Thousands of athletes will vie for Olympic gold next month at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Games. And while success in each sport ultimately comes down to each individual, it definitely helps to be competing on the best gear in the world. Sometimes it can make all the difference. This is our roundup of the top equipment debuting at Sochi鈥攐ne of these products might help the U.S. Olympic Team come home with gold.聽
Luge
How do you build a better聽luge? 鈥淲e spied on the Germans,鈥 admits Duncan Kennedy, manager of technical programs for聽. The team decided they needed to focus on upgrading the kufen鈥攖he steering mechanism that looks like the blade of a hockey stick located at the front of the sled鈥攂efore heading to聽Sochi.
The team hired聽, a Michigan-based chemical company, to help build the new聽kufen. 鈥淲e needed to build a聽kufen聽that was stiff enough for precision driving but soft enough to dampen vibration,鈥 says Kennedy. The team stuck聽GoPro聽cameras underneath the sleds to observe vibration, then Dow Chemical came up with a carbon-fiber composite to satisfy the team鈥檚 needs.
And the results have been impressive.聽聽went from finishing around聽20th聽to capturing four World Cup silver medals this season in the new sled. And that鈥檚 just the start. 鈥淐hris was sliding quite well, but he was sliding above his sled鈥檚 capabilities,鈥 says Kennedy. 鈥淣ow, with the new sled, he could really do some damage in Sochi.鈥
Speed Skating Suit
In speed skating, hundredths of a second can mean the difference between gold and finishing off the podium. To help the American team shave time,聽聽teamed up with聽, best known for building planes and missiles, to develop the most aerodynamic skin-tight suit on the market.
To do that, the development group placed mini-sensors on the skaters and sent them around the Olympic oval in Salt Lake City, capturing hundreds of metrics, including the way the athletes moved, their speed, and their body angles. They then created six models and placed them in a wind tunnel to determine which suit was most aerodynamic.
The result? A compression garment with dimples on the arms and the hood to disturb air and reduce drag, plus breathable mesh on the back to cool the skaters. The uniform is made with a material that hardens when injected into the suit, a technology called 鈥渇low molding鈥 intended to reduce the number of air-catching seams.
How much faster is the new suit, which will debut in聽Sochi? Under Armour won鈥檛 say. But you can assume it will definitely help American athletes on their quest for gold.
鈥淥ur goal was to make a suit that made a difference over the course of a race. But we鈥檝e found the suit is making a difference even over the course of a lap,鈥 says Kevin Haley, Under Armour鈥檚 vice president of innovations.
Head Alpine Skis
What's the brand you鈥檒l see most often on the feet of alpine ski racers at the聽Sochi聽Olympics? Head.聽, giving the brand nearly 1,000 more World Cup points than its closest competitor, Atomic.
Why? Well, part of the credit goes to聽, one of the brand鈥檚 top athletes. 鈥淲e have the best giant slalom (GS) skis because we have the best input from the best athlete in the world,鈥 says Ben Drummond, racing director and team manager at Head USA. 鈥淭ed knows what needs to be done to make a ski fast.鈥
Over the spring,聽Ligety聽will test 20 pairs of GS skis, homing in on the pairs he feel perform the best. The design聽Ligety聽picks as the fastest will then be used by every other Head athlete on the World Cup tour.
Of course technology also plays a role. The skis have a wood core fortified with sheets of metal. The sidewalls are built of phenol, a petroleum-based material that prevents the ski from twisting, something that allows skiers to put greater pressure on the ski without washing it out. When you鈥檙e going 70 mph on a downhill course, you need skis that arc turns, rather than slide out.
Hip-Tec Aerials Helmet
The most important technology used by the U.S. aerials team in聽Sochi聽is one you won鈥檛 be able to see. Inside the team鈥檚 helmets is something called聽, a proprietary combination of medium density EVA foam and soft EPS that dampens forces caused by high- and low-speed falls and rotational impacts by up to 65 percent.
The Truckee, California-based company worked with聽聽to develop the technology, which will debut at the Olympics. The best news? After the Games, Hip-Tec will be available in a number of consumer helmets鈥攁lthough the brands that will employ the technology are being kept quiet for now.
Prosthetic Snowboard Cross Limb
In 1994,聽聽lost her leg to cancer at age eight. But that hasn鈥檛 prevented her from competing in snowboard cross, an event that sends four racers bombing down a half-mile long obstacle course.
Roundy聽has聽medaled聽on the World Cup tour and is a聽Paralympic聽favorite at this year鈥檚 Games. The key to her success is a prosthetic limb called the聽. The $8,000 titanium and aluminum prosthesis uses rubber tendons on a circular joint to provide up to 40 degrees of knee bend, as well as an air pressure shock to help absorb the bumps and rolls of the course.
Roundy聽began using the prosthesis in November and says she鈥檚 gone from being able to feel every bump in the snow to having a smooth ride. 鈥淲ith the old prosthetics,鈥 says聽Roundy, 鈥渋f you went off a 20-foot jump and didn鈥檛 land it perfectly, you鈥檇 get thrown off the course. But the Bartlett Tendon Knee is more forgiving. It definitely allows you to be more aggressive.鈥