Dry ski innovation helps train Olympians

CHENGDU－The athleticism on show at Big Air Shougang has become one of the main focuses of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games, with women's freeski big air champion Gu Ailing and men's snowboard big air gold medalist Su Yiming giving stunning performances.

In Chengdu, Sichuan's provincial capital, a 43-meter-high and 112-meter-long snowless big air venue has attracted the attention of winter sports fans after serving as a training facility for China's Olympians, including Gu and Su.

The facility was built using homegrown innovations in dry ski technology to meet the training requirements for big air sports, including those preparing themselves for the Games, said resort manager Zhang Wei.

Dry ski technology has its roots in 1950s Britain. It mimics snow so that people can ski or snowboard at room temperatures on artificial materials such as plastics.

Early dry ski slopes used plastic tiles that resembled brushes, and users could easily be injured if they fell on the upward-facing plastic spikes.

Jian Feng, a ski enthusiast from Sichuan, began developing a better solution almost a decade ago.

At first, he fixed beads on the tops of the spikes that were able to maintain the smooth surface of the slope without hurting anyone who fell.

Jian's new version also used composite materials to optimize the elasticity of the plastic mat, and changed the height of the spikes. They are arranged at intervals and at different heights to form layers, which can absorb the impact from skis or a snowboard and bounce back－almost like real snow.

Zhang said the new dry ski mat was granted a Chinese patent in 2012, and is now used by over 40 domestic ski resorts and has been exported to the United States, Austria, Canada, Sweden, Britain and Russia.

The snowless big air slope at the Chengdu facility is also equipped with a redesigned cushion pad. Conventional pads at the ends of dry ski slopes are inflated with air to protect athletes when they fall. But they often get stuck in the pads.

The new cushion pad, filled with plastic straws, can absorb the impact of the athletes and support them as they stand steadily to complete landings and other movements, just as they would hope to do in real competitions.

Zhang said Gu trained at the facility for about five hours a day over five days in late January, just days before the opening of the Beijing Games.

"Supported by technological innovation, athletes can explore new movements and challenge their limits in all seasons, and show their best skills to the world," he said.

Xinhua