Word: swede
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...carves the slope with a surgeon's precision, hugging the fall line, darting through slalom gates with eyeblink speed. Down below they call him "the silent Swede," but up here Ingemar Stenmark is eloquent, communicating easily with the mountain. He knows what it will give him and what he must give in return. In his powdery wake, he leaves competitors a curt challenge: "I set the pace, and now you guys beat...
...technique is spare and tightly controlled, quite unlike the hellbent, hurtling style of a Killy. In the early days of slalom competition, skiers navigated the gates with looping S-turns. Later they flattened out the S-turns and substituted rapid-fire slashes, often brushing the poles. The Swede has achieved further refinements, reducing the slashes to mere flickers of shifting body weight. He owes much of his letter-perfect form to exceptional physical gifts. "He has tremendous balance, great agility, a good eye and fantastic concentration," says former U.S. Alpine Team Director Hank Tauber. "He has what makes great champions...