CHRONOLOGICAL AGE OF ALPINE SKI MEDAL WINNERS IN THE 2015-2018 OLYMPIC CYCLE

Personal motivation, as well as engagement in alpine skiing, brought the authors to inspect the differences in average chronological age of alpine skiers, and to present the results to the professional public, in order to improve planning and programming of the training process. The paper analyzed the average chronological age of medal winning professional alpine skiers in the World Cups in the 2015-2018 Olympic cycle. The following alpine disciplines were analyzed: Slalom (SL), Giant Slalom (GS), Super-G (SG), Downhill (DH) and Alpine Combination (AC). The obtained results indicate that there was a significant difference in the average chronological age between male and female competitors. The results of the present study show that there were differences in GS, SG, DH, and AC, where male skiers are on average older than female skiers. Conversely, there was no significant difference between male and female skiers in SL. The results of this study could aid coaches and experts in future years of individual management of sports careers of male and female skiers.

A Cross-Sectional Observation on Maximal Eccentric Hamstring Strength in 7- to 15-Year-Old Competitive Alpine Skiers

Severe knee injuries are common in alpine skiing and the hamstring muscles are known to counteract the anterior tibial displacement that typically accompanies major injury mechanisms. This study aimed to assess the Maximal Eccentric Hamstring Strength (MEHS) of youth competitive alpine skiers during Nordic Hamstring Exercise (NHE) in terms of dependence of sex, age and biological maturation. A total of 246 7- to 15-year-old skiers were tested with respect to their MEHS using an NHE-based measurement device (Vald Performance, Newstead, Australia). Significantly greater absolute MEHS was observed in skiers of the under 15 years (U15) category compared to skiers under 10 years old (U10) (227.9 ± 61.1 N vs. 142.6 ± 28.9 N; p < 0.001), also when grouped by sex. Absolute MEHS was revealed to be lower in U15 females compared to males (213.5 ± 49.0 N vs. 241.9 ± 68.4 N; p = 0.001); in U10 skiers there was no sex difference. For all age groups and sexes, absolute MEHS values were significantly correlated with age and biological maturation (p < 0.001). However, when normalized to body weight such associations disappeared, which is why this is strongly recommended when testing around their growth spurt. Overall, this study established sport-specific normative reference data that may be of interest to researchers and sport practitioners alike.

The Impact of Ski Geometry Data and Standing Height on the Risk of Falling in Recreational Alpine Skiers

The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of individual, equipment-related and environmental factors associated with falls among adult recreational skiers. Individual, equipment-related (ski geometry data) and environmental data were collected by questionnaire among uninjured skiers with and without reported falls during the skiing day. Ski length, side cut radius, and width of the waist were directly recorded from the ski and standing height was measured using a digital sliding caliper. Absolute ski length was relativized to body height. A total of 1174 recreational skiers participated in this study, of whom 13.5% (n = 158) reported at least one fall during the skiing day. Results of the multiple logistic regression analysis found that a lower age, a very good/good fitness level, a moderate skiing speed, a lower relativized ski length, and fresh and grippy snow conditions decreased, while a lower skill level, a larger sidecut radius and an easy slope difficulty increased risk of falling on ski slopes. Besides individual and environmental factors, a lower relativized ski length and a lower sidecut radius decreased the risk of falling. Considering these ski geometry parameters when buying new skis could potentially decrease the risk of falling and thus prevent injuries in recreational skiers.

Hydration Status in Adolescent Alpine Skiers During a Training Camp

Maintaining euhydration is important for optimal health, performance and recovery, but can be challenging for alpine skiers when training in a relatively cold but dry environment. This study aimed to evaluate hydration status, fluid loss and fluid intake in adolescent alpine skiers during a training camp. Twelve athletes aged 14.3 ± 0.9 years volunteered to participate in the study. Athletes resided at an altitude of 1600 m and trained between 1614 and 2164 m. During eight consecutive days, urine specific gravity was measured before each morning training session using a refractometer. Changes in body weight representing fluid loss and ad libitum fluid intake during each morning training session were assessed using a precision scale. Mean pre-training urine specific gravity remained stable throughout the training camp. Individual values ranged between 1.010 and 1.028 g/cm3with 50 to 83% of athletes in a hypohydrated state (urine specific gravity ≥ 1.020 g/cm3). Mean training induced fluid loss remained stable throughout the training camp (range -420 to -587 g) with individual losses up to 1197 g (-3.5%). Fluid intake was significantly lower than fluid loss during each training session. To conclude, urine specific gravity values before training indicated insufficient daily fluid intake in more than half of the athletes. Furthermore, fluid intake during training in adolescent alpine skiers was suboptimal even when drinks were provided ad libitum. Coaches and athletes should be encouraged to carefully monitor hydration status and to ensure that alpine skiers drink sufficiently during and in between training sessions.

