MEN 3-6 SLALOM SKIERS Seeking OPEN MEN Qualification

Background:  Men 3-6/MM slalom skiers who seek an Open qualification at 34 mph are required to ski a little further down the rope than they would if they could ski at 36 mph.  For example, on any given day the OM Level 9 cutoff score could be 109, which is 1 @ -39 for OM/M1/M2 skiers at 36 mph.  For M3-M6 or MM skiers it is also 109 buoys, which at 34 mph is 1 @ -41.  Where the rub comes is that while a M3-M6 or MM skier could elect to ski at 36 mph instead of 34 mph, rule 10.06 D dictates that their total buoy score would be computed as though they were skiing at 34 instead of 36.  So a 1 @ -39 at 36 mph for a M3 skier becomes 103, rather than 109.  Hence the rule is blocking a path that the M3-6/MM should be able to use if they want to ski at the higher speed.

Pending Rules Committee Action:  The Rules Committee is in the process of modifying AWSA Rule 10.06 D, second sentence, to accommodate these skiers and will probably read:

Any passes skied at that higher speed shall receive credit for buoys as though they were being run at his division maximum speed for the official scoring in his age division.  For elite qualification purposes, however, those higher speed passes shall receive credit for buoys at the speed actually skied.

Until this rule is finally approved there is an existing alternate method (work-around) to accommodate these skiers.

The Work-Around: For scoring, the skier can be placed in division IM (International Men) for sanctioned tournaments Class C and above where his 36 mph performance will be recognized by the ranking system and treated as being equivalent to AWSA Open Men (OM).  The skier will also continue to be ranked as a M3-M6 skier using the scoring offset but will also be placed on the OM ranking list.  That list will show "not qualified" UNTIL such time as the skier's average buoy count equals or surpasses the Level 9 threshold for OM and moves him onto the list of qualified open skiers.

The division of IM (IM/IW/IB/IG) is not part of the AWSA published schema but was created in WSTIMS to handle international skiers skiing in AWSA events.

This procedure could also be used for W5 skiers to ski as IW, where they want to qualify for Open Women, since the W5 slalom speed is lower than the Open Women speed of 34mph.

This option may not be used at Regionals or Nationals per rule 3.02D