At the Beijing Winter Olympics, the Chinese short track speed skating team won gold and silver. The "battle robes" worn by the athletes are quite highly technological. Liu Li, a professor at Beijing Fashion Institute, revealed that the team drew more than 2,000 design manuscripts, conducted more than 110 sample suits and more than 800 hours of wind tunnel testing, and finally designed this speed skating suit.
"In the winter racing category, 0.01 seconds may determine the ownership of the medal. Clothing and equipment are the way to fight for the millimeter. Liu Li said that high-speed ice sliding requires air resistance against ten winds. Therefore, the design of speed skating suits should start from the fabric and cut to maximize its ability to reduce drag.
On the TV screen, the audience can clearly see that the short-track speed skating suit is a tight jumpsuit, and the athlete can maintain a stable posture in the body state. From a professional point of view, the front of this outfit should have a strong pulling force compared to the back of the body. Liu Li said that this set of clothes is generally composed of a variety of fabrics, and the structure should be moderately divided to meet the needs of sports to the greatest extent.
The process of making this costume is also full of technology. For example, tailor-made, not simply relying on a ruler. The team used 3D printing technology to model the athletes, simulating the stretching and deformation of the skin under various postures. The garment is then tailored based on this data.
This costume also has to undergo the test of the wind tunnel and "blow the wind" in advance. In 2020, the State General Administration of Sport built four sports wind tunnels, and scientifically evaluated and corrected the sports posture of each team in the winter sports event. During the more than 800 hours of wind tunnel testing, the team continuously optimized the fabric and cut of the clothing, and finally improved the resistance reduction performance of the clothing by 10%.
The suit should also be strong enough. Because short-track speed skaters are prone to collisions during competitions, they are at risk of being cut by an ice knife. The team referenced more than 100 fabrics in the world and finally succeeded in developing an anti-cutting fabric. "It's made of a composite yarn of two properties." Liu Li said that the material has both strong and super elastic properties, and the ice knife cannot be broken.
In the process of research and development, the designer also has a "heart-warming" move. Liu Li explained with a smile that keeping warm is the most "unnoticed" part of the short track speed skating competition. Because athletes warm up before the game, the muscles are already active. In addition to long-distance sports, in the short-term speed skating competition, the athletes have not yet felt that the cold has ended the race. "But we found that sometimes the temperature of the training base can reach more than minus 20 degrees Celsius, and athletes also need to maintain the temperature during weekday training, so some warm designs have been added to the development of speed skating suits."
The winter Olympic games are in full swing, and Liu Li is also in the "season". On the evening of February 5, the beijing Winter Olympics short track speed skating event produced the first gold medal. Liu Li cheered for the Chinese team on the sidelines, while she and the team followed up the athletes' competition status in real time and made timely adjustments to the suits. She said excitedly: "These two years of day and night hard work have made me unforgettable, and the first gold of the Chinese team has also verified the phrase '0.01 seconds can determine the ownership of a medal', the Chinese team cheers! ”
Liu Li and her colleagues witnessed the first gold of the Chinese team at the Winter Olympics