Australia’s alpine speed skiers AJ Bear, Craig Branch and Luke Deane travelled to Monash University last week to hone their tuck positions with the benefit of the university’s wind tunnel complex.
Australia’s alpine speed skiers AJ Bear, Craig Branch and Luke Deane travelled to Monash University last week to hone their tuck positions with the benefit of the university’s wind tunnel complex.
Two weeks after the AIS skeleton team utilised the university’s facilities to test sled position and sliding skins, the New South Wales Institute of Sport alpine squad spent two days in the wind tunnel, fine tuning high and low tuck positions with the aid of the university’s high tech measuring equipment.
The wind tunnel testing came a week after Branch had returned to training on snow after an operation on his lower back.
The 28-year-old had a procedure to reduce disc swelling that threatened to end his competitive skiing career.
Team-mate AJ Bear had returned to the Perisher Blue slopes several weeks earlier, after recovering from his second knee reconstruction.
Bear and Branch will head to Chile in September for downhill training with the US speed team – a team that includes World Cup overall and downhill champion Bode Miller – while Deane will travel to New Zealand to secure the Australian/New Zealand Continental Cup GS championship that will again grant him entry into World Cup events next season, a necessary step on his way to qualifying for a place on the Australian Olympic team for Torino 2006.
Two weeks after the AIS skeleton team utilised the university’s facilities to test sled position and sliding skins, the New South Wales Institute of Sport alpine squad spent two days in the wind tunnel, fine tuning high and low tuck positions with the aid of the university’s high tech measuring equipment.
The wind tunnel testing came a week after Branch had returned to training on snow after an operation on his lower back.
The 28-year-old had a procedure to reduce disc swelling that threatened to end his competitive skiing career.
Team-mate AJ Bear had returned to the Perisher Blue slopes several weeks earlier, after recovering from his second knee reconstruction.
Bear and Branch will head to Chile in September for downhill training with the US speed team – a team that includes World Cup overall and downhill champion Bode Miller – while Deane will travel to New Zealand to secure the Australian/New Zealand Continental Cup GS championship that will again grant him entry into World Cup events next season, a necessary step on his way to qualifying for a place on the Australian Olympic team for Torino 2006.
