Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

Short track speed skating (STSS) is among the fastest human-propelled sports, with speeds exceeding 14 m/s. Despite an increasing interest, the biomechanics of STSS are poorly understood, and there are limited tools to measure athletes' technique. Equipment has seen minimal advancement, and the risks of injuries, both acute and overuse, are high. With only around forty articles focusing on STSS, mostly addressing athletes' physiology or tactics, the sport has one of the highest injury rates in winter sports, with concussions as the second most common injury. Field studies on athletes' biomechanics face technical challenges, although wearable devices show promise. Current STSS biomechanics studies have explored some aspects, but many areas, including blade parameters and STSS helmets, remain uncharted or unvalidated. In recent years, I have focused on developing performance analysis tools in STSS, employing wearable devices. Supervising multiple pilot projects, I created a unique tool using a single inertial measurement unit (IMU) for precise skate stroke detection. Preliminary validations of pressure insoles and inertial suits, the design of new adjustable cups, and an epidemiological study on falls in STSS were also conducted. Despite these efforts, gaps in understanding the biomechanics of STSS persist. The proposed 5-year research program aims to model the biomechanics of STSS athletes, optimizing performance and minimizing injury risks. It includes three mid-term objectives: creating advanced tools for on-field biomechanics measurement, modeling biomechanics for technique optimization and asymmetry reduction, and enhancing sliding and protective equipment in STSS. The program will train undergraduate, master's, and PhD students, collecting data from 38 athletes in Canadian national and international STSS teams, using equipment accessible through partnerships. Each student will focus on distinct yet interconnected components of the mid-term objectives: developing a new IMU tool for measuring athletes' biomechanics, customizing blade adjustments to improve performance, creating a musculoskeletal model of athletes to enhance technical efficiency and minimize asymmetries, evaluating the effectiveness of STSS helmets in reducing concussions, and modeling impacts in STSS as a first step toward designing new helmets. This program will conclude with validated in-field tools and adjustable cups for objective coaching advices and biomechanical adjustments, and advancing impact mechanism understanding in STSS. The long-term goal is to design helmets for reducing concussions, potentially benefitting other high-speed sports.