In bobsledding, what the toes do can affect who gets the gold

Author: Allie Wilkinson / Source: Science News for Students

The bobsled teams competing at this year’s Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea, are hoping to start on the right foot. And that begins with the right shoes.

So perhaps it’s no surprise that footwear scientists in South Korea have been hard at work building a better bobsled shoe for their home team.

Bobsledding is one of the fastest winter sports. Only 0.001 second can make the difference between bringing home a silver medal or gold. That’s in a race that only takes 60 seconds. And the most important part of that race takes place in just the first six seconds.

In bobsled, one, two or four athletes race down a track in an enclosed sled, propelled just by gravity. Most of a team’s success depends on what it does before the clock even begins. That’s during the first 15 meters (49 feet) of the “push start” — when they push the sled across the icy track, just before jumping in. Shortening the time by just 0.01 second could shorten the finishing time by 0.03 second, recent studies have shown. That’s more than enough to make the difference between a gold medal and disappointment.

“Thirty to 40 percent of the race outcome is decided by the push start,” says Alex Harrison. He would know. Harrison used to be a bobsled racer (and probably would have gone to the 2018 Winter Olympics if he hadn’t hurt his foot last fall). He also studied the bobsled push start as a graduate student at East Tennessee State University in Johnson City.

Now, as a sports physiologist, he studies how physical activity affects the body.

Being fast helps with the push start, but it’s not enough. Bobsled athletes also have to be strong, especially in the legs, Harrison notes. Large tissue fibers known as fast twitch muscles help with short, powerful bursts of movement. That’s why sprinters make for good bobsledders. Their muscles are already primed for these fast starts.

The athletes need to keep their knees and feet low to the ground during…

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