Last fall I designed a new jumpharness for figure skating training - if the old hand held/hockey stick version is 1.0 and the straight cable version (up until now state-of-the-art) is 2.0 then the Altaround Jumpharness is version 3.0
I was given the task by the municipality to install a straight cable jumpharness in Älta Icerink but ran into difficulties with the building structure - a straight cable will induce enormous horizontal loads if you pull down on the middle, and a lot of steel reinforcement work would be necessary. The straight cable jumpharness wasn't a great solution in this particular building. One day in the canteen I was telling my colleague Assar Lindeblad about this project when he jokingly suggested I needed to figure out a way to bend the cable in the curve, so that the figure skaters could continue around the corner. I suddenly realized I had a way of doing that - not with a cable, but with a rail system that I could run around the entire rink. After lunch, I called Movomech (they make load handling rail systems for industrial purposes) and within half an hour I had a working solution. The next step was to talk to the figure skating trainer, Marie Olsson of Älta IF - and she thought it was a great concept and told me about how they couldn't properly train Axel jumps and not Ögel and Salkov at all on a straigh cable jumpharness - and that no round-the-rink jumpharness existed, anywhere.
Next, I needed a go-ahead from Åsa Engwall, Director of Park, Sports and Leisure (who had originally given me the project). Luckily, her daughter does figure skating and so she grasped the benefits of the idea. After presenting a cost estimate I got an OK and we started working on the design and procurement. We had to wait until after the figure skating competition season 2010 was over in early April before we could start the actual construction work, and in late April the rail system was up for a test run - and it worked as planned!
So tonight, the inauguration ceremony was carried out at Älta Ishall - before a full audience the Altaround Jumpharness System was presented by Katarina Hultling and unveiled by politicians Erik Langby and Lars Berglund with Åsa Engwall and I, after which Rebecka Emanuelsson and trainer Marie Olsson showed it in use. After that, Älta IF figure skaters put on a really good show on the theme of Michael Jacksson (moonwalking on skates, for instance) and guest star Anton Trouvé did a number. All in all, a great show and such fun to have presented a world-first in Älta!
Needless to say, I am very grateful to have been given the opportunity to do this project. I am also very happy to get such positive feedback from skaters and trainers - as one skater said "This is the way it should feel, I just want to keep on doing it again and again."
And here is the innovation as shown on national sports news tonight - Rebecka Emanuelsson and Marie Olsson put Altaround to use:
http://svtplay.se/v/1998819/ny_teknik_ska_lyfta_svensk_konstakning
I was given the task by the municipality to install a straight cable jumpharness in Älta Icerink but ran into difficulties with the building structure - a straight cable will induce enormous horizontal loads if you pull down on the middle, and a lot of steel reinforcement work would be necessary. The straight cable jumpharness wasn't a great solution in this particular building. One day in the canteen I was telling my colleague Assar Lindeblad about this project when he jokingly suggested I needed to figure out a way to bend the cable in the curve, so that the figure skaters could continue around the corner. I suddenly realized I had a way of doing that - not with a cable, but with a rail system that I could run around the entire rink. After lunch, I called Movomech (they make load handling rail systems for industrial purposes) and within half an hour I had a working solution. The next step was to talk to the figure skating trainer, Marie Olsson of Älta IF - and she thought it was a great concept and told me about how they couldn't properly train Axel jumps and not Ögel and Salkov at all on a straigh cable jumpharness - and that no round-the-rink jumpharness existed, anywhere.
Next, I needed a go-ahead from Åsa Engwall, Director of Park, Sports and Leisure (who had originally given me the project). Luckily, her daughter does figure skating and so she grasped the benefits of the idea. After presenting a cost estimate I got an OK and we started working on the design and procurement. We had to wait until after the figure skating competition season 2010 was over in early April before we could start the actual construction work, and in late April the rail system was up for a test run - and it worked as planned!
So tonight, the inauguration ceremony was carried out at Älta Ishall - before a full audience the Altaround Jumpharness System was presented by Katarina Hultling and unveiled by politicians Erik Langby and Lars Berglund with Åsa Engwall and I, after which Rebecka Emanuelsson and trainer Marie Olsson showed it in use. After that, Älta IF figure skaters put on a really good show on the theme of Michael Jacksson (moonwalking on skates, for instance) and guest star Anton Trouvé did a number. All in all, a great show and such fun to have presented a world-first in Älta!
Needless to say, I am very grateful to have been given the opportunity to do this project. I am also very happy to get such positive feedback from skaters and trainers - as one skater said "This is the way it should feel, I just want to keep on doing it again and again."
And here is the innovation as shown on national sports news tonight - Rebecka Emanuelsson and Marie Olsson put Altaround to use:
http://svtplay.se/v/1998819/ny_teknik_ska_lyfta_svensk_konstakning
