Fourth Grade
Worksheets
Aksel Lund Svindal: Alpine All-Star
Skiing is at the center of the Winter Olympics. There are skiing races. There are events where skiers do tricks in the air. There are events where skiers compete to see who can jump the farthest. There are also events that combine skiing with another sport, like rifle shooting.
Alpine skiing is a group of downhill racing events. Skiers race down a mountain to see who can do it in the fastest time. The course has narrow gates scattered from the top to the bottom. Skiers must pass through each gate on their way down. If a skier misses a gate, they must climb back up to pass through it. If they can't, they are disqualified.
There are five events that make up alpine skiing. Downhill skiing has the longest course of all the alpine skiing events. Skiers can reach speeds of eighty miles per hour! The Slalom event has a short course that is full of tight turns, the most of any event. The tighter the skier can make the turn, the faster their time will be. The Giant Slalom is another event. It does not have as many turns as the slalom. The turns in the Giant Slalom are wider. They are also smoother than the Slalom. The Super-G, or Super Giant Slalom, combines the Downhill Slalom events. The course is longer than in the Slalom events. The Super-G also has tight turns that must be completed, like in the Slalom events. Finally, the Super Combined puts two events together. Skiers do one run on a shortened Downhill course followed by one run on a Slalom course. The times are added together to see who has the fastest time.
