Su Yiming, the flying snowboarder, didn’t put any oil on his feet, but his snowboard must have been waxed…

On February 15, Chinese athlete Su Yiming won the gold medal in the men's snowboard big air final at the Beijing Winter Olympics.

This is his second medal in this Winter Olympics after winning the silver medal in slopestyle. This is also the sixth gold medal for the Chinese delegation in this Winter Olympics, creating a historical best! !

Su Yiming wasn't riding a snowboard, he was riding a cloud...

The first jump of 1800 was successful with 89.50 points, and the second jump of 1800 in the opposite direction was scored 93 points, with a best score of 182.50, which ensured that he won the gold medal before the last jump! With his strength, he performed a play "About winning the gold medal before the third jump". The topic of "Su Yiming's gold medal" also instantly topped the hot search list.

While Su Yiming's gold medal became a hot topic, Su Yiming's pink snowboard also attracted the attention of netizens.

Snowboards are the weapons that skiers use to fly on the snow. A good snowboard can help athletes perform better and achieve better results. To make the snowboard work well, it needs to be "maintained" - waxed.

Whether you are snowboarding or skiing, you need to wax your snowboard every day. What is the role of waxing a snowboard? Next, Tadpole will tell you the secret of waxing a snowboard.

Let’s start with the material of the bottom of the snowboard

Image source: pixabay

The soles of most skis are made of ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (a linear thermoplastic engineering plastic with excellent comprehensive properties) as the main material, which is called P-Tex.

During the production of snowboards, a number is usually written on the back of the base material of the board (for example: sintered 2000). "Sintered" refers to the processing method of the board base; "2000" represents the molecular weight of P-Tex. The larger the number, the higher the molecular weight of P-Tex, and the more durable the board base material is.

Characteristics of P-Tex

What kind of material is P-Tex and what are its characteristics?

It has super wear resistance and self-lubrication. At the same time, it has relatively high strength, stable chemical properties and strong anti-aging performance.

If you still feel that it is not vivid enough, we can refer to another material "polytetrafluoroethylene". The "non-stick coating" of non-stick pans commonly used in life is made of "polytetrafluoroethylene" (also known as "Teflon" or "Teflon"). "Polytetrafluoroethylene" has an extremely low friction coefficient and is resistant to high temperatures, wear and corrosion, making it an excellent material for making non-stick pans.

Therefore, the main reasons for choosing P-Tex material for skis are that it has low moisture absorption, very low friction coefficient, and is wear-resistant. The higher the molecular weight of P-Tex, the stronger the absorption capacity of snow wax, and the higher the resistance to losing wax and slowing down when sliding friction heats up.

Why do you need to wax your skis?

Since skis made of P-Tex material already have many advantages, why do we need to wax the skis?

Because snow wax can further improve performance. Studies have shown that snow wax mainly plays the role of lubricating the snowboard and protecting the surface of the snowboard from wear and oxidation during sliding.

The wax penetrates the pores of the snowboard base material, generating a water film that can isolate the heat generated by friction, thereby reducing the suction cup effect of the water film formed by the increased operating temperature of the snowboard during sliding (due to the effect of the surface tension of the water film, it will increase the sliding resistance).

Image source: pixabay

After waxing, a thin layer of water film is produced between the bottom of the snowboard and the snow surface due to friction, which can reduce the friction coefficient of the snowboard during operation and improve the gliding speed of the snowboard.

In addition, studies have also found that snow wax can neutralize different snow qualities to make sliding conditions more consistent, facilitating continuous sliding; snow wax penetrates into the surface of the snowboard, protecting the bottom of the board from moisture and deformation, preventing ultraviolet radiation and reducing the degree of oxidation.

What types of snow wax are there and what are their differences?

There are many types of snow wax, which can be classified according to the function, composition, state and temperature of snow wax, as shown in the figure below. At present, the wax used by athletes in training and competition is basically composed of different combinations of several ingredients such as fluorinated hydrocarbon mixtures, paraffin or hydrocarbons.

Snow wax classification and uses, picture source: "Research and Application of Snow Wax"

For professional skiers, the comprehensive meteorological characteristics of the training or competition venue, such as temperature, humidity, snow conditions, and sun position, will affect the use of snow wax. Among them, temperature has the most stringent requirements on snow wax. The wax needs to be replaced with a slight change to reduce the negative effects of snow wax discomfort on sports performance.

Studies have shown that for an ordinary ski board, different types of snow wax are used on the waist, nose and tail of the board. It is recommended to apply snow wax with better grip on the bottom of the waist to help athletes control the snowboard and increase speed change capabilities. And apply snow wax with less friction on the bottom of both ends of the snowboard to increase flexibility when turning, reduce downhill resistance and shorten sliding time.

Image source: Qilu.com Lightning News

Waxing technicians and waxing rooms at the Winter Olympics

At every Winter Olympics, waxing snowboards has become an indispensable part of the national and regional teams and is regarded as one of the important techniques to improve athletic performance.

Therefore, each country's team will be equipped with professional waxers, and there will also be professional waxing rooms in the Winter Olympic venues. In the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, due to the waxer's misuse of snow wax, the Norwegian national team, which originally had absolute dominance in the cross-country skiing 4×10km relay, only won fourth place.

This classic case suggests that the quality of snow wax and the skills of the waxer play an important role in improving athletes' athletic performance.

Improving the performance of snow sports is inseparable from the assistance of snow equipment, and good snow equipment is inseparable from professional snow wax and waxers. A competition-level ski board needs 6-10 layers of wax, and waxing is a craft that combines experience and science, and neither is dispensable.

Although professional athletes have extremely strict requirements for snowboard waxing, for everyday ski enthusiasts, the purpose of snowboard waxing is more to extend the service life and protect the performance of the snowboard.

So, faced with a wide variety of snow waxes, we can just choose the maintenance wax with the highest cost performance. (I sound like I have a snowboard)

Heroes have always emerged from youth, and the future is promising! Congratulations to Su Yiming!

Boy on snowboard

References:

[1] Lin Chenghui, Liang Zhiqiang, Wu Ziying, Gu Yaodong, Li Jianshe. Research and application of snow wax[J]. Zhejiang Sports Science, 2020.

[2] SKIING, Ski Construction. http://www.mechanicsofsport.com/

END

Review expert: Sun Ke, Director of the Sports Research Center of Beijing Normal University

Tadpole Musical Notation original article, please indicate the source when reprinting

Editor/Heart and Paper