Finishing 30th in a world championship event may not sound like much, but for young South African Alexander Heath it is a sign of future greatness, writes Julian Drew
A FEW years ago Italian ski legend Alberto Tomba declared himself “the messiah of skiing”. In the Sierra Nevada mountains of Andalusia last week he lived up to this self- proclaimed grandiloquence when he swivelled his way to two gold medals at the Alpine world ski championships. The overall winner of last year’s World Cup and a three-time Olympic champion, it was the first time he had struck gold at the world championships.
The equally renowned “La Bomba” travelling fan club wasted no time in celebrating Tomba’s victories with a religious fervour that left no doubt over what they think of his proclamation.
Tomba first appeared on the world ski circuit in 1986 as a 19-year-old to finish 51st in the world cup. The following year he won his only world championships medal — a bronze in the giant slalom — until last week. Having survived at the top longer than most in this demanding sport he must now be looking over his shoulder and wondering which of the young pretenders will lay claim to his crown.
As he stood overlooking the distant, shimmering Mediterranean at the top of the Fuente del Tesoro piste on Friday, waiting to launch himself down the giant slalom course, the last place he would have looked for a challenger was across the sea towards the vast continent of Africa. But long after “La Bomba” had swept boldly through the slalom gates on his first run, a young man went to the starting gate in 75th position out of the 105 starters.
Few people took notice of these tailenders as they waited for the medal contenders to ski their second run. The youngster in bib number 75 had moved up to 42nd for the start of the second run. By the time he crossed the finish line to see the scoreboard register a further improvement to 30th place, the fiesta of “La Bomba’s” itinerant army was already in full swing.
But not everybody had lost interest after the destiny of the medals had been decided. The Eurosport commentator, an ex-ski racer himself, was particularly impressed by the skier who had just finished 30th. “This is a skier with a future,” he told viewers. “This youngster could one day give South Africa their first World Cup or Olympic medal.”
South Africa winning skiing medals? you may well ask. But the skier he was referring to is such an exciting prospect that he could quite conceivably go on to emulate the likes of Tomba. Alexander Heath, who at 17 was the youngest competitor at the world championships, was born in Cape Town but left to live in England eight years ago. There he learnt to ski on an artificial ski slope near his home in Folkestone. At the beginning of 1993 he got his first taste of the real thing on a school skiing trip to Austria. He was a natural and soon became the British under-17 champion.
His big break came in November 1994 when the highly acclaimed Waterville Valley Ski Academy in New Hampshire, America accepted him rather sceptically based on his performances in Britain. Under the tutelage of the academy’s head coach, Tom Barbeau, the former technical coach to the Canadian slalom and giant slalom teams, he made astounding progress.
He currently spends six months of the year at Waterville Valley, a few months at Hex Valley High School in De Doorns where his mother comes from, and the rest of the year in England.
When he arrived in Sierra Nevada three weeks ago, his world championships dream nearly evaporated before it had started. The authorities tried to prevent him and 11 other skiers behind him on the world ranking lists from competing at the world championships because the conditions were too dangerous for their level of experience.
But having already travelled to Spain last year when the championships were cancelled for the first time in their history due to lack of snow, there was no way he was going to accept another abortive journey. Peter Pilz, president of the South African National Snow Ski Association, took the authorities to task and they finally relented.
The first two events were speed events and in the first, the super G, he managed to improve on his starting position of 79 by 11 places. The next event was the downhill on a very steep, 4km course. Heath had never skied further than 3km in the downhill before and due to poor weather conditions and a serious accident to Russian skier Tatiana Lebedeva, the practice runs for the downhill on the three days preceding the race were all cancelled.
He only had one practice run on the morning of the race when the piste was still iced and he averaged 119km/h. The sun was burning brightly in the afternoon though and the course soon cut up so that anyone who skied outside the top 10 had little chance of making an impression. “The downhill was very difficult because by the time I raced the snow was very soft and a lot of holes had appeared,” said Heath.
He could only average 103.5km/h and didn’t improve on his start position of 68. High winds saw the cancellation of the combined downhill a week last Monday and when it eventually took place, on Tuesday evening under floodlights after a heavy snow storm, Heath managed to finish 42nd after starting with bib number 64.
None of the first three events were his favourite disciplines, however. Last Friday when he registered his brilliant 30th place in the giant slalom, he was competing in his best discipline.
To show that this was no fluke performance he excelled again to finish 30th in last Sunday’s slalom event after starting out in 88th position from a field of 100 based on his world ranking.
Tomba went on to win his second gold medal, but 53 of the original starters never finished the race. The giant slalom silver medallist, Urs Kaelin of Switzerland, said the course was “steeper, tougher and more demanding than anything we have seen this season.” But Heath was never fazed by his experience. “In the slalom and giant slalom the snow was really hard and good for skiing. It was very compact and although it was icy it wasn’t uncontrollable,” he revealed of the course which had gradients of 52 degrees.
“In the giant slalom I skied the first run pretty well and didn’t make too many mistakes but on the second run I think that my nerves got to me a bit. I made quite a few mistakes so I’m a little disappointed because I could have done better,” claimed Heath.
The fiercely determined Heath may not have been entirely happy with his superb performances at the world championships but it is perhaps worth putting them into perspective. All the top skiers have large technical back-up teams and several pairs of skis to cover all conditions. They had all prepared for Sierra Nevada on the world cup circuit. Heath had one pair of skis and was there primarily to learn. The average age of all the medal winners was over 28 and Heath was competing as a 17-year old in his first international event.
With another world championships next year because this year’s was postponed by a year, the Winter Olympic Games in Nagano in 1998 and then another world championships the following year, Heath will have competed in four world events by the time he is 20. By the time of the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City he will be 23 with another world championships and several world cup seasons behind him.
Although it is still too early to say whether he can go all the way to the top, there were many experienced hands at the world championships who raved about him. The 86- year-old Italian director of the Tecnica company which makes Heath’s boots, was so overwhelmed by his 30th placing that he shed tears of joy when Heath crossed the line. And he has seen many great champions come and go.
“People have been pretty surprised by my skiing because I’m so young and also because I’m from South Africa,” said Heath.
One of the highlights of the chamionships for Heath was watching “La Bomba” in action. “Tomba is an amazing skier and it was unbelievable to see him ski,” he said.
What he didn’t say but told his mother privately was that when he watched Tomba racing he told himself quite honestly, “I can do that.” But he is not being presumptuous when he says that. “We have never known Alexander to doubt himself. For him it’s just a case of when he will do it, not if. I just worry because, although he admits there is much work to do after seeing the standard of the best skiers at these championships, he thinks it is going to happen sooner rather than later.
“For us the best thing about Sierra Nevada was how he held it together for two weeks in five competitions and never once failed to complete any of his races,” said his mother. For Heath though it was just another stepping stone on the road to his real goal which is the Nagano Olympics. “After this that dream is ever more real,” said Heath.