.png)
British Bobsleigh & Skeleton Strike Olympic Gold with Forceteck
- Feb 17
- 2 min read
Updated: 2 days ago
"Forceteck is a really powerful tool that underpins everything we do because it gives us a clear understanding of why our athletes achieve what they achieve and what we need to do to make them better." - Michael Muckelt, Starts & Strength and Conditioning Coach, British Skeleton
Challenges
Limited clarity from basic biomechanics and timing gates: Data showed what was happening, but not always why an athlete wasn’t getting faster
High-stakes performance decisions: Optimising Olympic athletes required greater confidence and precision in analysis
Time-consuming data processing: Manual handling of trials reduced efficiency and slowed insight delivery
Solutions
Deeper insight into athlete capability: Objective, data-backed clarity enables precise identification of performance constraints and more targeted intervention strategies
Measurable performance breakthroughs: SprintAI enabled an Olympic athlete to reach his PB, and the team went on to win two gold medals in the 2026 Winter Olympics
Faster, simpler workflows: Automated processing, labeled trials, and responsive support improves speed and confidence of decision-making
The Challenge: Maximising Power While Managing Risk
In bobsleigh and skeleton, the push start can determine the outcome of an entire race.
Before implementing Forceteck, the British Bobsleigh & Skeleton team relied primarily on basic biomechanics analysis and timing gates. While these tools showed what was happening, they didn’t always explain why certain athletes weren’t progressing.
Key challenges included:
Limited clarity from basic biomechanical and timing data
Reduced confidence when making high-stakes decisions about Olympic athletes
Difficulty isolating performance constraints beyond split times
Time-consuming manual data processing and trial handling
"Before SprintAI, what we were doing was very basic biomechanics analysis that didn’t give us confidence or clarity over some of the decisions we were making." - Michael Muckelt, Starts & Strength and Conditioning Coach, British Skeleton
The Solution: Precision That Powered Two Olympic Gold Medals
By integrating Forceteck and SprintAI, the BB&S team added a deeper layer of objective insight into sprint mechanics.
In one key case, the data provided by SprintAI clearly revealed that an Olympic athlete’s max velocity was not the issue; limited step length was. This pushed the BB&S coaching team to focus on targeted force applications and stride mechanics, rather than speed capacity.
The outcome? The Olympic athlete reached his fastest-every flying 10m time and a push-track personal best, and the British Skeleton team went on to win two gold medals at the 2026 Winter Olympics.
"Anything that can make the data collection process less invasive and more accessible is going to be powerful. I’ve had to do virtually nothing with the data, and after a few hours of processing, I get all of my outputs automatically. Forceteck makes the whole process really simple." - Michael Muckelt, Starts & Strength and Conditioning Coach, British Skeleton