At 44 feet per second, the velocity of a young racer in a moderate giant slalom, vision is a very important sense, and slalom racers have less than a second between gates. In a sport where inches can make the difference between clearing a gate or straddling it, and between skiing the fastest line or a line just sufficiently slower to affect the result, the eyes play an important role.

So it is always interesting to see on the computer screen as I process race images how often racers close their eyes on course. An eye blink typically lasts between .1 and .4 of a second, long enough for a racer to travel at least 4 feet and perhaps 16 feet in a moderate giant slalom course. A high camera shutter speed can easily capture a quick blink, especially when shooting at 30 frames per second, and racers don't stop blinking just because they are on a race course. But that isn't necessarily the explanation. Racers certainly aren't taking mini-naps on the hill.  Nonetheless, they may be closing their eyes in involuntary anticipation of contact with a race gate. Probably this doesn't affect their runs: they are or should be looking at least one gate ahead anyway, not looking at the gate they are about to pass or, more likely, about to deflect with significant contact. 

So racers aren't skiing blindly, with their eyes closed as they approach a gate.  By that point they are already striving to be on line for the gate or gates following.

Here are a few examples from the 2022-23 season, depicting both junior racers and experienced collegiate and FIS competitors: 0M0A1781-Enhanced-NR untitled-0M0A4182-Enhanced-NR 0M0A9579-Enhanced-NR 0M0A4219 0M0A4212 0M0A8531-2 0M0A0879 0M0A0325-2 0M0A0579 0M0A8278 0M0A8294 0M0A8219 untitled-8115-3 0M0A8937