# Influence of the Slope and Gate Offset on Movement Variability and Performance in Slalom Skiing
## 4 Discussion and Conclusions
[60] reported that increasing the horizontal gate offset in super-giant slalom reduced turn speed, forced skiers to execute sharper turns with a decreased radius of curvature, and increased peak snow reaction forces and their duration (greater impulse) [61; 62], consequently increasing physical exertion and fatigue [7]. In this context, studies investigating the impact of the horizontal gate offset on kinematic and kinetic variables have primarily focused on giant slalom and super-giant events [59; 60; 63]. Limited research has been conducted on the effects of the gate offset in slalom [8; 47]. [PERSON] et al. [47] reported a decrease in turn initiation time and an increase in turn steering time with anincreasing gate offset. [PERSON] [8] modified both the gate offset and distance between gates, making it difficult to isolate the influence of each factor on ski turn biomechanics. While the distance between gates is the distance regulated by the FIS [51] and the most practical for coaches to use on a daily basis, it is linearly independent of the gate offset. Therefore, the gate offset and vertical distances accurately represent course configuration, although they are also the most complex to determine in practice [64]. The present study also investigated the relationship between MV and performance and it was found that skiers that obtained better descent times, hereinafter skilled skiers, had a lower MV than skiers with greater descent times. MV would be expected to be lower in the skilled skiers, due to their greater ability to control the degrees of freedom of the task [21; 23; 27]. Learning is explained through synaptic reorganization, which makes movement patterns more stable and reduces MV [21; 27]. As a result, experienced athletes can reproduce the same technical gesture more similarly, even when circumstances change [10; 11; 17; 24; 25]. An example of this is a study investigating the MV of volleyball players during the spike. The MV of the spike decreased as players progressed from the youth to the cadet category, demonstrating a reduction in MV among more experienced athletes. Similarly, spikers, who use this technical gesture most frequently, exhibited a lower MV than other players [65]. Another similar example to highlight this idea is that of [PERSON] et al. [11], who conducted a study in a rugby league to examine changes in MV between positions (forwards vs. backs) during cumulative tackle event training. Their findings revealed that forwards consistently exhibited lower MV values compared to backs across all training blocks. Previous research suggests that MV can be reduced by various factors including practice and experience [66]. Given that forwards engage in more collisions throughout a match, this suggests that they may possess a heightened ability to adapt to tackle actions effectively. Additionally, the study observed a progressive reduction in MV with increasing tackle events, particularly among backs and during the defensive role. The closest approach to this idea in the field of alpine skiing was a study conducted by [PERSON] et al. in 1998 [67], in which the turn technique was compared between expert and intermediate skiers. They found that intermediate skiers had much higher standard deviations for all biomechanical variables analyzed, while they were reduced in experts. Along the same lines, [PERSON] et al. [48] also analyzed variability during the skiers' descents. In this case, they developed a simple system based on a single IMU mounted on the trunk of a skier to assess skiing quality based on turning tempo (turn frequency). The algorithm assessed the turning tempo during a run to differentiate between high- and low-skill skiers. They found that high-skill skiers were those who showed greater regularity, demonstrating the ability to maintain a constant tempo during descents. In contrast, the low-skill skiers had greater tempo variability, who could be considered as athletes who are improving their motor adaptations, as they explore more of the task space [27].