Cutting Edges

SKI JUMPING

FLYING IN A V FORMATION

Everyone laughed and cringed during the Calgary Games when Britain's "Eddie the Eagle" Edwards jumped with his skis in a V configuration -- among other odd angles. His unpolished "style" was in stark contrast to the controlled flights of other jumpers, who kept their skis tightly parallel. Edwards finished dead last, but he may have been on to something. This year some of the best jumpers on the hills at Courchevel will be flying with their skis forming an ungainly but aerodynamic V shape. As innovator Jan Boklov, a Swede, has demonstrated, jumping in this manner improves lift and can lengthen jumps 16 to 23 ft. But "the landings are tougher," says French jumper Steeve Delaup. "You lose more control." He favors the traditional style.

The judges who grade the form of a jump still mark down the V flyers, but not as severely as in the past. A master who makes the new technique appear almost graceful is Toni Nieminen, the 16-year-old Finn favored for gold on both the normal and large hills. He will be challenged by a trio of V-jumping Austrians. The cult figure Edwards, however, won't be flapping at Albertville; he was left off the British team, a move he attributes to "politics."

BOBSLED

EQUALIZED HEAT

The bobsled competitions in the last four Olympic Games were mostly free of suspense. That's because the sleds, not the athletes, were the stars. Designed with the help of wind-tunnel testing and built of advanced composite materials, the sometimes secretly developed high-tech sleds enabled some teams to achieve a consistent advantage of a few crucial hundredths of a second. "If one person has a Ferrari and another has a Fiat, the Ferrari will win," says Ermanno Gardella, secretary of the International Bobsled Federation. "But if both have Volkswagens, the best driver will win."

The federation is making sure that everyone will be driving a Volkswagen when the competition opens at La Plagne. It will be a very hot model to be sure, but new, strict standards have been set for sled dimensions, materials and design. Only slight room is left for the fine-tuning of aerodynamics. The Americans, who have won no medals since 1956, hope to have a tiny advantage with sleds created for them by a sculptor who used to design autos. But success this time depends mostly on the person in the driver's seat. Among the best: Germany's Rudolf Lochner and Switzerland's Gustav Weder.

MOGULS

BEAUTY AND THE BUMPS

Speed, not style, is what counts in most Alpine contests. But for a new medal event, moguls skiing, competitors must show plenty of creativity and flair as they snake their way down a 920-ft. course bristling with hip-deep moguls, also known as the Bumps. Judges choose a winner based on a skier's speed and the quality and technique of the competitor's aerials and turns. The debut of moguls skiing at Albertville is likely to ignite an instantaneous star: Donna Weinbrecht of New Jersey. A two-time World Cup moguls champion, Weinbrecht, 26, is heavily favored to capture the gold. Weinbrecht learned to ski on family vacations in Vermont and by age 10 had managed most of the expert slopes. That is when she decided she liked straying off the groomed trails and onto the rougher, steep stuff: moguls presented an extra challenge. "I started skiing bumps and I had fun," says Weinbrecht. "I felt a freedom of expression." Her teammate and training partner, Nelson Carmichael of Colorado, is expected to win a gold medal in the men's division. Two other types of free-style skiing, ballet and aerials, will be demonstration events this year and probably medal categories in 1994.

SPEED SKIING

DRAG RACING ON SNOW

Pity the mothers of Olympic speed skiers, who cannot rest as easily as those whose children took up curling. The heart-pounding Alpine sport -- to be introduced at the Games this year as a demonstration event -- is skiing's equivalent of drag racing: no turns, no brakes. Gleaming in aerodynamic suits and Darth Vader-like helmets, the skiers rocket down a steep, hard-packed 1.08-mile course at 120 m.p.h. or more.

To reduce wind resistance, racers tuck into a fetal-like position, their noses a mere foot from the ground. They don't even breathe during the 13-to- 15-sec. run, since doing so would relax their muscles. "It is a fight against air, which feels more like concrete at that speed," says French speedster Nicolas Bollon. Officially recognized by the International Ski Federation only in 1988, the sport has had an understandably hard time shaking its kamikaze reputation. Still, aficionados contend that it is reasonably sane and safe, at least relatively speaking. France's Michael Prufer, the world's fastest skier, blanches at the thought of pastimes like bungee jumping. "Too dangerous," he declares.