Slalom Performance in Elite Alpine Ski Racing can be Predicted by Fore/Aft Movement Dynamics

Ronald W. Kipp, Robert C. Reid, Matthias Gilgien, Tron Moger, Hvard Tjrhom, Per Haugen, Gerald Smith Norwegian School of Sport Sciences, Oslo, Norway
INTRODUCTION:
Fore/aft position and movement are important technical characteristics in ski racing that may affect slalom performance (Tjrhom et al., 2007). While the overall fore/aft range of motion was described in earlier studies, the phasing of this motion remains to be understood. Different fore/aft strategies are observable between elite skiers (Figure 1). The purpose of this study was to quantify successful and less successful center-of-mass fore/aft movement strategies.

METHODS:
The performances of 6 members of the Norwegian mens Europa Cup team were analyzed through 2 complete turns during a slalom race simulation. Skier 3D positions (Figure 2) were determined from 4 panning cameras and calibration control points distributed near the course (Nachbauer et al., 1996). Utilizing the method of Schiefermller et al. (2005), a local coordinate system (LCS) originating at the outside ankle joint center was defined at each point in time.
LCS Z

RESULTS:
Fore/aft position is graphed in Figure 4 showing the ensemble average across skiers which involved about 30 cm range of motion.
Gate

A.

Fore

Fore/Aft Ratio = 1.38

Fore

Aft

B.
Aft

Fore

LCS Y

Figure 3. Definition of the outside ankle joint center local coordinate system (LCS).

Figure 4. Ensemble average (SD) of fore/aft position through a complete turn cycle (Tjrhom et al 2007).

Fore/Aft Ratio = 3.87 Aft

LCS X

Figure 1. Two athletes demonstrating different fore/aft dynamics in technique. Athlete A is thought to have greater fore/aft motion than Athlete B. In particular, notice the differences in images 3 to 5.
Control Points

The LCS axes were defined as being parallel and perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the outside ski and normal to the plane of the snow surface (x, y, and z axes, respectively) as in Figure 3.

Mean fore/aft ratio was 2.44 1.41. Controlling for each skiers entrance velocity, the partial correlation coefficient between the fore/aft ratio and performance time was significant (Figure 5 below).

GCS Z (m)
CAM 1

CAM 2 CAM 4

GCS X (m) GCS Y (m) Figure 2. Experimental set-up indicating the global coordinate system (GCS), control points, camera positions, and gate positions.
CAM 3

Motion of the whole body center of mass in the LCS x dimension was divided into fore and aft motion relative to the outside ankle joint and time normalized to the turn cycle. Fore and aft position data were separately integrated over time in the positive and negative portions of the turn cycle and were then divided by the percent of turn cycle which they represented. Finally, the forward values were divided by the aft values to create a fore/aft ratio where a value of 1 would indicate a symmetrical distribution of fore/aft movement. Values greater than or less than 1 indicate movement patterns which are biased forward or backward, respectively. These ratios were then correlated with performance time.

Figure 6. Examples of a FAST (A) and SLOW (B) skier fore/aft profile. The shaded area in the curve above the 0 line is similar to the area below the 0 line in the FAST run, while the area in the SLOW run is much greater in the positive direction, reflecting a bias toward the fore position.

CONCLUSIONS:
The strong, positive correlation of fore/aft ratio with performance time indicates that faster skiers demonstrated a greater symmetry between fore and aft positioning than slower skiers.

r = 0.98 p = 0.004

REFERENCES:
Figure 5. Relationship between performance time and fore/aft ratio. Faster skiers had ratios close to 1 indicating a range of motion centered with respect to the ankle.
Tjrhom et al. (2007). In Mller et al. (Eds.) Abstract Book of the 4th International Congress on Science and Skiing, 158. Nachbauer et al. (1996). J Appl Biomech, 12, 104-115. Schiefermller et al. (2005). In Mller et al. (Eds.) Science and Skiing III, Meyer & Meyer Sport, 172-185.