Abstract
Advancements in wearable technology have facilitated performance monitoring in a number of sports. Figure skating may also benefit from this technology, but the inherent movements present some unique challenges. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of using an inertial measurement unit (IMU) to monitor three aspects of figure skating jumping performance: jump count, jump height, and rotation speed. Seven competitive figure skaters, outfitted with a waist-mounted IMU, performed a total of 59 isolated multi-revolution jumps and their competition routines, which consisted of 41 multi-revolution jumps along with spins, footwork, and other skills. The isolated jumps were used to develop a jump identification algorithm, which was tested on the competition routines. Four algorithms to estimate jump height from flight time were then evaluated using calibrated video as a gold standard. The identification algorithm counted 39 of the 41 program jumps correctly, with one false positive. Flight time and jump height errors under 7% and 15% respectively were found using a peak-to-peak scaling algorithm. Rotation speeds up to 1,500°/s were noted, with peak speeds occurring just over halfway between takeoff and landing. Overall, jump monitoring via IMUs may be an efficient aid for figure skaters training multi-revolution jumps.
Highlights
Figure skating has evolved throughout its history from an artform to an athletic sport
A wearable jump monitor for figure skating set for the jump-finding algorithm and as the primary analysis for the jump height calculations
The results are promising for jump identification and rotation speed quantification, but some accuracy hurdles remain for accurate jump height estimation
Summary
Figure skating has evolved throughout its history from an artform to an athletic sport. In 1990 the discipline of figures, to which the sport owes its name, was eliminated from competitions. This event accelerated an already ongoing shift in training time from figures to freestyle, and to jumping. Today’s competitive skaters train extensively, engaging in several hours daily of both on-ice and off-ice workouts. The number of jumps that elite skaters perform each day has been roughly estimated at between 50 and 100 [1], but to our knowledge has not been formally tracked. With a potential link between increased jumping and increased injury rates [2,3,4,5,6,7,8], there is a need to track jump training volume
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