History of downhill skiing
First Modern Skis The first modern ski revolution
started in 1868 when Sondre Norheim demonstrated the
Telemark ski, with a side cut that narrowed the
ski underfoot while the tip and tail remained wider. In
the same way as the camber, the side cut produced a ski
that flexed more easily when tipped on edge, so that in
a turn its edge followed the shape of the turn instead
of skidding sideways ( Fry 214).
The shape was already so effective that it is used nowadays as well. Norheim also popularized new type of binding, which was stiffer and held the heel centered over the ski when turning.
https://www.skiinghistory.org/history/short-history-skis-0
Picture downloaded from
https://www.lesfousdusport.net/2016/09/19/jean-vuarnet-l-alchimiste-invente-l-%C5%93uf-en-or-massif/
Modern downhill skiing
By the start of the 20th century, a
second upstart style of skiing competition had joined
the older established cross-country skiing races and
ski-jumping contests of Nordic skiing. The downhill
races of this Alpine skiing, developed in the
mountainous terrain of the Alps in central Europe, were
generally dismissed by Nordic skiers, who considered
their annual cross-country and ski-jumping events at the
Holmenkollen Ski Festival near Oslo (from 1892) and the
Nordic Games (held quadrennially from 1901 to 1917 and
1922 to 1926) to be the only proper representation of
the sport of skiing. In 1930, however, the Nordic skiing
countries of Norway, Sweden, and Finland finally
withdrew their resistance and allowed Alpine events to
be fully sanctioned by skiing’s international governing
body, the Fédération Internationale de Ski (FIS;
International Ski Federation), which was founded in
1924.
https://www.britannica.com/sports/skiing
Jan Cech