Wings for the development of ice and snow sports (Winter Olympics Vision)

Figure: The application of wind tunnel technology to competitive sports is one of the main scientific and technological means to improve the performance of racing events. Zhang Yuanzhao (center), a member of the research team at the Wind Tunnel Laboratory at Beijing Jiaotong University, conducts a related study with the test team (photo taken on July 16, 2021). Xinhua News Agency reporter Ren Chao photographed: Li Yuxi in a steel frame snowmobile race. Photo by Yi Xiao, reporter of this newspaper: Gao Tingyu in a speed skating competition. Global Times reporter Li Hao photographed

On the "Snow Dragon" track, snowmobiles are galloping. On February 14, in the women's single snowmobile final of the Beijing Winter Olympics, Chinese players Huai Mingming and Ying Qing ranked sixth and ninth, showing their strength in this new event of the Beijing Winter Olympics.

When the 2015 Winter Olympics bid was successful, about 1/3 of the 109 sub-events of the Beijing Winter Olympics had barely been carried out in the mainland. In this Winter Olympics, Chinese ice and snow athletes have won a total of 104 sub-events and 194 seats to participate in the competition (including 4 "in-competition" sub-events that need to be reconfirmed by other sub-events of the Beijing Winter Olympic Games), of which 35 sub-events have qualified for the Winter Olympics for the first time. In the process of preparing for the Winter Olympics, each team pays attention to the use of scientific and technological means to improve the quality of training and plug in the wings of China's ice and snow sports development.

In the men's steel frame bobsleigh competition at the Beijing Winter Olympics, Yan Wengang of the Chinese team won a valuable bronze medal, achieving a breakthrough of zero medals for the Chinese delegation in the bobsleigh event of the Winter Olympics. Players such as Yin Zheng, Zhao Dan and Li Yuxi also played well. In the view of Sun Fan, the leader of the Chinese steel frame snow team, the six-degree-of-freedom training system independently developed by the mainland is of great benefit to the training of Chinese athletes.

The six degrees of freedom training system can be freely rotated in 6 directions of up, down, front, back, left and right, equipped with equipment such as snowmobiles and sleds, combined with virtual reality and digital simulation and other technologies, this system can simulate real competitions and training scenarios. Yin Zheng, who won the fifth place in the men's steel frame snowmobile, introduced that in the 2020-2021 season, the Chinese steel frame snow team did not go abroad to participate in the competition, and during the domestic training, the six-degree-of-freedom training system in the ice and snow project training base of the Erqi Factory in Beijing played a great role.

In this Winter Olympics, Yin Zheng surpassed a group of masters to create a starting record for the "Snow Dragon" track with a time of 4.58 seconds. In addition to his outstanding ability, the running shoes under his feet have also become an important boost to help him create good results. According to reports, the running shoe studs under the feet of Chinese steel frame snowmobile runners are 3D printed from titanium alloy. Making such a pair of running shoes is a systematic project. "Athletes create good results, and the help of such a pair of domestic, innovative running shoes is inseparable." Ni Huizhong, secretary general of the Chinese sports delegation, said.

Sun Fan said that China's steel frame snowmobile started from scratch, and the more advanced equipment and scientific training methods "will bring us more confidence and confidence in preparing for the Winter Olympics."

On the first matchday after the opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics, the Chinese short track speed skating team won the mixed relay championship with a time of 2:37.348, 0.016 seconds faster than the second place. Behind the millisecond difference in the battle for victory and defeat is the athlete's precise control of details - the slight change of ice pedaling action and sliding posture can have a huge impact on speed. How to reduce wind resistance and move forward with a perfect posture? In the preparation of Chinese ice and snow athletes, the "sports wind tunnel" plays an important role.

In cooperation with relevant scientific research units, the State General Administration of Sport has designed a "wind tunnel" that meets the characteristics of winter Olympic sports such as snowmobiles, sledding, ski jumping, speed skating, etc., which can simulate important arena environments such as wind speed, wind direction and temperature, help athletes correct and master the aerial posture, reduce the risk of injury, and greatly improve training efficiency.

According to Gerda, coach of the Nordic biathlon team, ski jumpers can jump up to 7 to 8 times a morning during training, and each time they fly in the air for about 5 seconds, "to experience the feeling of the air in less than a minute, the opportunity is fleeting." It is after the introduction of wind tunnel technology that the nordic athletes on the mainland have made significant progress.

Wind tunnel technology is also fully applied to the research and development of athletes' competition clothing. According to reports, the speed skating suit of the men's 500-meter champion Gao Tingyu of the Winter Olympics is developed according to personal characteristics, the wrapping degree is very high, and it has also undergone more than 500 hours of wind tunnel testing, which can effectively reduce wind resistance.

A 100-metre-long tow rope, paired with a high-speed ejection device from the human body, and a large fan around the ice rink provide strong winds, allowing speed skaters to effectively practice curve sliding techniques and constantly push the limits of speed. Ke Peng, associate professor of Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, said that the erqi factory ice and snow project training base is also equipped with a comprehensive training monitoring system, which can monitor the body indicators, sliding speed, posture, taxi route and trajectory of speed skaters, etc. "This provides a reference for improving technical actions, and coaches can understand the status of athletes in real time through the big screen." ”

Video capture and playback and corresponding data analysis have also been widely used in the training of various ice and snow projects. In the daily training of athletes in the freestyle ski aerial skills project, there will be multiple camera positions to collect the aerial movement data of the athletes in real time, not only can the slow-motion video playback be performed at any time, but also the indicators of the athletes' competitive ability can be analyzed based on massive training data and big data analysis technology.

In curling projects that require accurate hand feel, curling trajectory data is also collected, collated and systematically analyzed during training. "Based on the video, we can analyze the problems of our own skills and help us be more accurate in path training." Ma Xiuyue, captain of the Chinese men's curling team, said.

Using scientific and technological means to improve the quality of training, Chinese ice and snow athletes who are forging ahead are using one breakthrough after another to paint a splendid winter Olympic picture in the Beijing Winter Olympic Games.

(Comprehensive reporting by Li Shuo, Fan Jiayuan, Liu Shuoyang, Sun Longfei and Yang Xun)

People's Daily (2022-02-15 13th edition)