Measuring speed skaters

Dutch trio performing ground-breaking speed skating research

Nienke Wind, Floor Hettinga and Leanne Schmidt check the clapskate of Dutch skater Miles Ringsred. / Photo: Ken Bendiktsen

Most U of C students take it for granted, but for three Dutch students, running into internationally renowned speed skaters in a Starbucks line-up is an unbelievable thrill. “Absolutely, the first time I saw some skaters in the line-up I was so excited!” gushes Floor Hettinga. “You are walking down the hall and there is Cindy Klassen or during a competition (Dutch speed skating star) Sven Kramer. You would not see that in Holland.”

In Holland, speed skating is almost a national obsession. The stars of the sport are regarded with the same rock-star fervor reserved for hockey stars in Canada. It’s a big part of the attraction for Hettinga, Leanne Schmidt and Nienke Wind, international students in the Faculty of Kinesiology, who are doing student research on pacing strategies in speed skating. It’s research they hope may one day revolutionize the sport of speed skating. “We came for the speed skating,” say Hettinga. “And, of course, for the Human Performance Lab” (HPL).

The HPL is the Faculty of Kinesiology’s world renowned research institute that attracts some of the world’s top students and scholars. The combination of elite sports and cutting edge research is irresistible to budding sports scientists like Hettinga, Schmidt and Wind. The trio is in Canada using the HPL’s state-of-the-art equipment to measure every conceivable variant in performance among nationally ranked speed skaters. Breath-by-breath oxygen intake is measured using a small, portable machine called a Cosmed. Knee and trunk angle is recorded using cameras, as is velocity, with recordings taken every 100 metres. Air resistance and ice friction are also measured and recorded. The goal is to predict optimal pacing strategies which will give individual skaters their best possible times.

“We describe the skater in the computer and then prescribe different models to see which has the best results,” says Hettinga. “We then get the skater to try to skate using the optimal model to see if it’s possible.”

The big difference between this and previous research on pacing in speed skating is that, if successful, individual optimal pacing strategies can be generated for each athlete showing them the best way to expend their energy at that moment.

“We wanted to be practical,” explains Nienke. “Eventually, if the model works, then we can calculate for an individual what their optimal pacing would be. We can calculate what you can do with your energy right now…we are just distributing the energy differently.”

Having just finished the research, data analysis is now required to see if optimal pacing strategies can be implemented by individual skaters. The big question is whether there are physiological limitations to the skaters which will not allow them to reach their optimal performance as determined by the research. A possible stumbling block is the crouch position used by skaters.

“Speed skating is a unique sport in that way,” says Fluor. “You have the crouch position. It determines how you push off, how efficient it is and how much energy you lose due to air friction.”

However, due to fatigue, the crouch position is very hard to maintain. If skaters do find it impossible to maintain their optimal profiles, further studies could be done on training techniques so skaters could overcome the difficulties.

“But that’s the next step,” says Leanne. “We are working step-by-step toward solutions. First we have to see the results.”