Alpine Canada | Long-Term Athlete Development | Resources

GEPA

Podium Pathway
Gold Medal Profile
Competition (PRT)
Technical & Tactical Skills
Physical Performance
Mental Performance
Lifestyle Performance

Podium Pathway

The Podium Pathway outlines the progression of ski racers from foundational skill development to achieving podium success at the elite level. Built on long-term athlete development (LTAD) principles, it emphasizes gradual growth, skill mastery, and holistic support to prepare athletes for the demands of world-class competition.

Ski racing is an early-exposure, late-specialization sport in which foundational skills are developed early and specialization occurs progressively. The pathway is divided into three phases, each with specific goals and milestones that guide athletes in their journey to becoming podium contenders. By focusing on technical, tactical, physical, and mental capacities while fostering intrinsic motivation and resilience, this pathway ensures athletes are prepared to excel at every stage of their development.

From fostering a love of the sport to refining advanced skills and striving for podium performances, the Podium Pathway is designed to develop well-rounded, competitive athletes equipped for world-stage success.

Phase 1: Building Athletic Foundations

This phase focuses on sparking a love for ski racing while developing physical literacy and fundamental skiing skills. Ski racers must have a natural passion for speed, and introducing the game of ski racing is an exciting way to inspire this desire.

During this stage, skiers should gradually increase their on-snow time and participate in complementary sports to build a solid athletic foundation. Research on top ski racers highlights that consistent exposure to time on snow during this phase is crucial for their development. Engaging with local ski clubs and programs like Strive ensures proper skill progression in a fun and supportive environment. Creating enjoyable and positive experiences early on is key to fostering a lifelong passion for the sport.

Phase 2: Training to Excel

This phase focuses on increasing on-snow training and competition experience to develop consistent performance. Athletes progress from local clubs to provincial teams, aiming to join ACA's Project Excel as they prepare for the next step toward Alpine Canada’s national teams.

Individual Performance Plans (IPPs), developed with national coaches and support teams, ensure optimal athlete development. Performance is tracked through FIS points, with consistent race results driving improvements in junior world rankings. Athletes are also monitored using the ACA Major Games Podium Curves to evaluate their progress.

By the end of this stage, ski racers should be technically sound and physically literate and acquire fundamental technical and tactical skills to enter the refinement level.

Phase 3: Race for the Podium

This phase focuses on preparing athletes for elite podiums at the Olympics, World Cup, and World Championships, requiring total dedication and a winning mindset. Athletes are tracked using the ACA Major Games Podium Curves to ensure progress toward peak performance.

Success at this level demands power, agility, and quick decision-making. Ski racers must generate force on demand and adapt rapidly to changing conditions, courses, and terrain. Champions excel in making fast decisions under pressure, a critical skill in the dynamic environment of ski racing.

A competitive mindset is critical, driven by an intrinsic desire to succeed and a focus on growth over outcomes. How athletes respond to challenges and successes along the pathway shapes their ability to transition to the podium.

Specialization in Ski Racing

Ski racing is an early-exposure, late-specialization sport. Children under six are introduced to skiing to build physical literacy and fundamental skills for long-term success. During the foundational stages, the emphasis is on developing technical, tactical, physical, and mental capacities, with competition taking priority only after skill consolidation. Athletes specialize in ski racing as a primary sport in the Train to Train stage, with podium aspirations emerging after maturation and mastery.

Guiding Principles for Long-Term Development:

Retain as many athletes as possible to foster their full potential.
Avoid designing systems for outliers.
Prioritize long-term growth over short-term wins.
Focus on skill development using ACA LTAD 3.0.
Implement smart calendaring for balanced development and competition success.
Support both athletic and academic goals.

Challenges of Early Specialization:

Poor physical literacy and fundamental skills.
Increased risk of overuse injuries and burnout.
Reduced motivation and early retirement.

Keys to Retention and Success:

Foster a sense of competence and control.
Encourage intrinsic motivation and positive social experiences.
Emphasize skill mastery over winning.
Plan progressive, well-balanced competition calendars.

Reaching elite levels in ski racing requires years of deliberate practice to develop the strength, stamina, speed, power, and skills needed for success in the Race to Win stage. There are no shortcuts to becoming a World Cup podium contender.

