Stenmark v Hirscher - GOAT

[@briancase6180]

Thanks for this video series! Let's be honest, Stenmark would thrive in today's racing. I think he would have been fine in SG if he had grown up racing them. With today's skies, I think he would have been the carving king.

[@dap777754]

Only if you restart a two-year-old Stenmark on modern equipment. Otherwise, there's no way he makes the transition between old and new.

[@rockstarsommer]

Thanks for this series. This has been preying on my mind for years. Very informative and objective. Love it!

[@NikolajBlinkenbergWilladsen]

Everything about this trilogy is fantastic, except the background music that almost made me go nuts ;-) But thx anyway. I’m a huge Stenmark and Hircher fan, and must agree on your alternative super ranking. That said. I’m a downhiller myself, so Axel Lund Svindal and Franz Klammer is also among my idols. Thx again - Stenmark was my childhood hero. I just liked downhill a bit more as a skier but that’s probably because I’m a good glider and not so technical;-)

[@jonahlsen]

Thank you very much! I grew up idolizing Stenmark and was a huge Hirscher fan as well (maybe a bit too old to have idols now, though, but that's not Hirscher's fault...) I love to watch the downhill as well, but I didn't do as much of that myself. I'm certainly more of a turner than a glider! But I love watching the downhill! I hope to make more videos and something on the greatest gliders is definitely brewing in the back of my mind. I'm so sorry you didn't like the music. It's certainly not my style of music, just chose it to go with the graphics and style of the videos.

[@NikolajBlinkenbergWilladsen]

@@jonahlsen A question just hit me. Do you remember that Stenmark was virtually almost never first after the first run (or do I remember it wrong). It was like he had a second gear compared to the others that he used in the second run. If yes, then his big advantage - I think you mentioned 2 sec in average - is even more impressive, because it means that he must have had a second run where he was more that 2 sec faster that his competitors

[@jonahlsen]

@@NikolajBlinkenbergWilladsen I also remember it that way: that he was often not in the lead after the first run. I haven't looked at the data for it, so that might be incorrect. I was born in 1973, so I was very young during his peak and I don't trust my memory even from stuff that happened yesterday :) The FIS web page provides the time for the first run separately only from the 2001 season, so I have no publicly available data on that.

[@NikolajBlinkenbergWilladsen]

@@jonahlsen Ok - I was born in 1965 and have a good memory :-) I'm pretty sure I remember it correct. Just a pitty data isn't available. I guess we have to live with the memories but that never bad. Thx for your reply

[@panheadbob2926]

At the end of the day, Stenmark is the technically skilled superior skier.

[@jonahlsen]

Certainly for his time. He managed to be extremely fast, while making it look easy. Similar to Odermatt in GS this past season.

[@dap777754]

There's no "end of the day" at which time you can compare them. Different eras. I idolized Stenmark growing up but Hircher would have lapped him in a head-to-head. And putting Hircher on 205 cm skis would be a laugh-fest. Put me on modern equipment in a modern course up against Buddy Werner and I would probably be faster. What's the point?