Speed Bias

[highpeaksdrifter]

This is another bump thread, but I don’t usually start them so don’t get mad at me. ;-) I was watching the C.L.I.T.S. and their guests on the films from the Sundown WC Tour stop. There where some dang good skiers there, it looked very well organized and those guys looked to be having a blast.

Anyways I get in Gore’s and Whiteface’s competitions, but they don’t have duels. Speed counts for 25% of your score. I’m thinking it’s probably the same at Sundown, but I was wondering if you guys thought there was at least an unconscious bias for speed from the judges. Did anyone advance to the next round that didn’t cross the finish line first?

 

[bvibert]

This is another bump thread, but I don’t usually start them so don’t get mad at me. ;-) I was watching the C.L.I.T.S. and their guests on the films from the Sundown WC Tour stop. There where some dang good skiers there, it looked very well organized and those guys looked to be having a blast.

Anyways I get in Gore’s and Whiteface’s competitions, but they don’t have duels. Speed counts for 25% of your score. I’m thinking it’s probably the same at Sundown, but I was wondering if you guys thought there was at least an unconscious bias for speed from the judges. Did anyone advance to the next round that didn’t cross the finish line first?

I think in general that's probably true. I can think of at least one occasion in this past comp where the first guy across the line didn't advance though. In the first dual the 1st place seed (and eventual winner) went up against the 16th place seed and didn't cross the line first. His air and turns were considerably better though, giving him the edge.

 

[Greg]

the Sundown WC Tour stop

While we all look only one or two levels below world cup quality bump skiing, believe it or not, this really was just a friendly amateur event.

There's going to be an inherent bias with anything that's judged and there is always going to be some question on the decisions made. With that said, I think the judging was pretty fair in the Sundown comp and the top 4 definitely deserved to be there and there's a good chance it would have worked out that way regardless of how competitors were paired.

Speed is definitely part of it. Presumably the guy who can keep a line faster through the bumps is the better bump skier, most of the time. If it's reasonably close it's easier to give the guy with the better turns and/or air the win even if he's trailing. If there is a clear blow-out on the speed, that's harder to justify.

At the end of the day, it's all just for fun.

 

[highpeaksdrifter]

I think in general that's probably true. I can think of at least one occasion in this past comp where the first guy across the line didn't advance though. In the first dual the 1st place seed (and eventual winner) went up against the 16th place seed and didn't cross the line first. His air and turns were considerably better though, giving him the edge.

Speed is the only objective scoring everything else is subjective. There’s no accounting for opinion, it is what it is so it’s easy for the judges.

The guy who beat Pat is a great bump skier and deserved to win. That said, Pat is a great skier too and you could tell he was not thinking air, technique, or overall impression, he’s thinking I have to beat this guy to the bottom then he fell.

Duels are without a doubt more exciting, I’m just wondering if it’s the fairest way to pick a winner. I don’t know.

I hope that no hypersensitive personalities take offense because this isn’t criticism it’s just something thrown out there for bump discussion.

BTW, Brian your video was great. I got to see everybody and keeping the live call instead of music over it, made me feel like I was there watching.

You where kind of critical of your run, but I saw some nice improvement. Keep it up.

 

[Greg]

Speed is the only objective scoring everything else is subjective. There’s no accounting for opinion, it is what it is so it’s easy for the judges.

The guy who beat Pat is a great bump skier and deserved to win. That said, Pat is a great skier too and you could tell he was not thinking air, technique, or overall impression, he’s thinking I have to beat this guy to the bottom then he fell.

Duels are without a doubt more exciting, I’m just wondering if it’s the fairest way to pick a winner. I don’t know.

I hope that no hypersensitive personalities take offense because this isn’t criticism it’s just something thrown out there for bump discussion.

BTW, Brian your video was great. I got to see everybody and keeping the live call instead of music over it, made me feel like I was there watching.

You where kind of critical of your run, but I saw some nice improvement. Keep it up.

I agree with basically everything you said. However, while I agree that speed is not up for interpretation, it's only part of the overall score that decides the winner. Because there are subjective components to the scoring it's subjective overall. I think the speed component really only makes a difference if the gap is significant. If one guy is down the hill first by a large margin, it's tough to award the win to the slower competitor unless the slower guy was a lot better in the air and the faster guy flailed all the way down.

 

[Highway Star]

while we all look only one or two levels below world cup quality bump skiing.......................

bwahahahahahahhahahahhahahhahhahhahahahhahahahah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Greg]

bwahahahahahahhahahahhahahhahhahhahahahhahahahah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hey doofus, sarcasm is spelled s-a-r-c-a-s-m. :roll:

 

[poconovfr]

Speed counts for 25% of your score. I’m thinking it’s probably the same at Sundown, but I was wondering if you guys thought there was at least an unconscious bias for speed from the judges. Did anyone advance to the next round that didn’t cross the finish line first?

Yes in my younger competition days,there was one guy who was impossible to beat. I'd take him on speed but just couldn't pull a 720 and this guy can and did several times on me.Bastage.

 

[bvibert]

You where kind of critical of your run, but I saw some nice improvement. Keep it up.

Thanks for the kind words, I felt like I was skiing better last year is all. I need to get back into the groove or something.