Visualization is a huge part of racing, particularly in the speed disciplines of downhill and super-G, and a lot of competitors close their eyes and run the course on a loop in their minds, dipping and swaying with every turn, roller and jump.<\/p>\n
\u201cPretty much everyone\u2019s visualizing the course turn for turn at this point,\u201d U.S. downhill racer Sam Morse<\/a> said. \u201cMy wife always jokes that after [course] inspection, we all lean on our poles and do the close-your-eyes and move-your-hands-with-the-turns thing, we all look like zombies. She calls it zombie time.\u201d<\/p>\n The practice isn\u2019t unique to skiing. Figure skaters close their eyes and go through their routines. Lugers tilt to an imaginary track. As any sports psychologist can tell you, it\u2019s a fundamental building block for success.<\/p>\n In skiing, there\u2019s a very defined process that leads to that. Each racer is given roughly an hour to \u201cinspect\u201d a course, gradually sliding through each turn and making note of the best line, the steepness of the pitch, the quality of the snow. They are like PGA Tour caddies checking out the pin placements the day before a tournament.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not just about going down, either. It\u2019s going down 100 feet or so, popping off your skis, and hiking back up the section to examine it again.<\/p>\n U.S. skier Mikaela Shiffren visualizes her slalom run in the women\u2019s team combined before making her run on Feb. 10.<\/p>\n (Robert Gauthier \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n \u201cThe inspections are timed,\u201d Morse said. \u201cYou\u2019ve got to be off the course at a very specific time, and if you\u2019re not, you can get sanctioned. So I inspect with a watch on.\u201d<\/p>\n Whereas a caddie jots down notes in a yardage book, Morse keeps observations on his phone and refers to them year after year. Whereas slalom, giant slalom and super-G courses change from race to race, downhill courses tend to stay the same with identical gate placements.<\/p>\n Inspection is only the first step. Then comes the memorization. Some racers learn a course the way an actor learns lines. Memorize the first part, then the first part plus the second part, and so on. Others can look at a piece of paper and commit a course to memory the way a musician reads sheet music.<\/p>\n \u201cWe get these sheets that have distances between gates, pitch of the hill, kind of angle between the gates,\u201d said A.J. Hurt<\/a>, a member of the U.S. women\u2019s team. \u201cI find that honestly to be the most helpful, other than the actual inspection.\u201d<\/p>\n Hurt has a math mind, and she prefers measurable information to imagery.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can\u2019t tell the exact distance when you\u2019re slipping through it,\u201d she said. \u201cI can never really tell, so it\u2019s nice to be able to see it on paper.\u201d<\/p>\n U.S. skier A.J. Hurt competes in the slalom portion of the women\u2019s team combined on Tuesday.<\/p>\n (Marco Trovati \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n In the speed disciplines, finding the ideal line is paramount. But Hurt said that\u2019s not as helpful in the technical events.<\/p>\n \u201cIn slalom and GS, I feel like it\u2019s more important just to have a good feeling rather than to know exactly where you\u2019re going,\u201d she said. \u201cI tend to overthink it when I know too much.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"U.S.](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1771077430_627_.jpeg\")
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