Friday, January 18, 2002
New get-ups suit Canadian skaters fine
By CAMERON MAXWELL -- Calgary Sun
It's not like Canadian long-track speed skaters such as Catriona Le May Doan and Jeremy Wotherspoon need space-age suits to make them go faster.
But the Cat and the 'Spoon, both world record holders and at the top of their sport, along with the rest of Canada's speed skaters, are going to benefit from a modern, aerodynamically enhanced outfit designed especially for the Winter Games.
The new Descente space-age skin suit, created by Oscar winner Eiko Ishioka, who won an Academy Award for costume design for Dracula, will be unveiled at the Olympics in Salt Lake City next month.
Ishioka patterned the superhero-like look of the red, blue and black suit, which has dominant red streaks over the legs, chest and shoulders.
With Ishioka perfecting the look, Calgary's Dr. Ruth Morey-Sorrentino, director of research and technology for the Olympic Oval, and officials with Descente, put the science into and helped test the suits.
While the fabric is exactly the same as that on the current Canadian suits, the new ones have specially placed spirals on the arms and legs which deflect the flow of air over the suit, reducing turbulence in the process.
Four years in the making, different shaped and sized spirals were tested to get the best aerodynamic effect and the new suits maximize turbulence reduction.
In addition, there is a pattern of raised silicone ribs which help a skater's stability and vertical control around the track.
The technology, known as VORTEX C2 (muscle), is the first of its kind for speed skate suits.
And if all that wasn't enough, Canada's speed skaters will be aided from a new area of compression on the suit to help reduce drag by another 5% over the current outfit.
2002 Games Long Track Speed Skating Coverage
