Nike's new speed skating suit, which promises reduced drag, will debut on United States, Dutch, and Australian teams during the 2002 Winter Olympics.




Whereas previous speed skating suits used only one textile, Nike's suit employs six -- each specific to the aerodynamic properties of that body area.




Developers used body-mapping technologies to study movement, and the effects of natural and artificial elements on those movements. Wind tunnel testing helped determine specific aerodynamic properties optmized by the different fabrics.

As athletes trained for Salt Lake City, physiologists, chemists, physicists, and engineers were in their own race: to make faster, more powerful, lighter gear. The 2002 Winter Games will feature new equipment in almost every sport-from supershort slalom skis to faster snowboards coated with indium. But the most spectacular hardware will likely be the simplest: a wee sled known as the skeleton, on which athletes travel headfirst up to 90 mph. Skeleton is a featured event for the first time since 1948.