After recovering from a head injury, it’s=20 downhill all the way for South Africa’s=20 one-man team at the world skiing champs
SKIING:Julian Drew
IT requires a certain amount of courage to=20 ski at 140km/h down a 52 degree slope when=20 the slightest misjudgment in the blinding=20 glare of the sun can prove extremely=20 hazardous. To do so just over two weeks=20 after being pronounced “medically fit to=20 commence training” following a fractured=20 skull demands something more than courage.=20
It is not something Alex Heath dwells upon,=20 though. “Just to know that you’ve got down=20 the mountain after skiing that fast is an=20 unbelievable feeling. You just can’t=20 describe it. It’s an amazing adrenalin rush=20 skiing at 90 miles an hour,” said the one- man South African ski team at the 1997=20 World Alpine Ski Championships which begin=20 in Sestri=E8re on Sunday.=20
Eighteen-year-old Heath – who grew up in=20 Cape Town, learnt to ski on the dry slopes=20 of England and is now based in America – is=20 already a veteran of world championship=20 competition. He was the youngest competitor=20 at last year’s world championships in=20 Sierra Nevada – usually a biennial event=20 but cancelled for the first time in 1995=20 when snow failed to materialise in the=20 Spanish mountains overlooking the shores of=20 Africa.
His performance wasn’t greeted by guffaws=20 from those in the know, however. Although=20 the well-recorded exploits of Africa’s=20 best-known skier, Lamine Gueye of Senegal,=20 provide light diversion from the more sober=20 business of Alpine racing, Heath’s ability=20 is being taken very seriously indeed.=20
A 30th place finish in the slalom and giant=20 slalom – in fields of 100 and 104=20 respectively – made many people jot down=20 Alex Heath in the “names to remember”=20 column. This year’s championships were=20 supposed to be another stepping stone on=20 the road to what some are predicting will=20 be Africa’s first skiing medals in the=20 opening years of the coming millennium.=20
On November 19 those plans went awry. Heath=20 fell from the climbing wall in the=20 gymnasium at Waterville Valley Ski Academy=20 in New Hampshire where he is a student.=20 Unconscious, Heath was rushed to hospital.=20
“All the neurosurgeon could tell us was=20 that Alex had suffered an occipital=20 fracture along the base of the skull in a=20 fall and he was not conscious. They were=20 clearly very concerned and advised that we=20 get there as soon as possible,” said=20 Heath’s mother who lives near Folkstone on=20 England’s south coast.
Heath regained consciousness after 18 hours=20 but two days later he went into a relapse=20 with a haemorrhage and was transferred to=20 the Brigham Neurosurgery Unit in Boston. He=20 was released after nine days but it was=20 only after a second brain scan on January=20 13 that he was given clearance to start=20 training on snow again.
With just five weeks of dry land=20 conditioning and two weeks on skis prior to=20 the accident Heath has had very little time=20 to prepare for the championships where he=20 will again most likely line up as the=20 youngest entrant – competing against=20 seasoned campaigners who have honed their=20 skills all winter on the World Cup circuit.
“Alex has a very promising skiing future=20 and we will do nothing to compromise that=20 for any possible short term goals,” said=20 his coach Tom Barbeau on the postponement=20 of the decision on Heath’s entry into the=20 downhill, super-G and combined events. They=20 take place in the first week of the=20 championships before Heath’s specialities=20 through the slalom gates.=20
“He will be able to compete in the slalom=20 and giant slalom events in Sestri=E8re but=20 because of the inherent increased risk of a=20 high-speed fall, no decision can yet be=20 made about the other events,” said Barbeau,=20 the director of Alpine training at=20 Waterville Valley and a former technical=20 coach to the Canadian slalom and giant=20 slalom teams. “That decision will be made=20 at the championships by the coach in=20 consultation with Peter Pilz, the president=20 of the South African National Snow Ski=20 Association (SANSSA).”=20
Barbeau will be sending his assistant Gary=20 Blake to take care of Heath in Sestri=E8re=20 and Blake will assess conditions on the=20 ground and how Heath responds to them in=20 training runs before committing him to the=20 faster events. =20
Although Heath’s tumble in the gymnasium=20 proved to be a serious setback it was not=20 all bad news for his career at the end of=20 last year. Heath secured his first major=20 sponsorship from Capespan International – the British-based arm of South Africa’s=20 fruit exporting industry – and his family=20 can now rest a little easier in the=20 knowledge that they won’t be declared=20 insolvent in their quest to help Heath=20 achieve his dreams.=20
His parents have sold two plots of land in=20 the Cape – which had been earmarked for=20 their retirement – and taken a second=20 mortgage on their home to pay his tuition=20 fees at Waterville Valley, while his sister=20 sold her car to send him to the aborted=20 1995 world championships from America.=20
This sponsorship will make his dream of=20 emulating the unequalled five World Cup=20 victories of his hero -Alberto Tomba of=20 Italy – a slightly easier task. But over=20 the next two weeks Heath will once more=20 have to console himself with the knowledge=20 that he is gaining more invaluable “big=20 occasion” experience while his hero – the=20 self-proclaimed “messiah of skiing” – aims=20 to end his career in style by defending his=20 slalom and giant slalom titles in front of=20 a home crowd composed almost entirely of=20 his adoring “La Bomba” Army.