KENDRA WONG
The Peak (Simon Fraser University)

BURNABY, B.C. (CUP) — Over the past couple of years, Canadian athletes have just barely missed the mark when it comes to earning a spot on the Olympic podium.

A team at the University of British Columbia has created new materials aimed at pushing our athletes that one step further.

Savvas Hatzikiriakos, a chemical and biological engineering professor at UBC, spearheaded the project, which saw the creation of new super-low friction surfaces for metals and plastic that can be used on skates, skis and snowboards. The research team included co-investigator Peter Englezos and PhD students Christos Stamboulides and Anne-Marie Kietzig.

During the three years involved in refining the new materials, there were two projects developed: one dedicated to ski and snowboard equipment, while the other worked with skates. Both projects aimed at minimizing friction in order to increase speed.

The new base created for Nordic skis and snowboards involved finding the specific combination of additives to put into polymers that allowed the material to be shaped easier, flow better and reduce friction. Hatzikiriakos’s expertise in polymeric materials helped him to finalize the specific formula for the material — which he has kept so secret that even the Canadian Olympic Committee is unaware of its contents.

The ice-friction project works to optimize the roughness of the edges of athletes’ skates by micro- patterning the skates with lasers. The microscopic patterns on speed skaters’ blades mimic the surface structure of lotus leaves, which are naturally designed to repel water. Putting this pattern on skate blades, according to the research, has resulted in the decrease of friction by 30 to 40 per cent.

“One year ago, (we tested the metals) and we got good responses from the athletes and coaches on the Olympic team,” Hatzikiriakos said.

“The expectation now is for Canada to be the top country in the next Olympic games.”

The opportunity to create innovative and speed enhancing technology emerged three years ago when Hatzikiriakos proposed his ideas of experimenting with different polymeric materials between metals and ice to the Canadian Olympic Committee.

After a series of meetings between the Canadian Olympic Committee and various departments at UBC, they finally decided that Hatzikiriakos’ expertise made him the most qualified candidate for this specific project.

Despite the team’s new inventions, Hatzikiriakos is quick to note that UBC is not the only university developing new equipment for Canada’s Olympic athletes.

The project was funded by the $8-million “top secret” program, which aims to give Canadian Olympic athletes an edge through science at the Vancouver Olympics. According to Todd Allinger, the Vancouver-based biomechanist who manages the program, they have completed 55 projects with the help of 17 universities and institutions.

Researchers at the Université de Sherbrooke in Quebec invented adjustable sit skis through the program and a team at the University of Calgary’s Schulich School of Engineering assembled a missile guidance system into a downhill skier’s backpack to track skiers’ progress.

“If you look at the history of the Olympics, Canadian athletes won a lot of fourth and fifth places and the difference between the fourth and fifth place and a podium position is very small, a split second,” said Hatzikiriakos.

“Canada did not have this competitive advantage in (competing against other countries). But now, I think that we’ll be in better shape. The talent is there with Canadian athletes, but of course you need to have the best equipment as well.”

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graphic Danni Siemens