Clap skate

The hinged skate is a modification of the specially constructed for the traditional speed skating skate.

The technique of speed skating is based on the alternating gliding on one skate while the other skate a kick operation takes place. In the final phase of the repulsive process with the leg extended the runner leaves the ice with increasing inclination angle. A rejection at this stage is no longer possible or would act as a brake, because then the runners would end up massively cut into the ice.

There was still the thought that the last phase of repulsion to extend through design changes to the ice. First experiments with moving runners there were in the 1970s in sports research of the GDR. For various reasons ( internal discussions, question regulatory compliance, possibly also lack of funds ), these attempts, however, were soon discontinued.

In the Netherlands, where speed skating is a popular sport, the idea was taken up again in the 1990s and driven by Erik van Kordelaar and Dick de Bles up to deployment. The principle developed the runner connected to the running shoe is pivotally mounted at the front and can fold the rear end down. A spring retracts the blade when the rotor lifts the foot finally. Thus, the blade stays longer over its entire length on the ice and extends the push-off phase during the runner's heel lifts off already. Especially on the longer distances, this leads to significant time improvements compared with previous conventional skating.

First missions took place in the junior championships 1992/93 in South Holland. 1996 folding ice of the Dutch women's team was first used in international competitions, Marianne Timmer won so at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano.

In speed skating elite sport of ice folding is now used by almost all athletes and has prevailed after some initial difficulties in sprint competitions. So systematically longer times with the sudden instead of moving running steps for the first hundred meters of the running track were initially to cope with the complicated folding technique. These have now become also less than when using the old ice models with fixed blades locked rail.

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• Speed ​​Skating
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