Athletes competing in this year’s Winter Olympic Games in Milan will do so surrounded by a complex web of AI-enabled cameras, stopwatches, sensors, and fast-flying drones capable of tracking performance down to fractions of a second. The high-tech timekeeping system, the culmination of nearly a century of constant iteration, is fundamentally reshaping how viewers at home experience the Games. It’s also playing a growing role in how elite athletes train, and in some cases, may even determine who is ultimately declared a winner or a loser.
Behind that precision is Omega, a Swiss watchmaker that has served as the Olympics’ official timekeeper since the 1932 Los Angeles Games. This year, it has rolled out cameras capable of capturing up to 40,000 frames per second, enabling “photo finishes” in speed skating and other timed races. Elsewhere, computer-vision systems and AI models will sift through a constant flood of camera data, generating up-to-the-second graphics that break down an athlete’s speed, splits, and positioning in real time. Commentators and analysts can then use that information to better explain the significance of an impressive athletic feat (or an embarrassing blunder) to broad audiences often unfamiliar with a sport’s nuances.
“Computer Vision, which can capture and display a continuous range of data throughout competitions, such as live speeds, jump heights, and even the angle of a Figure Skater’s blade,” Omega tells Popular Science. “Such information is taking viewers inside the sports like never before, pinpointing where events are won or lost, and deepening the understanding of the Olympic Games that everyone is watching.”
Cameras reveal figure skater movements and blade angles
New camera technology will be on full display during this year’s figure skating events. An array of 14 8K-resolution cameras are positioned around the rink, continuously capturing skaters’ movements and feeding the data into an AI system maintained by Swiss Timing, Omega’s official timekeeping division. That system generates a 3D visual model of each athlete, measuring movement along three axes and tracking jump height, airtime, landing speed, and other variables that can influence a judge’s score. The model can also assess a skater’s blade angle and determine whether a full rotation was completed during a spin—both factors that may affect the final score.
All of this data is processed in real time and presented on screen as heat maps and visualizations that viewers at home can see. To put that in perspective, Swiss Timing CEO Alain Zobrist recently told IEEE Spectrum that the time it takes to measure data on the rink and translate it into an on-screen graphic is less than one-tenth of a second. That’s faster than the blink of an eye.
Omega says its newer, powerful camera has already helped determine the results in a number of position based events, like Cross Country Skiing and Short Track Speed Skating. The camera’s ability to capture 40,000 images per second means it can confirm the minute margins separating racers at the finish line with more accuracy than the human eye. During Heat 8 of the Men’s 1,000 meter Short Track Speed Skating event, for example, athletes cross the finish line just .0002 second ahead of the third placed skier. In Quarterfinal 5 of the Women’s Cross-Country Skiing Sprint Classic, meanwhile, Norwegian skier Milla Grosberghaugen crossed the finish line just 0.04 seconds ahead of Sweden’s Johanna Hagstroem.
“This margin was the difference between qualification to the next round, and not,” Omega said.
Jump analysis for skiers and snowboarder
Some of the most noticeable impacts of the new technology is playing out on the mountains. In “big air” events, a new suite of sensors attached to the underside of each athlete’s skis and snowboards continuously collects data on speed, acceleration, height, distance, and subtle variations in body positioning while airborne. The sensors also provide insight into how an athlete’s equipment is positioned before and after takeoff, critical details that coaches can review to help give their athletes a competitive edge.
In prior Olympics games, competitors would wear sensors strapped around their ankles or have them embedded into the fabric of their clothes. But that sometimes created distractions for the athletes. In other cases, fabric material could interfere with the sensors, resulting in an inability to properly collect data. Placing the lightweight sensor on skis or snowboards are intended to resolve those issues and help prevent potential cheating. Computer vision software, taking the data from these sensors and surrounding cameras, can then generate jump analyses and 3D positions for each athlete.
Currently, that data is primarily used by commentators and athletes looking to share more detailed, behind-the-scenes insights with their fans on social media. In time though, Zobrist told Forbes they hope to evolve the technology to a point where it can help judges make more “informed decisions” about an athlete’s performance.
Improved camera technology is also playing a prominent role in fan-favorite bobsledding events. In these races, cameras combine snapshots taken at the end of each run and overlay them to create a “virtual photo finish.” This composite view gives viewers a straightforward way to see the razor-thin margins that separate race results—differences that can come down to mere milliseconds.
Drones are chasing athletes down slopes
And while many of these sensors and cameras operate largely unseen in the background, another piece of technology at the Games is far more visible—and audible: drones. This year, a fleet of 10 traditional quadcopters and more than two dozen first-person-view (FPV) drones are reverberating around the ground with a constant buzz. The drones, maintained by the Olympics Broadcasting Services and each operated by a three-person team, fly right up next to athletes capturing perspectives not possible by typical camera. In some cases, high-speed drones are literally chasing skiers as they plunge down a slope.
The drones can stream video from behind (and even directly in front of) athletes, a capability supporters say enables an entirely new form of visual storytelling. While the approach can be immersive for fans watching at home, some competitors have raised concerns that it could prove distracting or introduce potential safety risks at moments when extreme concentration is essential. There have been instances at previous sporting events in which drones have crashed during competition, though such incidents remain rare.
“I think that might just be because the people who are flying them are somewhere else and they don’t realize how close they are,” US snowboarder Bea Kim told the Washington Post earlier this week.
The Olympics Games: A testbed for new camera tech
These new fixtures are part of an ongoing evolution of camera and filming technology that has progressed alongside the Olympic Games. The first Olympic Games held in Corina back in 1956 saw Omega introduce automated timing tech to ski starting gates. Prior to that, the start time was still determined by the person holding a stopwatch.
“Since starting this role in 1932, the ability of athletes has continued to advance at every edition of theOlympic Games,” Omega said. “Recognizing that dedication to excellence in the athletes, OMEGA has felt a responsibility to keep up with the increasing standards of performance, delivering an evolution of equipment that can separate margins with undoubtable clarity.”
