Troy Flanagan, Richard Kirby and Alan Schonberger Present Paper at ILLCSS

The first congress on Science and Skiing in the low lands ILLCSS was held on the 11th of October 2008 in Brussels Belgium.  Troy Flanagan, director of the US Ski Team’s Sports Science Department, Richard Kirby, Inventor of the vLink, and Alan Schonberger, World Champian Skier and owner of the Ski Studio presented a paper on their research related to the accuracy of the vLink on various different surfaces.  Click here to see the power point presentation.

Troy Flanagan speaks of vLink at Sportzedge Forum in Australia

Troy Flanagan, the director of the US Ski Team’s sports science department, lead’s sports science initiatives for the US Olympic team in the lead up to the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.  His work involves collaborations on technology development with organizations such as NASA, MIT, the US defense forces, and Advanced Racing Computers.  Troy spoke at the Sportzedge Forum in Australia this September about the science and technology behind the US Ski Team.  He’s allowed us to share his presentation about the vLink’s use by the US Ski Team.

The US Ski Team women took three vLink racing computers to New Zealand this summer and the team released the following press announcement concerning their experience: 

Cook: “Make it to beep when I’m slow”

PARK CITY, Utah (Aug. 27) – Alpine racer Stacey Cook (Mammoth, CA) was certain she was knifing a turn while training in New Zealand. But, according to the constant beep in her ear, she was wrong.

The U.S. Ski Team Sports Science department has been kicking out the jams, so to speak, during summer alpine training camps in the Southern Hemisphere. One of the hits: the vLink Racing Computer, a training tool attached to skis and designed to beep when a racer is sliding turns instead of carving.

“It’s so cool to hear what you can’t feel,” said Cook, the 2008 U.S. downhill and super G champion. “It’s like having a coach right in my ear. There was a certain turn that I thought I was nailing, but the beep says I’m not.”

It would also beep when athletes were accelerating, a high tone for the gas and a low tone for the brake. For Cook the mixed noises was too confusing, especially when “maching” on an icy slope. So she started asking Sports Science Director Troy Flanagan questions.

“She wanted to know if we could make it beep only when she was slowing down,” said Flanagan, who has worked with Olympic and World Champions across 16 Summer Olympic sports. “And we’re working on it to do that. Athletes are very sophisticated these days and it’s our job to find and cultivate the tools to help them perform.”

As part of that process, Flanagan and Co. tested the vLink before bringing it to the athletes. Off the shelf, the computer takes photos of the snow at a rate of 6,500 images per second. For Flanagan, that wasn’t enough.

“We took it to a pitched skiing carpet and experimented with it and we also tested it on a run we built on a snow bank behind the Team training center in Park City. We sent the vLink down on a sled in various snow conditions and had a magnet stop it at the bottom,” he said.

The idea was to make sure it was easy to use and extremely accurate before even presenting it to athletes like Cook. By the time Flanagan was done with it, it was measuring sideways slip at half a millimeter. Additionally coaches can overlap the tones with video in order to analyze a run more accurately.

According to Cook, it’s going to help her find that extra hundredth of a second she needs to be faster. The women’s Alpine Ski Team heads to Chile in mid September with vLink in tow.

International Congress on Science and Skiing

We just returned from the 4^th International Congress on Science and Skiing held at St. Christoph am Arlberg in Tirol, Austria. 

The conference consisted of 6 days packed with high quality scientific presentations on every aspect of skiing imaginable. 

Richard Kirby, the vLink inventor, presented the results of the research done with Junior racers and the vLink audio feedback on Mt Hood during the summer of 2007.  His presentation is available here.  If you need the Microsoft PowerPoint slide presentation viewer, it can be downloaded here.

Keystone Camp with the U.S. Ski Team

Our team made some interesting observations about tactics: It is already understood that in steep pitches, some drift at the initiation of the turn is required. Normally, the earlier in the turn you can make a pivot/drift move, the faster you will be. However, we saw one national team skier move the pivot all the way back to the crossover point with a phenomenal 1.5 m/s (more than 3 miles per hour) increase in speed, which he was able to carry through the turn. The vLink’s slip feedback helps you identify where in the turn you are pivoting and at what point you are fully hooking up the ski. It was a surprise to discover how much speed can be lost due to  a small break in aerodynamic form – even without any associated lateral displacement. In one example, we observed a skier who lost a significant 0.6 m/s (more than one mile per hour) due to a small lapse in balance that caused him to briefly stand high with his arms extended. The vLink’s speed feedback can be very useful in determining whether or not you have optimized your body position aerodynamically.  The vLink also shed light upon the high cost of making a small error just prior to a flatter section of the course. In one case, a skier made a minor error just above a flat section and was not able to recuperate the lost speed for two gates. This suggests that it is very important to choose a line that gives you a high exit speed, but also a low level of risk when coming off a steep section into a flat section.
We also learned a few things about how to best incorporate the vLink racing computer into your training regimen: It is very helpful (even if you are a World Cup-level skier) to dedicate a little time to learning what the vLink racing computer feedback is telling you before pushing the limits in your turns. The training exercises here were specifically designed for that purpose. Within a few runs, you’ll be ready to start using the vLink racing computer to improve your skiing.If possible, plan on using the vLink racing computer for free skiing and drills for a few days before you progress to gates. You are more likely to gain the maximum benefit from the vLink’s feedback once you are familiar enough with it that it is registering at a subconscious level.

vLink Inventor Presenting Scientific Paper at ICSS

A presentation about the results of vLink research done at Mount Hood this summer was accepted by the International Congress on Science and Skiing (ICSS). vLink inventor Richard Kirby will present the data as a featured speaker at the 4th annual ICSS conference in St. Christophe, Austria. The abstract can be viewed here. 

vLink Sports Science Center

This month, we introduce the new vLink Sports Science Corner, where we will post technical articles that share advanced ski training insight made possible by research using the vLink. Don’t worry though – you don’t have to have a PhD in biomechanics to benefit from these articles. All you need is a desire to better understand the “how and why” behind ski racing performance.

The first article, “Analyzing Performance through USSA and Ski Club vLink Racing Computer Research” describes the method that is used by the U.S. Ski team, as well as by some ski camps at Mount Hood this summer, to analyze skier line and technique. It will provide key information for understanding future articles, as it describes how to read vLink speed and slip data off of a photomontage like this one.

Sharing the vLink among club or team members

Although the vLink racing computer was originally designed as an individual training tool, it can also be shared among several skiers in the same club or on the same team. The quick release capability of the vLink makes moving the shuttles between skis a 30-second process. To help keep the cost down for clubs and teams, a 10-pack of vLink mount kits is now available at a substantially reduced price. The mount kits are available from our Web Store.

Mounting the vLink

Many people are surprised at how easy it is to mount the vLink racing computer. We’ve made a short video showing the process so you can see what is involved. View it.

Mount Hood - First Results