by Oliver Trust
BERLIN, Feb. 6 (Xinhua) -- German luger Felix Loch admitted that his sport and other sliding competitions are, to a great extent, science.
"Despite the experience of athletes, there are many parts you can't oversee," the three-time Olympic champion said, and called it thrilling to see where hundredths and thousandths of a second are lost "without us athletes knowing exactly what happened."
Ahead of the start of the sliding disciplines at the Milan-Cortina 2026 Winter Games, Loch and his teammates are going through intense testing.
"You just have the feeling that things went differently at certain parts of the track," he said.
Together with Loch and luge teammate Max Langenhan, Julian von Schleinitz, a former athlete and now a data scientist, developed a data-based solution.
Loch praised the help of data to find the perfect line. "Our sport is about little details; it's to respectively one third about the driving, the start and our equipment," the German said ahead of his fifth Games.
Ahead of the 2025-26 winter season, Loch changed equipment parts based on new data and improved his racing.
Regarding the Olympic track in Cortina, he and teammates discussed curve 4 as the track's key point.
"That curve is crucial if you manage to gain speed and maintain it through the subsequent, flatter sections," said luge world champion Julia Taubitz.
"Time is irretrievably lost when you fail there," skeleton coach Christian Baude echoed, adding that the medals will be decided within the first four curves. ■