17 février 2006

Tough day goes from bad to worse with disqualification after taking wrong turn

Dan Barnes

Befitting the day's disastrous start, Beckie Scott was disqualified to end it.

Not exactly how the Vermilion, Alta. cross-country skier envisioned following up the Olympic silver medal she shared with Sara Renner in team sprint. The two-time medallist woke up determined to add a bauble to her burgeoning collection, this time in the 10-km classic.

But the entire 72-woman field ran up against rain, humidity and sticky snow, treacherous conditions for skiers, even worse for their technicians. All the pre-race ski testing went out the window. They had to scramble under duress to send their athletes out on the best boards with the right wax beneath.

And there is no mincing about this, the Canadian six-man crew flat-out blew it Thursday. Scott went out on bad skis and paid dearly for it, crossing the line a distant and disappointing 30th.

Even that wasn't dismal enough. Near the finish line she mistakenly crossed the lap track.

Essentially she went the wrong way and was disqualified.

"I had very slippery skis, just too slippery, too slick for this course," she said. "We missed the wax, basically. I knew that from the first two steps out of the gate that I was going to be in trouble, that it was going to be a long day ahead.

I got to three (kilometres). I got the split that I was already 24 seconds off the pace. At three kilometres that's huge. You can't make that back."

It was brutal and untimely evidence of an accepted skiing truism.

"Races aren't usually won on good wax but they can be lost on bad wax," Renner said a month ago. "We have to take responsibility for it because we test our skis prior to the race. But I don't even know the science. I'm just the jock."

Teammate George Grey had a similar take back in December.

"Ultimately it's the athletes but once you get to the top 10, it's so close that you could almost blame it on the skis," said Grey. "If I had to put a percentage on it, it's 80- per-cent athlete and 20- per-cent skis, or maybe 70-30."

So refined is the process that some techs focus only on kick wax, others on glide wax. Kick wax grips the snow and is used only in the grip pocket underneath the skier's foot and only on classic-style skis. Glide wax reduces friction between the ski and the snow and is found everywhere but the grip pocket on classic skis while skating skis have glide wax only. There are specific waxes for hard, wet, cold and soft snow conditions. The wax has to match the ski and that's not easy either.

"You've got classic and skating skis, so that's one way to divide them," said Grey. "You also have wet and cold. There is also soft wet, hard wet, soft cold and hard cold. Different stiffnesses. Different grinds. It's very specific."

Head technician Yves Bilodeau could not be reached for comment but head coach Dave Wood said the team should have hit the mark on Scott's wax easily enough. The skis are another matter.

"She could have selected the wrong skis. If the ski was not right the kick wax might not have been enough. You have to have the right ski and the wax job fits the ski. I suspect there was a mistake with ski selection."

The athlete pays the price at the finish line and if it's a heavy toll, the techs are like offensive linemen on a football team. They finally get noticed.

"They did a good job two days ago," said Wood. "For the most part they do very good work."

But everybody misses a shot on goal or lets their quarterback get sacked.

"We just trust that they're doing the best they can and I know they are," said Scott. "I'm not blaming anyone for the skis today. It's just tricky and we haven't had these conditions yet this year. It was ski selection, it was partly wax. We made some last minute adjustments to my skis. I know that happened in a panic. Obviously I'm unhappy but those guys take it almost harder than we do in a way."

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