New wave of sports engineering 'will shave milliseconds off record times'

A new wave of sports engineering will shave milliseconds off record times, it has been claimed, with 'spray chambers' tipped as the most exciting technological development.

'Sports chambers' have been tipped as the way forward by sports engineers, with the new technique using an aerosol can and 3D-printers to create personalised running shoes just moments before the athletes compete.

This isn’t the only scientific development to come out of the busy sports laboratories, with every sport from swimming to skiing to the shot put benefiting from some sort of advance in material, coaching techniques and tools which will shave milliseconds off record times.

Scientists are keen to ensure that they continue to be the beacons of fair competitive sports, appealing to regulators and governing bodies to engage with scientists. In this way, any accusations of 'technology doping' will be safely avoided, and they can push the boundaries as far as they can while staying within the rules.

Steve Haake of Britain's Sheffield Hallam University, who is regarded as one of the world's leading sports engineers said: "In sports engineering, the place we start is with the rules. And the rules of what is allowed are often quite strict, but the rules of what is possible are defined by Newton et al - they are the laws of physics.

"We do a lot of horizon gazing. We will look for anything that might allow us to get some kind of advantage. We look at all the things that can be done, and then we see what would fit within the rules."

A report by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, entitled 'Sports Engineering: A unfair Advantage?', looked into spray-on clothing which could mean triathletes can change almost instantaneously between swimming, cycling and running events.

It also pointed to some performance analysis sensors that could soon be routinely embedded inside the body, giving continuous data on physiological changes during an athlete's training session.

Posted by Fiona Griffiths