuperTour races. The starter
would count down from five, in accord with the clock, while having a
hand on the each skier's shoulder until the three second mark. It
struck me as inherently distracting or confusing to the (nervous) skier
to not have the two in sync. But that aside, I had always assumed from
the audible ticks on the WC videos that skiers started just like Tour de
France riders do, at 0. That doesn't seem to be case.

Gene

On Nov 16, 8:20*pm, wrote:

In an interval start race, competitors are required to start within
+/- 3 seconds of their start time, as shown on the start clock. *When
exactly the skier starts within this time frame is independent of their
actual recorded start time, which is determined by their leg pushing the
wand. *From watching WC videos, the clock is never visible to viewers;
all we hear is the tick down. *I'm wondering if at the WC level, is
there any custom to when skiers start; i.e., do they typically wait
until the zero, or just take off when they want once the 3-second count
is hit?

We usually also hear the countdown (from five to one, IIRC) and the
starting command ("Go!", "Los!" or sometimes "Allez!") by the starting
official.

Although a competitor may start three seconds before or after his
official start time, I have the impression that the vast majority of
skiers follow the starter's countdown to the letter. In fact, I only
learned of the rule when a skier who was for some reason late hurried
to the start but missed the electronic signal by a good two seconds
and the commentators pointed out that she didn't have to win those
seconds back (and that there would be no purpose in trying to win half
a second by stealing away).

We could speculate that in some cases a competitor could deliberately
start early in order to better catch the skier in front of him, but I
think it's rather far-fetched. The rule simply makes the start less
tense for the competitors and prevents accidental false starts.


What got me thinking about this and looking up the rule was a practice
run we did yesterday for up-coming SuperTour races. *The starter
would count down from five, in accord with the clock, while having a
hand on the each skier's shoulder until the three second mark. It
struck me as inherently distracting or confusing to the (nervous) skier
to not have the two in sync. *But that aside, I had always assumed from
the audible ticks on the WC videos that skiers started just like Tour de
France riders do, at 0. *That doesn't seem to be case.

The starter's behavior strikes me as a bit odd. I cannot say I've ever
kept an eye for that specific detail, and I could be completely wrong
here, but I believe that in WC races (and the national races I've
seen) the starter does not remove his hand from the skier's shoulder
until the starting command (which can sometimes be accompanied by a
friendly sort of not quite push).


Anders

In looking at videos of a few interval starts last season, I didn't see
any where the hand was on the shoulder. Have you seen that? Since I
raised it, perhaps I have it confused with the cycling, such as the
Tour de France, where the hand is there and the zero count starts the
time.

Gene


On Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:53:57 -0800 (PST)
Anders wrote:

What got me thinking about this and looking up the rule was a
practice run we did yesterday for up-coming SuperTour races. *The
starter would count down from five, in accord with the clock, while
having a hand on the each skier's shoulder until the three second
mark. It struck me as inherently distracting or confusing to the
(nervous) skier to not have the two in sync. *But that aside, I had
always assumed from the audible ticks on the WC videos that skiers
started just like Tour de France riders do, at 0. *That doesn't
seem to be case.

The starter's behavior strikes me as a bit odd. I cannot say I've ever
kept an eye for that specific detail, and I could be completely wrong
here, but I believe that in WC races (and the national races I've
seen) the starter does not remove his hand from the skier's shoulder
until the starting command (which can sometimes be accompanied by a
friendly sort of not quite push).


Anders

On Nov 18, 9:10*pm, wrote:

In looking at videos of a few interval starts last season, I didn't see
any where the hand was on the shoulder. *Have you seen that? *Since I
raised it, perhaps I have it confused with the cycling, such as the
Tour de France, where the hand is there and the zero count starts the
time.

It is notoriously easy to see what you expect to see - and even more
easy to seem to remember that you saw what you had seen earlier on the
occasion when you actually noticed it. In other words, I am fairly
confident that at some point in some races the starter did put his
hand on the skier's shoulder in the manner I described, but far less
confident that starters generally did so or that starters still do so.
Maybe it was so only in the old days when the starters seemed like
very old guys... Well, there's at least one more reason to watch the
races on live TV:-)

I've only watched cycling since last year and a grand total of maybe
three time trial stages. My observations are limited to the starter's
fingers during the countdown: there was no standard method to sign the
numbers in the Giro, the Tour and the Vuelta. I have no recollection
whatsoever what the starters did or did not do with the other hand,
but I think I remember (and I would imagine) that there is a starter's
assistant who holds the bike and releases his hold (without pushing)
upon the zero count (or the electronic signal). (I am also fairly sure
that the rule in cycling too, is that timekeeping is started when an
electronic device is triggered, if the competitor starts within the
stipulated couple of seconds.)


Anders

Some people used to like to start slightly late in order to fool
rivals' coaches taking splits - though I suspect that that no longer
works, with live 'official' data available through a wireless network
throughout the race area (I presume they have this at FIS world cups:
it was at biathlon world cup races years ago). It might still be
beneficial at other races that don't have live data available.
As for the hand on the shoulder: biathlon rules forbid the starter to
touch the racer, but they frequently do. I remember one comical scene
of Halvard Hanevold fighting to get away from a zealously restraining
starter in a pursuit race. Again, the rules may have changed since
then.
Hugh