Granted, brakes and turns will have capped the highest possible speed of the car, but Verstappen — and F1 — embodies the pinnacle of motorsport speed in a multibillion dollar industry.
And yet armed with nothing but two skis, skeleton fabrics and a helmet fit for a Daft Punk comeback tour, there are humans hurtling down the sides of mountains faster than an F1 car.
In 2016, Italy’s Ivan Origone flashed down a run of the La Forêt Blanche resort in France, clocking an average of 254.958 kmph (158.42 mph) across his last 100 meters to set a new world record.
For perspective, the World Air Sports Federation states that the terminal speed of the human body freefalling in a stable, head down position is between 240 and 290 kmph (149.13 and 180.2 mph) — speed skiers are effectively plummeting through the sky.
Unsurprisingly, such descriptions dictate that, though skiing generally is wildly popular, speed skiing is very much a niche vocation — especially for British skiers, given the relative lack of snowy mountain peaks.
Yet Jan Farrell, Great Britain’s most successful speed skier of the century, is the exception to the rule.
An overall International Ski Federation (FIS) World Cup winner in the Speed 2 category in 2014, Farrell had the advantage over fellow speed skiing Brits of having lived in Spain for 32 years.
Spain may not scream ‘skier’s paradise’ for many but with 35% of the country being mountainous and with 32 ski resorts, a six-year-old Farrell was hooked from his first lesson in Gavarnie, France.
The bigger they are, the faster they fall
A nine-year international career took Farrell across the globe, following the biennial FIS World Cup circuit around Andorra, Canada, France, Finland and Sweden, as well as traveling to Munich every month for training.
When he wasn’t in flight — both literally…
Source : cnn
