In cross-country skiing, athletes expend large amounts of energy to overcome fric-tion as their skis interact with snow. Even minor reductions in the friction can significantly influence race outcomes. Over the years, researchers have found many ways ofquantifying ski-snow friction, but there are only a few methods that consider the glide of real-sized skis under natural conditions during both accelerating and decelerating movements. This study introduces a novel experimental setup, consisting of a sled equipped with authentic cross-country skis and a base station that uses satellite receivers to communicate via radio, constituting a real-time kinematic positioning system with centimetre accuracy. While the sled running on a classic ski track with natural height variations, altitude and velocity data were recorded for quantification of the coefficient of friction (COF), both for accelerating and decelerating motion, employing a model based on Newton`s second law. The results show that the COF during acceleration was more than 20 % higher than during deceleration, demonstrating dynamic changes in the frictional behaviour between these phases. This finding is crucial for the execution of all types of cross-country skiing techniques, where the athlete either accelerates or decelerates while moving forward. The ability of the current experimental set-up to distinguish between the COF during acceleration and deceleration has considerable implications for further developments.
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