The physics of the Winter Olympics

Summary

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Short Wave (NPR)

Episode: The Physics of the Winter Olympics

Date: February 10, 2026
Host: Regina Barber
Guest: Amy Pope (Physicist, Clemson University)
Duration: ~15 minutes

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Overview

In this lively and accessible episode of Short Wave, host Regina Barber partners with physicist and Clemson University lecturer Amy Pope to break down the fundamental physics principles underlying three core Winter Olympic sports: ski mountaineering (new for 2026), ski jumping, and bobsleigh. Filled with humor, easy-to-understand analogies, and fresh Olympic anecdotes, the episode reveals how athletes leverage basic (and sometimes surprising) laws of friction, lift, and energy conservation to defy gravity and enhance performance.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Ski Mountaineering: Friction—Going Up & Down the Mountain

[03:51–06:32]

• Sport Introduction:
  Ski mountaineering ("ski mo") debuts at the Milan Olympics. Athletes ascend a 70-meter incline (~400 vertical stairs) before skiing back down.
• Physics Principle:
  The sport uniquely confronts friction in both directions:
  • Uphill motion requires minimizing backward slippage, achieved through "skins"—special fabric strips on ski bottoms.
  • Amy Pope:

    "As the athlete slides their ski up the incline, it's going to have a very low friction, but as they try to slide it back down, it's going to have a high friction." (04:44)

  • Analogy: Like petting a cat—smooth in one direction, resistant in the other.
• Boot Adjustment:
  At steeper gradients, athletes switch their gear from "uphill mode" (flexible) to "ski mode" (rigid) for descent.
• Significance:
  Unlike traditional gravity-driven winter sports ("every other sport uses a chair lift"), ski mountaineers must overcome gravity themselves.
  • Amy Pope:

    "You're overcoming gravity and you are utilizing that friction in a way unlike any other sport to help you get to the top." (06:17)

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2. Ski Jumping: Air Resistance, Lift, and Suit Science

[06:32–11:16]

• Physics in Action:
  Ski jumping’s drama comes from "flying" off massive hills (up to 50 stories) and remaining airborne as long as possible.

  • Athletes "assume a V position," optimizing their aerodynamics by managing drag (air resistance) and achieving lift (upward force).
  • Amy Pope:

    "They're trying to minimize and maximize at the same time, their interaction with the air resistance." (07:57)

  • Regina Barber:

    "It's like they're flying." (07:02)

• Core Physics Principle:

  • Drag and lift mirror the way airplane wings work; the athlete’s form utilizes lower pressure above and higher pressure below to generate lift.
  • Amy Pope:

    "These ski jumpers are working very hard to maintain this optimal angle of attack...so that they can minimize the drag but maximize the lift." (09:13)

• Suit Controversies & Aerodynamic Advantages:
  Scandals surfaced about Norwegian jumpers adding fabric or stiffening seams in their suits to boost surface area and, thus, lift.

  • Amy Pope:

    "The lift is proportional to the surface area. So by adding in a small amount of fabric, we're actually adding in an area...the greater time they're in the air, and the further distance these athletes are going to fly." (09:56)

  • Extra seams reduce flutter, providing a more consistent area for wind, especially in the crotch area—where rules are less strict.

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3. Bobsleigh: Conservation of Energy & Split-Second Races

[11:16–13:18]

• Setting the Stage:
  In bobsleigh, the transformation of potential energy (height) to kinetic energy (motion) determines performance.
  • Teams push hard at the start to maximize initial speed, giving their sleds more kinetic energy as they descend.
  • Amy Pope:

    "They have to run as fast as they possibly can...because they want to maximize their kinetic energy or the energy of motion at the top of the hill." (11:57)

• Competitive Edge:
  Even tiny differences in start speed can decide medals—races are often won or lost by hundredths of a second.
  • Olympic teams recruit sprinters to boost this launch phase.
  • Regina Barber:

    "If you have the most speed at the very top, you'll go even further. So they, like, recruit runners, right? Like Olympic track runners?" (12:46)

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4. The Limits of Physics in Predicting Outcomes

[13:18–13:54]

• Complexity Beyond Formulas:
  Despite all the laws and equations, real-world detail (materials, weather, athlete skill) makes predicting winners difficult.
  • Amy Pope:

    "These are questions that I really can't answer because there are different weather conditions that go in. There are material conditions... So there are just a lot of things that I can't tell my students definitively how things are going to work out." (13:18)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Amy Pope, on her sports physics class inspiration:

  "I realized that that's probably what most people feel whenever they listen to me explain physics." (01:20)

