Komperdell NT WC 19 mm SL Race Poles with WC Punch Cover

World Cup slalom poles with a 19 mm shaft — the stiffest of Komperdell's National Team line — supplied with the World Cup punch cover fitted.

• High-density 19 mm aluminium shafts
• Racing rubber grip developed with athletes
• World Cup punch cover included

What shaft diameter actually means. A wider aluminium shaft is stiffer and more resistant to bending, at a small weight cost. 16 mm is a junior pole, 18 mm suits most adult slalom racers, and 19 mm is for stronger athletes who bend thinner poles or who punch gates hard enough to deform them. If you are straightening poles after every training block, go wider.

The punch cover is not optional in slalom. You clear every gate with your hands, and an unprotected grip means bruised knuckles within one course. Buying the pole with the cover already fitted saves matching parts later.

Sizing: turn the pole upside down, grip under the basket with the tip on the floor, and look for roughly a right angle at the elbow. Slalom poles run shorter than the same athlete's GS poles.

See the 18 mm version, all slalom poles, and pole guards.