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Most elite winter athletes have heard a familiar refrain from
their coaches: “Train how you want to compete.”
But as we approach the 2026 Olympic Winter Games in Milano Cortina,
that motto is evolving. Today’s athletes aren’t just
training harder — they’re training smarter, powered by an
array of cutting‑edge technologies. These innovations are
helping winter athletes refine their form, optimize performance,
and stay safe in increasingly demanding conditions. From augmented
reality goggles to AI‑driven wearables, training for winter
sports is entering a new era. Although these technologies won’t
make it to competition day, its impact on an athlete’s
competition performance is undeniable.
For sports such as Alpine Skiing and snowboarding, precision and
awareness are crucial to success. New generations of smart goggles,
equipped with augmented reality (AR), are giving athletes
real‑time access to critical performance metrics as the
athletes traverse the slopes. REKKIE® snow goggles, produced by
smart snow googles company Rekkie, LLC out of Delaware, has
developed a battery-operated smart snow google with an integrated
Heads Up Display (HUD). The HUD displays real-time data such as
speed, altitude, route navigation, and GPS positioning within the
athlete’s field of vision 1. As a result, skiers and
snowboarders can instantly adjust their weight distribution,
anticipate changes in terrain, and monitor technique, all in the
milliseconds that matter most. What used to require post‑run
video review is now visible during a training descent, accelerating
improvements to key performance factors.
As data-driven training tools become standard for Olympic
preparation, advanced real-time tracking technologies are
redefining how athletes, particularly ice hockey players, perfect
their performance. Systems, such as the KINEXON® such produced
by Kinexon GmbH out of Germany, supports ultra‑precise Local
Positioning System (LPS) and wearable Inertia Measurement Unit
(IMU) sensors to give coaches real‑time insights into every
sprint burst, directional change, and high‑impact moment on
the ice, delivering accuracy down to just a few centimeters with
latencies as low as 100 milliseconds 2. The KINEXON
system measures over 200 live and post-session performance metrics,
such as player speed, sprint bursts, and movement patterns
2. By continuously monitoring those metrics for each
player, the LPS system allows training staff to sharpen practice
plans, prevent injuries, and manage recovery with precision.
Employed by various National Hockey League (NHL) organizations, the
KINEXON system tracking technologies combine live data and advanced
analytics to give athletes and coaches a smarter and efficient path
to peak performance for competition day.
Training for winter sports means braving harsh, unpredictable
weather. Brands, such as Amazfit® wearable devices produced by
Zepp North America, Inc. out of California, have engineered
high‑durability smartwatches, such as the AMAZFIT
T‑Rex®, models 3 Pro and AMAZFIT Balance 2, to meet those
demands. These devices support training modes for skiing,
cross‑country skiing, snowboarding, ice skating, and even ski
mountaineering, making its debut in the upcoming Milan Winter
Olympics. The smartwatches function reliably at temperatures as
cold as -30°C and include an entirely waterproof construction
3. Both the T-Rex 3 Pro and the Balance 2 include safety
features, such as a flashlight and an SOS signal, which are
especially valuable when practicing on unfamiliar or harsh mountain
terrains. With GPS tracking, heart‑rate monitoring, fatigue
detection, and movement sensors, these smartwatches give athletes
continuous insight into their exertion levels under any winter
condition. As a result, coaches can monitor power output trends,
identify overtraining risks, and tailor sessions to each athlete to
maximize performance outcomes.
In a sport where hundredths of a second define champions, new
AI‑driven innovations are reshaping the way bobsled athletes
train and analyze their performance. The USA Bobsled Team has
partnered with Snowflake’s AI Data Cloud for the 2026 Winter
Olympics to analyze real-time data to improve every aspect of sled
performance. This partnership gives coaches and athletes instant
access to trends emerging from real‑time training data. For
example, Snowflake Intelligence will be able to analyze the
performance of two- or four-person crews to determine the most
efficient pairings 4. With Snowflake Intelligence
analyzing push‑crew synchronization and diagnosing
inefficiencies, such as the “bump,” during sled entry,
Team USA will be a smart contender.
A tri-sensor system, Snowcookie, is helping alpine skiers
revolutionize how they analyze, refine, and perfect their
on‑snow performance. Three small sensors, one worn on the
chest and two attached to the skis, collect performance data across
105 data points, including positioning and acceleration data
5. The data collected by the sensors is then transmitted
into a mobile app that reconstructs each descent through
3D‑rendered motion maps, allowing athletes to pinpoint
inefficiencies such as inconsistent edging or uneven pressure on
the skis 5. Developed in the Swiss Alps, Snowcookie
gives coaches a powerful tool to refine technique and structure
targeted training sessions that mirror the demands of elite alpine
skiing.
Training technology has always shaped Olympic preparation, but
today’s advancements are pushing the bounds of what was
previously thought possible. From augmented reality (AR) overlays
that enhance real‑time decision‑making to AI analytics
that decode subtle performance patterns, winter athletes are
gaining access to insights that were once out of reach. We may not
see these devices on the competition stage in Milano Cortina, but
make no mistake: when long standing Olympic records fall in 2026,
it’s likely that training technology played a significant role
behind the scenes.
Special thanks to Abby Clark, a Foley summer patent engineer
in the Chicago office, for her contributions to this
article.
Footnotes
1. https://rekkie.com/collections/all-products/products/rekkie-augmented-reality-ski-goggles
2. https://kinexon-sports.com/sports/hockey/
5. https://builtin.com/articles/hit-ski-slopes-data-these-sensors
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