Jani doing the "Jani Move"

[Vlad Popov]

I’m not very good with words, and I think John H. Gilmour deserves to give an introduction.

“I have seen some good stills of Slalom, one of my favorite shots is of Jani with is body impossibly contorted making a nasty offset- truly looks to defy the laws of physics…. How many "lurkers" are reading this that are dying to see what this looks like. How many of them would be blown away to see what is possible?”

“Jani Soderhall 7 time slalom champ of Sweden 3 time world champion- uses Stacy Peralta's stance coupled with a rotary swinging of the arms which coincides with the apex of each turn- this gives him almost unlimited traction for heavily offset gates and affords him the needed balance when he displaces his body far to the right or left. Indeed so of the still photos of him show him in nearly impossible positions with his body nearly lateral and bent in an extreme stretched “S” shape. Truly amazing to watch. I can't get into those positions when supporting myself on a couch! No wonder his girlfriend (now wife, VP) never leaves him! Jani's style allows him very fast acceleration from a near standstill and the ability to do super offset tight cones. I do not know how this works at very high speeds, but it looks good. You can hear the Urethane tearing at the pavement when he rides.”

Thanks John! I feel the same way.

We’ve heard about this guy in US. Some raced him. Some met him. It is time to see the one and only - the famous "Jani Move"!

[img]/Racers/JaniTwistedMove.jpg[/img]




<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Vlad Popov on 2002-11-13 21:10 ]</font>

[Matthew Wilson]

Damn!
I believe that is called <b>CONTORTIONISM</b>!!

[Glenn S]

Jani,
I'd love to get a slalom lesson from you, except that were about 8,000 mile apart. Do you by chance have any good video of yourself that shows your technique that you'd like to post.
Thanks,
Glenn
PS. Oh yeah Vlad, in your member picture there, it sure looks like to me like your givin' it your best Jani impression

[Vlad Popov]

Glen, I’m not even close! Jani’s pointing finger is bent, while mine is sticking out. Therefore, we have two opposite and VERY distinct styles! There is Jani and there are Jani-wonna-be’s. Two different differences!
A picture is worth a thousand words (or dollars?). The “Jani move” is really helpful for riding SICK-o offsets (speed up where others slow down).
I’d love to see Euro videos too. Maybe they can be distributed here in US on a video CD/DVD for, say, $25 or so?
Vlad.

[John Gilmour]

I think what is interesting is that Jani stacks all of his weight over his center of mass (Navel) with his arm movement. Ideally this should maximize traction- and he also has lots of travel which is good for acelleration.

If he were to slide his body would remain centered over the board rather than the deck shooting out from under him. Riding in this position lets you attack "unmakeable offsets" and .....should you not make them- you might just be able to slide the deck to make the offset without losing too much speed.

Vlad you might never break that habit of letting your finger stick out- but amputation is going way too far.

Jose DeMatos also has the abilty to run sick offsets which it seems to me he does by remaining closer to the ground and extending his body....never did quite figure out how it was done.