World Slalom Series Statistics 2007-2012

There were fortunately neither conflicts nor dramatic changes in 2011. At least, obvious ones. The only blessed innovation was introducing ID numbers for every Ranking participant. That, it seemed, should have corrected all glitches in Rankings, but amazingly it didn't. Many people with an ID and different name writings and even different people with same IDs were discovered. All found phantom doubles were corrected to keep statistic more precise. Empty cells in xlsx-files mark places of deleted phantoms. But all in all, ID system greatly improved work with the Rankings.

Competitions

The difference from 2010 is shown in brackets. Two special “easy travel” regions were added – Schengen zone and visaless zone of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus (R-U-B). Australia and Senegal are counted as Asian countries. Let one more country from Africa or Oceania conduct a WSS event and then stats for the new region will be opened.

There are 77 (+9) events in the list:

•   4 «Δ» or "0c" (-10)
• 52 «Δ» or "1c" (+23!)
• 13 «ΔΔ» or "2c" (-3)
•   7 «ΔΔΔ» or "3c" (+1)
•   1 «ΔΔΔΔ» or "4к" (-1)

The number of "grey cone" events diminished almost to nothing. It looks like certified by WSSA judges became more available around the world. "1c" level contest requires at least one certified judge to supervise it. 4 "greys" and 52 "1c"! Almost every local contest in the world got a judge and "1c" status. The situation with "2c" (-3) and "3c" (+1) can be called stable. An interesting fact: the only "4c" event was organized in Geisingen (GER) and no such in Asia. More than a half of competitions happened in Europe (58.5%), where classic ones were few (11 of 52) though more than in 2010 (2 of 44). Asia conducted 21% of all competition with classic in favor (14 of 21). South America liked classic too 6 of 13. Enthusiasts there organized 11.5% of competitions.

China and Germany led the list of organizing countries with 13Δ. The same China that did just 3 events in 2009-2010! Obviously they overcome all obstacles and organized as many events as they could. The next is France (10Δ), than Russia and Poland with 6Δ each. In North America Mexico did its first battle. Plus 6 in USA and 9% of all competitions for North America. Japan didn't organize WSS events in 2011.

Skaters

Let's now observe four slalom disciplines and, for the start, dynamics of total skater numbers in each.

The growth seems magnificent in all disciplines! But data from 2012 says that this explosion was mostly caused by one country - China. After slalom events "starvation" China did 10 contests of different levels. More than 150 participants were added to the Men Freestyle Ranking. And... was gone from it in 2012. Let's then check the true gain without "one-time" Chinese slalomers (stayed ones were counted) - dotted lines on the chart.

• Men Style -1tCHN +29 чел (+4%)
• Women Style -1tCHN +22 чел (+8,8%)
• Men Speed -1tCHN +175 чел (+35,5%)
• Women Speed -1tCHN +78 чел (+46%)

Alright, we can see more clear picture now: the growth still good, but not so steep. Men Speed had great gain indeed. It became apparent that to give and take many sportsmen is a special feature of China. Though this time to watch over the global picture we had to deduct this too large tide of them.

Slalom Disciplines

For the first time we see smooth and stable lines without up and downs. Of course, China is an exception, but it was the 1st from the year's start and having gained +160 prs rocket-jumped into the chart's sky. 4 well-known heroes made a base of high score: Pu Hao Yang, Guo Fang, Liao Jie, Li Jin Xi. The last 2 were soon replace by Lan Wang Heng and Ye Hao Qin. France was on definite 2nd place. Though Igor Cheremetieff left top-10, future leader Roman Lebois took the 10th line at the end of the year. South Korea slowly shifted from 3rd to 5th place, having in top-10 Kim Sung Jin. Kim Tae Bin and Lee Choong Goon alternatively made him a company. Thin number of Korean slalomers grew even smaller (18->11). Spain also lost a third of its riders (59->40), but increased the level. Jon Larrucea became a resident of top-10 and Spain rose from 6th to 4th. Russia had nobody in top-10 but using usual strong presence in top-100 it went up from 4th to 3rd. Our ranks were also supplied with new skaters (38->51). Germany started its way down. Martin Sloboda was in top-10 all the year (half - on the 2nd line). Op't Veld Rudy stopped skating and left the Ranking. Thailand, Italy and Singapore were close, but Italy rose a bit, Singapore lowered a bit despite a new hero Clarence Cheung. Poland took the last position in Countries top-10.