• On friction in ski mountaineering:

  "It's kind of like petting your cat from front to back, it's a very low friction...But you try and rake the fur in the opposite direction and you're going to have a much higher friction." (05:14)

• On ski jumpers’ technique:

  "They're closed up like a taco or flat like a pancake." (07:57)

• On the complexity of sports physics:

  "Sometimes we just oversimplify it." (13:54)

• On her science communication style:

  "We're just gossiping about physics, that's all." (14:37)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• [03:51] — Exploring ski mountaineering and friction
• [06:32] — Aerodynamics and lift in ski jumping; suit scandals
• [11:16] — Conservation of energy in bobsleigh; value of a fast start
• [13:18] — The unpredictability of physics in sporting outcomes

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Tone & Final Impressions

The episode delivers cutting-edge and classic physics concepts in a highly engaging, conversational, and sometimes humorous fashion, true to the Short Wave spirit. Both host and guest expertly balance technical explanation with approachable analogies, allowing listeners of all backgrounds to appreciate the invisible science propelling Olympic athletes to their limits.

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Transcript

[NPR Sponsor Announcer]

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[Regina Barber]

You're listening to shortwave from npr. Okay, everyone, show of hands. Who's watching the Winter Olympics? Okay, this is a podcast, so I can't actually see you all, but I'm definitely gluing myself to the TV as much as possible these days. Next few weeks.

[Amy Pope]

Next, we travel to Italy, where Olympic competition is already underway in Milan. For the first time in three decades.

[NPR Sponsor Announcer 2]

The Winter Olympics will feature an entirely.

[Regina Barber]

New sport when they officially kick off.

[Amy Pope]

This Olympics, even though that's thousands of miles from the U.S. many on Team USA are very familiar.

[Regina Barber]

And as I watch the curling, the figure skating, the snowboarding, the skiing, really every single one of these sports, I can't help but think it's all physics.

[Amy Pope]

Ski jumping is my current favorite, but I'm really hopeful for ski mountaineering this year. I think I may fall in love with that sport.

[Regina Barber]

That's physicist Amy Pope. She's a principal lecturer at Clemson University, and for the past six years, she's been teaching a class called the Physics of Sports. She got the idea for the class in the middle of a Clemson football team meeting.

[Amy Pope]

I'm sitting in the back of the room and I'm listening to everything that's going on. And I'm understanding all the words and, but not the strategy, not why it's important. And I realized that that's probably what most people feel whenever they listen to me explain physics.

[Regina Barber]

So Amy thought, why not change up her approach? Teach a class that starts with sports explained by physics.

[Amy Pope]

I say, you already know a lot of physics. You've practiced it, you've thrown a ball before, you already know the physics. And now we're just going to figure out the why behind it.

[Regina Barber]

So today on the show, we're learning the why behind the Winter Olympics. What fundamental physics principles are at work when a skier jumps or when a sled goes down a mountain. And how these world class athletes are using physics to their advantage. I'm Regina Barber and you're listening to Shortwave, the Science podcast from NPR.

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[Regina Barber]

Amy There's a lot of physics to go over and I think the easiest way to learn all of these physics concepts is if we tackle one with each sport. So ski mountaineering, ski jumping and bobsleigh. So let's start with the brand new sport this year, ski mountaineering, ahead of its start on Thursday the 19th. What should our listeners know about the physics at play in this new sport?

[Amy Pope]

So ski mountaineering, which they affectionately call ski mo, is a sport where the athletes are going to go up a 70 meter tall incline. Now, 70 meters is about 400 vertical stairs.

[Regina Barber]

Oh my gosh.

[Amy Pope]

So they are going to ski up part of this. Now, as you can imagine, if you think about skiing up a hill, that's not going to go really well for you.

[Regina Barber]

It's hard.

[Amy Pope]

Yeah. So these athletes have skins that they put on their skis. And so it's literally a fabric layer that's going on the bottom of their skis. Now these are going to be really unique because as the athlete slides their ski up the incline, it's going to have a very low friction, but as they try to slide it back down, it's going to have a high friction.

[Regina Barber]

So these skins have like a different friction coefficient if it's like moving one way versus the other.

[Amy Pope]

Correct. It's kind of like petting Your cat from front to back, it's a very low friction. It feel, feels good. But you try and rake the fur in the opposite direction and you're going to have a much higher friction. So it's actually going to grab.

[Regina Barber]

And then at some point they no longer can like, ski up. Right. That skin on their ski isn't going to work anymore.

