scholarly journals The Impact of Skinsuit Zigzag Tape Turbulators on Speed Skating Performance

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 988
Author(s):  
Nando Timmer ◽  
Leo Veldhuis

At the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympic Games, zigzag tape was introduced on the race suit lower legs and cap of speed skaters. Application of these zigzag devices on live skaters and cylinders in the wind tunnel showed large improvements in the aerodynamic drag. These wind-tunnel results were unfortunately not widely published, and the impact of the zigzag strips in a real skating environment was never established. This paper aims to show the background of the application of the zigzag tape and to establish the impact it may have had on speed-skating performance. From comparisons of 5000 m races just before, during and just after the Nagano Olympics and an analysis of historic world record data of the 1500 m men’s speed skating, the impact of the zigzag tape turbulators on average lap times on 1500 and 5000 m races is calculated to be about 0.5 s.

Author(s):  
Len Brownlie

The Winter Olympics are a highly competitive sporting environment where subtle improvements in performance can impact the finishing order in many events. Aerodynamic drag is known to be a significant resistive force to human movement in high-speed sports, such as alpine skiing, speed skating and bobsleigh. Aerodynamic drag also represents an important determinant of performance in sports such as ice hockey, snowboard cross and cross-country skiing. From 2000 to 2018, a series of wind tunnel–based research projects were conducted to provide aerodynamically optimized apparel, equipment and wind tunnel simulation training to elite Canadian and American winter sports athletes involved in bobsleigh, skeleton, luge, ice hockey, speed skating, cross-country, alpine and para-alpine skiing, biathlon, ski-cross and snowboard cross. This article reviews the role of aerodynamic drag in winter sports, considers fundamental principles of air flow around bluff bodies and methods of drag reduction in ice and snow sports, while providing experimental results from an extensive database of wind tunnel investigations. Deficits in the literature suggest productive areas for future research to improve athletic performance in these sports.


2004 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 167-176 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caroline Barelle ◽  
Anne Ruby ◽  
Michel Tavernier

Aerodynamic properties are one of the factors that determine speed performance in Alpine skiing. Many studies have examined the consequences of this factor in downhill skiing, and the impact of postural modifications on speed is now well established. To date, only wind tunnel tests have enabled one to measure aerodynamic drag values (a major component of the aerodynamic force in Alpine skiing). Yet such tests are incompatible with the constraints of a regular and accurate follow-up of training programs. The present study proposes an experimental model that permits one to determine a skier's aerodynamic drag coefficient (SCx) based on posture. Experimental SCx measurements made in a wind tunnel are matched with the skier's postural parameters. The accuracy of the model was determined by comparing calculated drag values with measurements observed in a wind tunnel for different postures. For postures corresponding to an optimal aerodynamic penetration (speed position), the uncertainty was 13%. Although this model does not permit an accurate comparison between two skiers, it does satisfactorily account for variations observed in the aerodynamic drag of the same skier in different postures. During Alpine ski training sessions and races, this model may help coaches assess the gain or loss in time induced by modifications in aerodynamic drag corresponding to different postures. It may also be used in other sports to help determine whether the aerodynamic force has a significant impact on performance.


2012 ◽  
Vol 47 (3) ◽  
pp. 286-306 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Atkinson ◽  
Kevin Young

Since the early 2000s, there has been a groundswell of research on terrorism and sports mega-events, including investigations into the impact of ‘9/11’ on fear and risk management strategies at high profile sports events. In this article, we re-examine the case of the Salt Lake City Winter Games of 2002 around Baudrillard’s (1995) concept of the ‘non-event’. We compare the (largely British and North American) mass mediation and discursive framing of terrorism at the 2002 Games with subsequent discourses interwoven into accounts of terrorism, fear and security at the 2004 Summer Olympic Games in Athens and the 2006 Winter Olympic Games in Turin. Of principal interest is the global framing of sports mega-events as targets of terrorism and the ways in which such events become fabricated zones of risk. To understand why there is a lingering media construction of the sports mega-event as an imagined target (and, in many ways, pre-constructed victim) of terrorism, we draw centrally on Baudrillard’s work (1995, 2001, 2002a, 2002b). Specifically, we employ Baudrillard’s concepts of the hyperreal and the non-event as a means of exploring terrorism’s relationship with sport, and the potential usage of such theoretical ideas in the sociology of sport and physical culture more broadly.


Author(s):  
Ekaterina Olegovna Konstantinova ◽  

This paper considers the impact of the country's social and economic development on its sporting achievements using the example of the participating countries of the XXIII Winter Olympics 2018, held in South Korea. Based on the results of statistical analysis, an econometric model is constructed that determines the degree of influence of the studied factor on the resulting variable.


1989 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 151-168 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jos J. de Koning ◽  
Gert de Groot ◽  
Gerrit Jan van Ingen Schenau

Mechanical characteristics of the sprint start in speed skating were measured during the 1988 Winter Olympic Games. From three-dimensional film analysis of the first 4 seconds of the male and female 500-m races, biomechanical variables were determined. The first strokes during the start appeared to be performed by a running-like technique. At a forward velocity of approximately 4 m/sec, the skaters are forced to change this technique to the typical gliding technique as used during speed skating at steady speed. In explaining the time differences on the first 100 meters of the 500-m speed skating race, the effectiveness of the push-off appears to be more important than the observed high power output levels.


2013 ◽  
Vol 307 ◽  
pp. 186-191 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peng Guo ◽  
Xing Jun Hu ◽  
Yun Yun Zhu ◽  
Qiang Fu ◽  
Xin Yu Wang ◽  
...  

Aerodynamic drag reduction of commercial truck at high speed is one of the important ways to reduce its energy consumption. CFD simulation and wind tunnel tests are performed on a kind of commercial truck, to study the influence of the cab shape and different kinds of guide cowls on aerodynamic drag, and the impact mechanism was also analyzed. It shows that the cab shape will make great contributions to the aerodynamic drag while the truck travelling, and through improving the shape of cab, guiding the air flow passed, it can effectively reduce the aerodynamic drag and achieve energy saving.


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