No photos. That’s a term journalists hate to hear. But when I attended an Under Armour event unveiling several Olympic uniforms last month, it was clear by the many guards that they meant business when it came to speedskating uniforms for Team USA…Until now.
This morning Under Armour unveiled the speed suits. The technology in these uniforms is cutting-edge, thus the secrecy that has surrounded their release.
The Mach 39 Speedskating Skin was developed from the ground up in partnership with aerospace engineering firm Lockheed Martin over more than two years.
Research and development started by capturing speedskaters’ motion on the ice with high-speed cameras. Using that information, the developers looked for possible areas for improvement.
Engineers created a “computational fluid dynamics model” to analyze the airflow around the skater and determine key body positions.
Reinforced fiberglass mannequins were created to mimic the various positions used by skaters. Those were used in more than 300 hours of wind tunnel testing with hundreds of different skin setups and textile configurations to find the most aerodynamic combinations.
What they came up with is impressive:
Flow Molding: Molded, engineered polyurethane aerodynamic shapes are placed on critical areas of the skin to disrupt air flow around an athlete’s body and reduce drag.
![USA speedskating uniform](/legacy/images/15665.jpg)
Soflex Zipper: A stretchy zipper goes to the side of the throat and circumvents the body, allowing skaters to stay zipped up in comfort, which improves aerodynamics.
![USA speedskating uniform](/legacy/images/15664.jpg)
![USA speedskating uniform](/legacy/images/15666.jpg)
![USA speedskating uniform](/legacy/images/15663.jpg)
![USA speedskating uniform](/legacy/images/15667.jpg)