Gold Medal Profile

The Gold Medal Profile (GMP) and Podium Pathway are integrated frameworks designed to guide ski racers toward achieving podium success at the highest levels, including the Olympics, Paralympics, and World Championships. The Podium Pathway outlines the sport-specific stages of excellence within the Long-Term Athlete Development (LTAD) model, targeting athletes on a clear trajectory to podium results. It combines the Podium Results Track (PRT) and the GMP to create a comprehensive system for high-performance athlete progression.

The Podium Results Track (PRT) focuses on competition outcomes, establishing performance standards that athletes must meet to advance through the Podium Pathway. These performance standards ensure ski racers are prepared to meet the rigorous demands of international competition.

Athletes with Podium Potential demonstrate evidence of medal capability for upcoming or future Olympic or Paralympic Games. This potential is assessed based on their ability to meet PRT performance standards and GMP indicators, ensuring they are on track for elite success.

Applying the GMP to Ski Racing

The GMP serves as a framework for ski racing by:

Establishing performance targets based on the specific characteristics required for elite ski racers.
Evaluating athletes' strengths and areas for improvement against objective GMP standards.
Identifying emerging talent by assessing athletes against clearly defined criteria.
Guiding the selection of athletes for the National Team and international competitions.

This structured approach ensures athlete development and selection consistency, aligning all efforts to achieve podium success.

Alpine Canada Alpin GMP Pillars

The ACA Gold Medal Profile is built on five essential pillars that drive athlete success while fostering a holistic approach to development. These pillars promote excellence while safeguarding athletes' health, integrity, and well-being throughout their careers:

Competition Performance
Technical/Tactical Skill Performance
Physical Performance
Mental Performance
Lifestyle Performance

Together, these pillars embody the philosophy of “winning well,” ensuring that athletes balance international success with long-term health, integrity, and a passion for the sport. This comprehensive approach equips ski racers to achieve sustainable excellence while fostering fairness, well-being, and a love for competition.

Competition Performance

OBJECTIVE: To develop race-day awareness, mental resilience and the ability to perform consistently in high-stakes competitions.

EXAMPLE: Prepare ski racers to compete effectively in NorAm, European Cup, World Cup races and the Olympic Winter Games.

The “Competitive Performance” pillar focuses on developing the skills, mindset and awareness needed to perform consistently, ethically and fairly in competitive environments. This includes preparing to excel under pressure while respecting sportsmanship and integrity.

The Podium Results Track (PRT), used to assess competition performance, focuses on competition results and provides clear performance standards for progressing toward the podium. These performance standards enable ski racers to meet the rigorous demands of international competition.

Major Games Curves: Performance Standards for Excellence

Alpine Canada evaluates ski racers' progress using the Major Games Curves, as demonstrated below, to determine whether they are on track for podium success at the Olympic Winter Games or World Championships.

The Major Games Curves serve as performance standards designed to guide athletes on their journey to becoming the best in the world. These curves outline the progression of results and world rankings necessary to achieve podium success at the Olympic Winter Games, Paralympic Games, and World Championships. They provide a clear framework for athletes to measure their development and ensure they remain on track for elite performance.

While the curves represent an ideal trajectory, they are not a definitive path. Athletes who may fall off the curve at certain stages can still achieve the performance standards later in their careers through focused training, strategic adjustments, and perseverance. Success is not always linear, and with commitment and support, athletes can realign with the performance standards required for international success.

The Major Games Curves encourage athletes to strive for excellence while acknowledging that individual paths to success vary. They serve as a flexible yet ambitious guide, promoting long-term development and pursuing podium-level performance.

Major Games Performance Curves (PRT) EN

Courbes des Grands Jeux - Suivi des résultats des podiums (FR)

Technical and Tactical Skills

OBJECTIVE: Mastering skiing techniques and strategies to excel in varying race conditions and environments.

EXAMPLE: Adapting tactical approaches to different course layouts at major international competitions.

The Technical and Tactical Skill Performance pillar emphasizes developing precision, adaptability, and strategic thinking essential for ski racing success. This involves mastering core techniques and making sound tactical decisions to handle varying conditions, courses, and terrain.

Purposeful, innovative training reduces the risks of overexertion and burnout while equipping athletes to perform on demand confidently and consistently at the highest levels of competition.

Physical Performance

OBJECTIVE: Building strength, endurance, and injury prevention through robust physical training.

EXAMPLE: Following a periodized training plan to improve stamina and resilience during demanding ski seasons.

Ensures athletes build strength, resilience, and endurance, helping prevent injuries and maintain peak physical health.