China delivered into the Rankings unimaginable number of slalom girls (16->72!). Because of that the chart on the right had to be limited to keep lines more distinct from each other as well as men's. Not only this "army" made China's level high, in top-10 there was constant presence of Chen Chen, Su Fei Qian and then Feng Hui. Until April Italy was the 1st but then was outmatched by China and later by Russia. Though Italian girls got some number (21->30), Chiara Lualdi went down from top-10 leaving there Barbara Bossi alone. Russia improved both number (16->27) and level of its riders and took surely 2nd place after China. Our permanent resident of top-10 Polina Semenova got support from Julia Kulagina and Kristina Lysenko. France had stable situation, but with the growth of other leading countries this stability led France to 4th place - close to Poland and Ukraine. Chloé Seyrès after 25 months as a Ranking Leader stopped skating in 2010 and left the Ranking in November 2011. Zoé Granjon came in her stead, not as legendary #1 as Chloé was, but constant hi-level rider in top-10. Ukraine was also an example of ideal stability and also was outmatched by rising Poland. Only in October Su Fei Qian managed to push Maryna Boiko from the 1st line. Poland kept numbers but improved skills of its sportsgirls with not last to thank Klaudia Hartmanis firmly gripped the place in top-10 from August. Germany here too surrendered its position by losing in number and level. Anya Ziertmann went down from top-10 and as we know never returned. Countries below 6th place did no significant achievements except brief visiting top-10 by Megan McIntosh (GBR) and Pinyojarassang Pichaya (THA) just like in 2010. Thailand and Germany on 7th place, then Spain and sinking down Taiwan.

All roles were set here. France was unreachable by dominant presence and growing numbers. Even +110 one-time bonus speed slalomers couldn't help China to get closer to France. But it helped to match with Italy and compete for the 2nd place. French guys, indeed, dominated in all Ranking up to top-400. Only in top-10 they were beaten by Italians. Yohan Ford, Romain Lebois and come back Igor Cheremetief (replaced Robin Tessier) against fastest Italian guys Tiziano Ferrari, Luca Ulivieri, Nai Oleari Simone, Davide Piacentini and Andrea Bellotto. The last two went down in May but Savio Brivio rose to top-10. French guys also got help there from Pasquier Banvillet Loic. At the year's end China was yet the 3rd and postponed the competition with Italy for the next 2012. It had among heroes only Guo Fang and not all the time. 4th place went to Russia, whose line is almost parallel to Korean one but higher. We had in top-10 Alexey Tsokolov and especially Andrey Shitov (9 months of 12). Korea had Kim Sung Jin mostly on the 1st line! Yohan Ford shifted him from it in July. Yu Jin Seong came to help KSJ in September. Other countries were in one pack, until Singapore and Taiwan went down.

Only in the 2nd half of the year France managed to fly safely up from Italy and China. It was provided by number growth (25->41) because in top-10 France had only a couple of girls Chloé Seyrès and Clémence Guicheteau, Chloé was replaced later by Tiffany Derisbourg and Zoé Granjon. Italy dominated in top-10: Barbara Bossi #1 all the year, Cristina Rotunno, Chiara Lualdi and Sara Barlocco. Until September China was represented there only by Chen Chen then nobody. 85 (!) sportswomen made it able to compete for the 2nd place with Italy. Russia with Kristina Lysenko in top-10 was on the 5th place after Poland, which went up thanks to several very persistent girls. Klaudia Hartmanis even got into top-10 in September. Ksenija Komarchuk and Maryna Boiko helped Ukraine to keep smooth level and 6th place. Germany without Anya Ziertmann in top-10 sank, strong in old days Singapore disappeared. Thailand and Taiwan slightly grew levels. We could see for 3 months Wang Tzu-Chien from Taiwan.

Summary

It was a normal hard work year. The only special effect was enormous numbers of Chinese skaters in all disciplines. In Men ones France and China were the rulers (Italy - in Speed). In Women disciplines Russia started to prevail in Freestyle, Poland rose too. Despite of many slalom events, including "4c", in Germany its numbers and level steadily lessened. Slowly but surely slalom was spreading across the world. The growth was in numbers of slalomers and competitions, number of countries, providing sportsmen and organizing events. The main picture didn't change too much. Presence of Singapore and Great Britain diminished so much that they disappeared from top-10 Countries charts.

2011 highlighted new heroes of slalom, who entered Ranking's top tens for the first time:

Women Freestyle: Granjon Zoé (FRA), Hartmanis Klaudia (POL), Kulagina Yulia (RUS), Feng Hui (CHN), Lysenko Kristina (RUS)
Men Freestyle: Ye Hao Qin (CHN), Lebois Romain (FRA)
Women Speed: Wang Tzu-Chien (TPE), Deng Ling (CHN), Derisbourg Tiffany (FRA), Granjon Zoé (FRA), Hartmanis Klaudia (POL)
Men Speed: Yu Jin Seong (KOR), Brivio Savio (ITA), Pasquier Banvillet Loic (FRA), Guo Fang (CHN)

XLSX-файл with data of  2011: Rankings themselves, charts of presence, competition lists and more statistics in charts and numbers.

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