AI with Robotics for leg support to skiers and snowboarders

In general, Robotics is the area concerned with the linking of perception to action, and AI must have a central role in Robotics if the association is to be intelligent. Skiing and Snowboarding are famous winter games worldwide, enjoyed by participants of all ages and skill levels. Leg dominance has been recounted as a probable risk factor in downhill skiers for lower-limb injuries. Furthermore, snowboarders are more likely to injure their ankles than alpine skiers. To overcome these issues, in this paper, the Artificial Intelligence assisted Statistical model (AIASM) has been proposed to the smart robotic supporting leg for skiers and snowboarders. This paper introduces the concept and study of a robotic modular leg (RML) system with a reduced degree of freedom (DOF). The RML gives a perspective on physics that uses dynamic skiing methods and strategies to produce functional ski movements. Kinematic and dynamic models for the leg system are developed and used for modeling tendency, angle, and measurement, unweighting technique to create balanced and realistic curvature turns and peaks. The experimental results show that the suggested system has a performance rate of 95.31% with different ski movements at various intervals, curves, diameters, and peak shapes for tracking the desired footpath.

Lack of Predictive Power in Commonly Used Tests for Performance in Alpine Skiing

Competitive alpine skiing is a complex sport that requires high physical and technical competence. Testing the physical status of athletes may be important to increase their ability to achieve elite sport-specific performance. This study aimed to investigate the predictive power of the national test battery of the Swedish Olympic Committee (Fysprofilen) and anthropometric variables in the prediction of competitive performance of elite alpine skiers, indicated by Fédération Internationale de Ski points. Data from fourteen Swedish elite female alpine skiers were analyzed using bivariate and multivariate statistical methods. Physiological test results and anthropometric data could not generate significant bivariate or multivariate models for prediction of competitive performance. Multivariate regression (R2) and prediction (Q2) models for Fédération Internationale de Ski Slalom and Giant Slalom rank reached R2=0.27 to 0.43, Q2=+− 0.8 to−0.17, indicating no valid models. The overall interpretation of these and previous findings are that future test batteries must be validated before implemented, and that test results should be treated with caution when it comes to prediction of future competitive results. Applying tests that are not validated against competitive performance risk misleading coaches and training advisors who aim to increase the sports-specific performance of the individual athlete.

Den egensinnige från Kittelfjäll

This article is a sports biography of Bengt-Erik Grahn, a prominent figure in Swedish alpine skiing during the 1960s. By discussing representations of Bengt-Erik Grahn in the Swedish daily press and comparing these with his own life story and memories from his time as an elite alpine skier, the objective is to study the cultural identities that appear in relation to his sports career. Bengt-Erik Grahn grew up in a Sámi family in Kittelfjäll in the Swedish province of Västerbotten and spent his early school years at the Sámi nomad school in Tärnaby. Due to his Sámi background and position as a representative of the Swedish national alpine team, the article focuses in particular on how identity constructs such as “Swedishness” and “Sáminess” appear in the source material. For instance, it is argued that his Sámi identity served an important function when Bengt-Erik Grahn was depicted as a Swedish sports hero. In addition, his Sámi background, meager way of life, odd sporting outfit (a hand-knitted wool sweater and hat) and profession as a forestry worker were all characteristics presented in the press coverage as distinguishing the Swedish sporting identity of amateurism from what was perceived as a jet-set and playboy mentality represented by the professional Continental European alpine skiers. However, simultaneously with this idealization, Bengt-Erik Grahn’s Sámi heritage was also used as a stereotype to explain his aggressive and risky tactics, which often resulted in crashes in the most important competitions. Bengt-Erik Grahn’s own life story in several ways offers nuance to the perceptions of the daily press.In particular, it reveals the challenges facing Bengt-Erik Grahn in his youth as he chose to focus on a career in alpine skiing. For example, there were strong expectations that a Sámi skier should devote him- or herself to cross-country skiing, which was considered a traditional Sámi sport at the time. Alpine skiing, on the other hand, was perceived as modern and alien to Sámi sports culture. In that way, Bengt-Erik Grahn’s odd and independent way of skiing appears in his life story as a demonstration of empowerment. Despite the prevailing culture, he chose the sport and how to perform it entirely on his own.

Connected Skiing: Motion Quality Quantification in Alpine Skiing

Recent developments in sensing technology have made wearable computing smaller and cheaper. While many wearable technologies aim to quantify motion, there are few which aim to qualify motion. (2) To develop a wearable system to quantify motion quality during alpine skiing, IMUs were affixed to the ski boots of nineteen expert alpine skiers while they completed a set protocol of skiing styles, included carving and drifting in long, medium, and short radii. The IMU data were processed according to the previously published skiing activity recognition chain algorithms for turn segmentation, enrichment, and turn style classification Principal component models were learned on the time series variables edge angle, symmetry, radial force, and speed to identify the sources of variability in a subset of reference skiers. The remaining data were scored by comparing the PC score distributions of variables to the reference dataset. (3) The algorithm was able to differentiate between an expert and beginner skier, but not between an expert and a ski instructor, or a ski instructor and a beginner. (4) The scoring algorithm is a novel concept to quantify motion quality but is limited by the accuracy and relevance of the input data.