Alpine skiing is a complex sport that requires high levels of technical skill and physical fitness to counteract the internal and external forces placed on the body during a run. Developing a high level of overall physical fitness and athleticism is critical to becoming competitive at the international level.

Skiers must be active year-round through participation in complementary sports to develop the athleticism and physical fitness required to succeed in ski racing. ACA utilizes the ACA Fitness Combine Performance Standards to evaluate ski racers' preparedness to train and compete internationally.

The physical demands of ski racing require aerobic endurance, stamina, strength, power, agility, balance and coordination. These physical skills should be developed from a young age to lifelong enjoyment of skiing and sports.

ACA FITNESS COMBINE

The ACA Fitness Combine aims to implement a system-wide standardized testing protocol to ensure Canadian skiers are developing ski-specific physical fitness abilities as they progress through the athlete development pathway while tracking the progression of skiers.

PURPOSE

Elite ski racers must develop general physical fitness. Physical literacy, the establishment of efficient fundamental movement patterns in coordination in various situations, and the development of general strength, power, and endurance are critical neuromuscular and physiological capacities required of elite-level ski racers.

An athlete's fitness level will either support or inhibit technical skill development by greatly influencing their ability to tolerate the training volumes required across different stages of development.

Analysis and research have shown that the following physical fitness factors are characteristic of top ski racers:

Good aerobic work capacity (high maximal oxygen uptake/VO2Max)
Great muscular strength in terms of dynamic muscle function
Significantly prolonged muscular endurance, in terms of dynamic muscle function in given submaximal work
Well-developed muscular coordination

Assessing and quantifying these qualities can help identify potential performance deficits and track long-term trends. This document overviews Alpine Canada Alpin's (ACA) nationwide physical fitness combine protocol. As ACA collects data and builds normative trends for each gender and phase of development, the ACA Fitness Combine will identify target areas for later development to promote the development of successful elite-level ski racers.

Certain situations may allow teams to access more sophisticated testing methods. This nationwide physical fitness combined program does not prevent the inclusion of additional testing. Instead, it provides guidelines for benchmarking ski-specific fitness abilities that are important for all ski racers in the development pathway.

The ACA Fitness Combine protocol represents a critical step forward in Canadian alpine ski racing. Standardized physical fitness testing implemented across various stages of development contributes to this cohesive pathway. A development pathway is not a series of independent stops as a skier ascends the ranks to international competition. Instead, it should be one continuous effort on behalf of all stakeholders to provide a fun, cohesive and exhilarating experience for all athletes.

Mental Performance

OBJECTIVE: Cultivate self-discipline, focus and mental resilience to meet the challenges of a high-stakes competition.

EXAMPLE: Use mental preparation techniques to stay calm during the World Cup finals.

The Mental Performance Pillar at Alpine Canada cultivates focus, self-regulation, and resilience, empowering athletes to manage pressure and safeguard their psychological well-being.

This pillar utilizes the Gold Medal Profile for Sport Psychology (GMP-SP), a framework created by Natalie Durand-Bush, Joseph Baker, Frank van den Berg, Veronique Richard, and Gordon A. Bloom. The GMP-SP identifies 11 mental performance competencies divided into three key components:

Fundamental Competencies: Motivation, confidence, resilience.
Self-Regulation Competencies: Self-awareness, stress management, emotion/arousal regulation, attentional control.
Interpersonal Competencies: Athlete-coach relationship, leadership, teamwork, communication.

Mental health is a critical foundation for performance and overall well-being. The GMP-SP offers structured guidance to help athletes and practitioners develop psychological skills, implement self-regulation strategies, and foster interpersonal relationships, ultimately enhancing athletic success.

Source: Durand-Bush, N., Baker, J., van den Berg, F., Richard, V., & Bloom, G. A. (2023). Gold Medal Profile for Sport Psychology: A framework for developing high-performance athletes. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 35(4), 547–570. https://doi.org/10.1080/10413200.2022.2055224

Lifestyle Performance

Supports a balanced approach to life, encouraging athletes to manage their athletic and personal commitments while promoting a healthy lifestyle and ethical conduct.

OBJECTIVE: Maintaining a balance between athletic, academic, and personal life while fostering a strong work ethic.

EXAMPLE: Athletes manage nutrition, rest, work, school, and recovery while completing year-round training schedules.

Path to the Podium