Update! Secret Team USA speedskating uniform photos and details are now public.
With just a bit less than three months remaining until the 2014 Winter Olympic Games kick off in Sochi on February 7, Under Armour revealed a few pieces of gear that will be worn during competition.
The company revealed today a racing pinstripe theme on tight fitting body suits that will be worn by the USA men’s bobsled team and women’s skeleton racers, a maple leaf adorned uniform for the Canadian freestyle ski and snowboard cross teams, and a high tech body suit to be worn in the long track speed skating competition (sorry, no pictures allowed of that last one).
We reported on the US Freeskiing Olympic gear from The North Face last week.
We were on hand to snap some shots and learn what we could about the technology that will cover athletes’ skins in some high speed action.
Team USA alpine skier Lindsey Vonn, Freeskier Bobby Brown and Canadian snowboard cross racer Dominique Maltais spoke about the upcoming Olympic games at the event and helped reveal new gear.
The most exciting technology discussed surrounds the semi-secret Team USA long track speed skating suit. Without letting the cat out of the bag, we can say that the suit has five different types of fabric, a slippery surface to reduce leg-on-leg drag and embedded bead-like structures for improved aerodynamics.
It was developed in a collaboration between Under Armour and aerospace company Lockheed Martin, which provided engineering expertise to the project.
Team USA’s bobsled team will wear very similar uniforms to those the 2010 team wore in Vancouver. They are a simple design using Under Armour Cold Gear fabric with a snug fit and rugged YKK zippers.
The Canadian snowboard cross team and freeski team will wear Under Armour outerwear made with the company’s proprietary Armour Storm waterproof-breathable fabric. The highly detailed shells and pants feature a lot of maple leafs, right on down to the zipper pulls.
The Olympics provide gear manufacturers the opportunity to pull out all the stops in technological advancements. We can’t wait to see what revolutions are unveiled as the games rev up.
—Sean McCoy
