Athletes all across the globe are always seeking that competitive edge when it comes to Olympic glory, whether that be through enhanced equipment or tapping into data analytics. But what about combining the two together?
UK-based technology firm Feldspar is building a world-first sensor-enabled running track that aims to redefine athletic performance and the live fan experience by utilising key data points.
To go into further detail on how AI and data analytics will look to enhance the 2024 Paris Olympics as a whole, Feldspar CEO Alvina Chen broke down how these innovations are set to transform athletics for years to come.
Insider Sport: Firstly, can you describe how data and analytics have evolved over the past several years in track and field to the present day?
Alvina Chen: Since the 2021 Olympics, there has been a surge in research studies analysing athletes’ motion in order to enhance performance and to optimise training techniques. These have been done mostly using innovations like sensors embedded in shoes and tracking motion on small sensor-enabled mats.
While granular data has been available to elite athletes through a few sports specialists and world-class coaches like Ralph Mann, more research is needed to draw robust conclusions, build understanding on an individual level, and democratise this data for the broader athlete community and sports fans.
Historically cameras have been used mainly for broadcast purposes and to derive stats and metrics; these have not been readily available in real-time for athletes, coaches or broadcasters. Additionally, the current data provided to athletes during a normal coaching session are basic analytics when put in comparison to the evolution of data in other sports such as football and premium motorsports.
For example, during training sessions, coaches will use phones, which makes it very hard to determine important metrics like stride length and frequency as they lack precise references. At high-profile events, pressure sensors in starting blocks capture initial moments and roaming cameras provide some insights, but these sources alone fail to paint a comprehensive picture of athlete performance.
Overall, we don’t learn very much about what happens during that short period between the starting point and finish line of the 100m sprint. As a result, this leaves a gap where athletes seek key performance metrics to understand more about their performance in events and training.
Insider Sport: How will Feldspar’s sensor-enabled running track help open up new metrics and data for athletes and coaches?
AC: For the first time, advanced integrated sensing technologies will track athletes’ footsteps directly, transforming performance analysis through data captured real-time.
Our flooring tech will provide more than what is currently generally available for coaches and athletes. The flooring will display information on stride length, stride frequency, ground contact time, and max velocity in real-time, something previously unseen in mainstream sports.
The real-time data and advanced metrics provide actionable insights to athletes and coaches through live feedback during extended running sessions. They will receive a comprehensive view of daily performance and necessary adjustments to meet training objectives through a wearable device, like a smartwatch.
These insights can also identify potential risk areas of injury, alerting coaches and athletes to reduce intensity or adjust techniques as needed. While many data points are typically estimated or accessible only to elite athletes, our tech-driven running track aims to democratise such data in athletics.
In the future, by offering an unprecedented wealth and depth of data, we enable athletes and coaches to make informed decisions about training and performance on a broader scale.
Insider Sport: How will the running track also elevate the sports entertainment aspect for fans as well?
AC: Feldspar’s real-time data will elevate fan engagement, mirroring the success seen in football and motorsports, where data has elevated the fan experience both in stadiums and for viewers worldwide on broadcast or social media.
By offering a deeper understanding of individual performance throughout the sprints, beyond just gold-silver-bronze medallists, we aim to heighten excitement at future premium sports events and provide a more comprehensive view of race and performance data.
We are committed to transforming athletics by democratising data and raising its profile to that of other tech-driven, high-profile sports. We also aim to enrich the spectator experience with detailed insights. The data, which can be displayed on big screens at events, integrated into live broadcasts, and accessed via mobile apps, will launch track and field into the digital age, making the viewing experience more interactive and engaging.
Using millions of data points from embedded and trackside sensors, our solution moulds this information into an engaging live fan experience through its advanced AI capabilities. The advanced stats pave the way for new, richer stories to share with fans about athletes, creating more action, energy, and excitement both on and off the track.
Insider Sport: The running track will also be supported by AI. How has AI developed in athletics compared to other sports, such as football?
AC: The evolution of AI’s impact on all sports will become clearer in the near future, but it is already evident that it will have a crucial part to play in the development of sports.
Sophisticated AI algorithms can now sift through vast amounts of data – including athlete stats, injury history, and disciplinary records – to anticipate potential risks and performance trajectories. This is more advanced in sports that historically have greater access to data such as football.
As the requirement and demand for more data in athletics becomes apparent through innovations like ours, AI will have a greater impact in analysing that data to inform athlete performance and welfare, redefining the understanding of human performance in athletics.
For example, AI implementation in our track will generate valuable insights from the sensor data streams, informing potential injury risk factors based on individual and aggregate data. It will also allow athletes and coaches to adjust strategies before, during, and after training and racing to mitigate those factors.
Insider Sport: Do you anticipate AI to play a major role at the Paris Olympics? In what ways will we see this technology impact both athletes and fans?
AC: It will be really interesting to watch how new technologies will be used at the games. Recently, the IOC launched the Olympic AI Agenda outlining how they will use AI to support various initiatives benefiting athletes and fans throughout the game.
For example, they are utilising AI to streamline and tackle online abuse by automatically flagging posts on the relevant social media platforms. This is a highly positive use of AI to address an important issue across all elite-level sports. Additionally, AI will help generate clips and highlights in multiple languages, bringing the best action to all corners of the globe and reducing the gap between fans and athletes.
There are many other use cases for AI throughout the games, including sustainability, broadcasting, and fan engagement. The games provide a solid foundation for the IOC to trial and fine-tune new technologies and assess their impact. It will be fascinating to follow this during the games.
Insider Sport: Lastly, and thank you for your time, why do you believe that innovations such as Feldspar’s running track are set to transform athletics?
AC: Many sports have been revolutionised through data and digitalisation. By enhancing access to data for coaches and athletes, we are building a foundation that provides a deeper understanding of their agility than ever before, helping to elevate athletic performance to the next level.
This pioneering innovation represents a major technological advancement in track and field. We aim to create a faster, smarter, next-generation track, and we anticipate this to significantly accelerate the development of modern athletics for years to come.
Some of the insights we will be able to bring to light have never been showcased in athletics before at such scale. In addition to boosting performance and reducing injury risk, our technology has the potential to win and engage new fans of the sport and bring existing supporters closer to the athletes than ever before.
