If you look out the hurrying skaters during this year ’s Winter Olympics , you ’ll certainly notice something strange about the footgear they ’re sporting . With a hinged brand that moves severally from the thrill , New speed skate look nothing like hockey game or number skate — they’re clap skates . What ’s the use of such freaky footgear ?
bang skates were contrive almost a hundred eld ago , but it took until the last few decennium for them to gain traction in the militant sport . “ The modern twenty-four hour period clap - skate was developed by a Dutch radical in the mid eighties , ” says Scott Van Horne , a former Canadian interior focal ratio skater who has meditate the biomechanics of skater using bam skate .
“ At first the elite skaters would n’t touch them , ” Van Horne says , but in 1996 , some of the Dutch women ’s squad took a chance , and switched over . The results were astonishing — everybody in the sport noticed . “ abruptly skaters you might otherwise deem ‘ machine politician ’ were now using clap skate and contest for the podiums , ” Van Horne says .
By 1997 , clap skater were breaking world records , and “ by the next twelvemonth everybody had switched , ” Van Horne says . At the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano , Japan , speed skating was dominate by the footwear — and has been ever since .
Although these new skate were shaving precious seconds off the Olympians ’ times , for a while , nobody really make out why .
“ in the beginning hoi polloi guess the skate helped thin out friction , ” Van Horne says . “ With the traditional skates , it used to be that at the last of your stride , you ’d push up on to the front of the skate ’s sword . You could even see the frappe fly into the melodic line . ” Conversely , on a clap skate , the blade preserve flat contact with the water ice throughout the entire stride .
But as much gumption as that make , reduced rubbing isn’treallywhy gonorrhoea skate are so effective . “ Basically what clap skates do is give a more advantageous position for generating power at the knee , ” Van Horne says . With the old skates , pushing up on to the front of the skate ’s vane think of that the skater ’s knee was plunge a tiny scrap more of his / her vigor — about 5 per centum , according to Van Horne . Pretty small , he admits , but just enough to make a bad conflict out on the skating rink .
