Quantitative evaluation of turn movements for alpine ski athletes and study on ski boots adjustment.

Abstract

Research Center for Winter Sports Science of Kitami Institute of Technology was established in 2016. Curling and alpine skiing are researched at this center located in a snowy and heavy cold area. In research on alpine skiing, we are conducting experiments to adjust the ski boots and improve their skills of Japanese skiers. Previous experimental studies have shown that the large inclination angle and a fast inclination angular velocity during turns have a great influence on the improvement of downhill speed in alpine skiing ^{(2) ~ (5)}. Furthermore, it has been found that attaching parts to the underside of the footbed inside the ski boot changes the inclination angle and inclination angular velocity. In this study, we used the ski simulator "SkyTech" at this center and "the real-time experimental data collection system" with a pressure sensor and the inclination angle measuring devices, and performed an experiment to adjustment of depression angle. And we calculated the parameters for evaluating the athletes’ turn movements from the obtained experimental data, and investigated the quantitative evaluation of alpine skiers’ skill of turning motion.