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A couple of weeks ago I discussed the new Ski-Jump world record set in Norway, this time I’m reporting on another record set on UK soil (or a plastic ski slope to be more specific). The record I am referring to is the highest jump from a quarter pipe on a dry ski slope.
On a wet and windy day this February, I travelled to Rossendale Ski Slope in Lancashire with fellow Sports Engineer Heather Driscoll. Although I had visited the ski slope once before as a wide eyed and mal-coordinated teenager to try and learn to ski, I was returning as a nervous and mal-coordinated adult for a very different purpose.
Although not an avid follower of winter sports, I noticed that the world record for the ski-jump was broken on the 11th of February. Johan Remen Evensen of Norway jumped 246.5 m at the Nordic Vikersundbakken ski jumping hill. The video below shows the jump itself.
Alpine skiing events are dominated by countries who have the luxury of snow capped mountains, for obvious reasons. Figure 1 shows that 85% of Alpine skiing medals at the Olympics have been won by only 7 countries. The mountainous countries appear to have a monopoly on the medals and the obvious question is; can countries without established ski resorts really compete on the world stage? I think the simple answer is no, when referring to traditional alpine ski racing. My colleague Leon Foster published a very interesting paper on the relationship between population size and athletic performance which showed that the larger the population participating in a sport, the higher the probability of finding an exceptional athlete. Mountainous countries with extensive high quality ski resorts inevitably have a larger population participating in alpine skiing from a very young age. Hence, the dominance of Austria and Switzerland in figure 1.
- Figure 1. Alpine skiing medals at the Olympics per country.
Figure 1. Laird Hamilton working on his brachistochrone problem.
I recently came across the term ‘brachistochrone‘ and wondered how I’d missed it, especially as Johann Bernoulli initially created it over 300 years ago in June, 1696. The brachistochrone is the solution to an intriguingly simple question:
“Given two points A and B in a vertical plane, assign a path AMB to the moving body M, along which the body will arrive to point B, falling by its own gravity and beginning from A, in the least time.“
Or, to paraphrase it: “what path should a frictionless object follow when travelling between 2 points under gravity alone to minimise its time of travel?”
On the 30th October the world’s best skiers and snowboards, along with thousands of fans/groupies will descend on Battersea power station in London for the Freeze.
The freestyle snowsports competition will involve athletes descending a high run in slope before launching off a massive jump. The organisers have invested heavily in the event and along with the spectators are expecting massive airs and impressive tricks. This is a format which has been applied in cities across the world; although it hasn’t always gone exactly to plan.
wiredchop
leonfoster
theclownshoes
David Curtis
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