The FIS has partnered with sports instruments leader Suunto to help bring World Cup viewers closer to the action this winter. Their partnership aims to provide new performance measurement data to TV audiences.
Soon TV viewers will see precise information on cross-country skiers with the help of Suunto t6 wristop computers and wireless sensors. In the first phase, the wristop computer will transmit the competitors’ heart rate onto TV screens. In the future, the viewer will also be able to follow their skiing speed, and the distance in meters between competitors, beyond the normal intermediate time points, for more connection to the action.
“Suunto brings the backstage of competitions into everyone's living room, providing the TV-audience with a deeper experience of the competition, as they can compare physiological parameters of selected top athletes”, says Dan Colliander, CEO of Suunto Oy.
The TV graphics and processing of the Suunto performance data is being produced in cooperation with WIGE DATA. The new service will be available for international TV broadcast of the Ski World Championships in Oberstdorf in February, 2005.
The first competition where the new technology will be applied is the world cup opening in Kuusamo, Finland, at the end of November 2004. The top eight skiers in the world-ranking list will be equipped with Suunto t6 wristop computers that transmit their performance measurement data onto the TV display.
