2022, the year in which we arrived at the future: "Before we were shamans, now there is a data technician in each bench"

UNDER RECORD

• JAVIER SANCHEZ

  @javisanchez

Updated Sunday, December 25, 2022-17:09

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• Cycling 75,000 euros, 3D printing and inspired by humpback whales: this is the futuristic bicycle with which Ganna pulverized the hour record

• Athletics Eliud Kipchoge's routine towards another world record: eat the same, sleep the same, run the same

A man flies through the streets of Berlin and everyone looks at his face, that unequivocal smile of

.

Few pay attention to his feet anymore, although the shoes he wears, the Nike Alphafly, are a prodigy of technology, with ultra-light foam, a unique carbon fiber plate and air chambers compacted to just 39 millimeters. .

The marathon world record is first and foremost the merit of a historic runner, not a milestone of innovation.

A man flies equally in the velodrome s

uizo de Grenchen and they all look at his face, that strained look of

.

Few pay attention to his bicycle, despite the fact that his

Pinarello Bolide is revolutionary, made with an unprecedented material, partly manufactured in 3D and with a seatpost full of grooves to imitate humpback whales.

.

This time the name of the cyclist will be remembered from the hour record, not the name of the machine.

The future is here.

In recent times, especially this 2022 that is ending, sport has assimilated technology as its own element, it no longer focuses on debates, it no longer agglomerates attention.

Inventing, developing, specifying is already as routine as training and even occasional practitioners use gadgets that once seemed fictional.

“We are in a very interesting moment.

We have already learned to use multiple materials, we have perfected the aerodynamics, we have integrated nutrition and so on.

Now we are entering the era of infinity of data”, advances to EL MUNDO

, former cyclist, current Movistar Team engineer and part of a peloton that has normalized what was revolution.

The appearance of the British team Sky in 2010 banished the more traditional cycling and brought the sport to its current place: absolutely everything is metered.

«Before, mistakes were made, such as the narrow width of the tires, because there were things that were accepted without further ado, that were not studied.

With Sky, everyone jumped on the bandwagon, hired engineers, data analysts, nutritionists, and today a lot is invested in research," says Velasco, who admits that this is why there are teams, such as INEOS -the heir to Sky-, the Jumbo or the UAE that start with a certain advantage.

It is an already accepted fact: all competition is already conditioned by the access of those aspiring to innovation, their ability to lead it, their ingenuity to discover new advantages.

Mass data against injuries

Before it only happened in the engine and today it is seen in many disciplines, although the engine continues to stand out.

If in Formula 1 technology has been pointing to the champion for years, in MotoGP the same thing is beginning to happen without scandals.

He will be remembered as the winner of the last World Cup, although what defined his title was the inventiveness of his team, Ducati.

There is no longer a motorcycle without wings or openings in its chassis, there is no longer a race that does not depend on aerodynamics, which has reduced overtaking and has increased top speed: this season Jorge Martín set a new record with 363.6 kilometers / hour .

Something similar occurs in golf, where the lightness of the shaft of the clubs has increased the length of the shots, and in tennis or paddle tennis, where the new surfaces have reduced exchanges.

And that may not be performance where technology has advanced the most.

In recent times, innovation has made the sport fairer, as was demonstrated in the last World Cup with the semi-automatic offside and the chip on the ball, and above all it has made the sport safer.

The new obsession is called injury prevention and the next frontier is injury reduction.

«The field of sports medicine today is very broad and is being studied a lot.

Right now there are two very interesting trends.

On the one hand, sensorization, wearables, which athletes wear and generate a lot of information: blood oxygen saturation, heart rate variability... And on the other, artificial intelligence, which can collect this data en masse and, For example, calculate to the minute how much fatigue each player accumulates.

The combination of both advances represents a revolution," he explains.

, Head of Innovation at the Institute of Biomechanics of Valencia, who works in the search for new materials, new playing surfaces and new prevention techniques.

An example: with their innovative 4D scanner they can analyze how the body responds to each movement, measure to the millimeter the torsion of the joints and, therefore, detect if a knee is unstable.

«Ten years ago they only called us from more technical sports, such as athletics, swimming or cycling.

In football we were considered little more than shamans.

Now they hire us, in many benches there are already data technicians and that is making our field evolve, "concludes González, who admits that what he has learned is not only useful for the elite.

The popular ones also benefit.

The popular, key factor

Currently, with just a phone and an app, an amateur athlete can record his actions and see where he fails: Do you heel too much when running? Do you open your elbow too much when swimming?

Before, biomechanics was locked up in the High Performance Centers, with their sensors and their expensive cameras.

Not anymore.

The popularization of heart rate monitors and power meters has been a fact for years, but there is much more.

With thousands of gadgets on the market, anyone can measure their amount of body fat, their glucose curve, their hydration level, the altitude they are at, and so on.

As with new materials, such as Kipchoge's sneakers or the most sophisticated bicycles, it is true that access to these innovations is still expensive, but it is not for the rich.

More in sports with more practitioners.

«Technology depends a lot on the market it is aimed at.

In strength training there are innovations that have been around for more than 20 years, but they have not reached the general public, perhaps because there are still prejudices regarding this type of work.

However, running is very popular and is highly regarded socially and that is why it attracts more novelties, such as running shoes or GPS watches”, he analyzes.

, researcher in Sports Sciences at the Autonomous University of Madrid and creator of apps like My Jump Lab, which helps measure performance.

In his opinion, there is another factor that influences the advancement of technology in sports, beyond how popular it is: money.

“Nobody will buy a certain technology if it doesn't offer at least the hope of helping to win games or reduce injuries.

Medical prevention, in fact, is closely linked to the economy.

There are studies that estimate the annual losses of the big clubs due to injuries at hundreds of millions of euros, ”Balsalobre-Fernández closes, although in reality there is a third limitation for inventions: the rules.

Innovation in a fair competition

In search of equality, all organizations have established limits on technology, although there are sports that are more permissive than others.

Golf years ago curtailed advances in the head of the clubs, determining materials and sizes, and today all that remains is to lighten the rods.

Athletics, on the other hand, recently faced a similar issue in a different way.

When Nike began incorporating carbon fiber plates into their shoes, records began to fall and the International Federation, with some delay, made a mild decision.

Now it's worth anything except making shoes more than 40 millimeters thick.

The great fear in general is that, novelty after novelty, in the end the brand, team or franchise that can dedicate the most money to R&D and that has the best materials and experts will end up winning.

And only motor sports, due to its bifid nature, due to the importance of the vehicles in the result, can allow that to happen.

“Now we have a study group dedicated to shoes, talking to brands, consulting with experts and that is very important.

In athletics there have always been advances;

in recent years we have talked about Nike, but before Adidas dominated.

The essential thing to maintain the integrity of the competition is to achieve the balance between technology and regulation, “he says.

, president of World Athletics and double Olympic champion of 1,500 meters in conversation with this newspaper.

The former middle-distance runner, now a leader, admits he is enthusiastic about the progress in the diagnosis of injuries - "I wish they had existed in my time," he says - and concludes that technology can only make the sport better: "There will always be innovations on the They will have to be discussed, they will have to be legislated, their suitability will have to be assessed, but today there are so many avenues open to help athletes that, without a doubt, we can only encourage researchers to continue their work.

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