Assessing the Streif with an inclinometer
Professor Kurt Schindelwig from the University of Innsbruck carefully assesses all the jumps on the Streif ahead of race day to calculate their dimensions. If they are deemed a potential danger to the athletes, the Piste Team intervenes and smooths the line of the slope. The Vorarlberg bio-mechanic’s record is outstanding. His calculations are only correct, however, if the skiers don’t make any tactical errors.
A two-metre-long metal construction is placed on the snow just above the Mausefalle section, before the word “nineteen” can be heard loud and clearly. Two metres closer to the edge of the jump, one hears, “nineteen, twenty.” After another two metres, “nineteen, thirty.” One could be excused for thinking the start times of the news are being read out along this notorious racecourse section on Sunday morning. But no, bio-mechanics professor Kurt Schindelwig from the University of Innsbruck is working here together with Slope Manager Herbert Hauser and Chief of Race Mario Mittermayer-Weinhandl to analyse the jumps on the Streif.
Kurt Schindelwig is making a critical assessment of the prestigious racecourse for the fourth successive season. He has been commissioned by FIS to tour the World Cup venues to assess the speed courses. He travelled directly to Kitzbühel from Wengen, before that he was in St. Anton and Val Gardena/Gröden. He is tasked with working together with the slope teams to ensure the jumps are as safe as possible: “I help the race decision-makers determine whether the jumps should be longer, shorter and how hard the impact should be,” says the man from Vorarlberg. The word ‘impact’ refers to the landing.
To calculate a jump profile, a precision inclinometer is used to assess the race line to the take-off and landing area – always at two-metre intervals. “The most important consideration is the inclination at take-off, although other profile details are significant mitigating factors. For example, the speed ranges and the athletes’ take-off style,” explains Kurt Schindelwig. And because this is the fourth time he has worked in Kitzbühel, he has been able to amass data from previous years and now knows the speeds at which the athletes approach the take-off, their landing style and how they react to the centrifugal forces involved.
The crucial point here is the equivalent landing height. After entering all the data (inclination, speed ranges, take-off behaviour), Kurt Schindelwig's specially developed software calculates the vertical height from which the skiers land on a horizontal surface:” The critical range here is two metres. “There is a risk of injury at two metres, whereas it becomes dangerous from a height of 2.5 metres. If a well-trained professional athlete lands from a height of less than two metres, it shouldn’t be a problem.”
Accompanied by Herbert Hauser and Mario Mittermayer-Weinhandl, Kurt Schindelwig measures all the jumps on the Streif within 90 minutes: Mausefalle, Alte Schneise, Seidlalm, Hausbergkante and Zielsprung. The calculation only takes a few minutes per jump and the results satisfy everyone involved. The jumps are safe.
They still present a challenge for the racers, can sometimes look spectacular, but are not dangerous. “And now comes the but,” interjects the bio-chemist: “This evaluation only applies if the skier jumps correctly and lands with both feet in the direction of travel. This calculation is of no help if they twist or lean back too far while still in the air. The skiers‘ personal ability is a crucial factor.” Kurt Schindelwig’s efforts have already been rewarded. “In the over 40 training runs and race days that I have been involved with - there were no injuries because of a landing being too hard.” If a jump is deemed to be dangerous, it must be diffused by shaving a few degrees off its angle with a snow blower or shovel.” “It’s usually only a matter of one or two degrees. Never more. This is pure fine-tuning and demonstrates how professionally the advance work has already been done,” emphasises Kurt Schindelwig, confirming the diligent efforts of Herbert Hauser’s Slope Team. “We prepare in advance and have an eye and feeling for the job combined with many years of experience,” says the Slope Manager and continues: “Kurt provides us with scientific proof of this work and I trust him.“ It is essential for safety reasons that he comes back every year, as no hill is ever 100 per cent the same as the year before, not to mention the changing snow conditions,” Herbert Hauser is keen to emphasise: “We try to do everything we can in advance to make the race as safe as possible and leave nothing to chance.” Needless to say, we also intervene in the setting of a course if a jump could go too far. In this case, the gates are moved so that the racer is slowed down.
Thanks to Kurt Schindelwig‘s calculations, we now know that the skiers could jump almost 60 metres in the Mausefalle section this year if they approach it at a speed of 105 km/h. How the skier counteracts the centrifugal force acting on him has a direct impact on the length of the jump. “According to these statistics, we can leave the Mausefalle section exactly the way it is. The jumps in 2024 can be described as follows: spectacular, but not dangerous – unless the skier makes a tactical error.” And Kurt Schindelwig will be watching this section very closely this week. He is standing at the Mausefalle, where he is not only filming, but measuring the speed. A colleague is doing the same at one of the other jumps. Nothing is being left to chance.
Photo © K.S.C./alpinguin