[Amy Pope]

Right. So the skin on their skis is going to be very efficient. But once the angle gets too large, they have to take that off and they have to adjust their boots. So they were in an uphill mode and they have to change it now to a skill ski mode. And so now the boots become rigid and attached to the ski and our skiers are going to be able to ski down a course, much like you would see during a downhill ski event. So ski mountaineering is really exciting physics wise, because you are seeing athletes do something that is so out of the norm. We're no longer just using gravity to pull the athletes down to the bottom of the hill. But every other sport uses a chair lift to get you up to the top so gravity can pull you down. But with this, you're overcoming gravity and you are utilizing that friction in a way unlike any other sport to help you get to the top.

[Regina Barber]

So with this new sport, we're dealing with, you know, defying gravity as we go up and really using it on the way back down. Let's talk about another sport that comes to mind that almost defies gravity a little bit and it's the ski jump. So that competition started last weekend and goes through Monday the 16th. Why is the ski jump so amazing to you?

[Amy Pope]

Well, the ski jump is amazing because it really makes us think about how these athletes can stay in the air for so long.

[Regina Barber]

It's like they're flying.

[Amy Pope]

It's like they're flying. And in a way, they are. So there are two different hills that they jump off of in the Olympics. There's the large hill, which is like jumping off of a 50 story building. And there's the normal hill, which is like jumping off only a 30 story tall building.

[Regina Barber]

Oh, no.

[Amy Pope]

Just, just, that's it. As these athletes are jumping off. If you were to think about throwing a bowling ball off of this ski jump, it would exert a beautiful parabolic trajectory and it would land far short of where our athletes are going to land. So it would be much shorter. So what these ski jumpers are doing is, you'll notice whenever they take off, they assume a V position. Now with this V position, what they're trying to do is they're falling. Yeah.

[Regina Barber]

And they're kind of like, closed up like a taco.

[Amy Pope]

Yeah, they're closed up like a taco or flat like a pancake. And what they're trying to do is they're trying to minimize and maximize at the same time, their interaction with the air resistance. So you can imagine throwing your hand out the window of your car as you're going down the highway, and you can feel that air pushing against your hand. And so they have the drag, which is the air that's rushing face on at them. And so if you put your hand parallel to the ground, you're going to find that you can kind of fly your hand there. And so they're trying to use that air, those air particles as they're falling to help create a lift, which is a force that prevents them from falling in the downward direction. It's going to slow that motion.

[NPR Sponsor Announcer 2]

Yeah.

[Regina Barber]

It makes me think of, you know, planes. When I used to teach Physics 101, I'd be like, okay, this is how plane wings work. And you take this, like, sheet of paper, and you'd blow air over the top of the sheet of paper, and the paper goes up. And this kind of amazes the students. And it's because this moving air has less pressure. And by moving air above the paper, you're generating lift underneath.

[NPR Sponsor Announcer]

And.

[Regina Barber]

And these ski jumpers are doing the same thing. They're utilizing lift, right?

[Amy Pope]

Exactly. So these ski jumpers are working very hard to maintain this optimal angle of attack, holding their body and their skis in exactly that same shape, so that they can minimize the drag but maximize the lift.

[Regina Barber]

So in this last year, there've been a couple of ski jump scandals. First, there was this extra material that had been stitched into Norway's men's teamsuits. And then we. More recently, there are these allegations that male jumpers are injecting their penises with hyaluronic acid. And people were in this uproar because it could be giving these athletes an advantage, sticking to stitches, you know, of in the suits. How would extra material let you go further in a ski jump?

[Amy Pope]

Well, it's actually really interesting whenever we look at how this extra material is going to help these athletes. So what we're going to find is that the lift is proportional to the surface area. So by adding in a small amount of fabric, we're actually adding in an area. And the larger that area, the larger the lift. The larger the lift, the greater time they're in the air. And the further distance these athletes are going to fly. It's kind of like these athletes are wearing a wingsuit.

[Regina Barber]

Yeah, like a flying squirrel.

[Amy Pope]

Yeah, exactly. They're capturing that extra wind.

[NPR Sponsor Announcer 2]

Wow.

[Amy Pope]

Now, the other thing that happens is that they had these extra stitches that put in, so they actually put in an extra seam, and that extra seam made the fabric stiffer at that point. Now, that means that the material isn't going to flutter. So there's going to be a consistent area that's going to be exposed to the air. And these ski jumpsuits have to conform to the body really well. But the area with the most leeway is that anterior crotch length, which has the greatest tolerance, which is why they chose to add the material in that area. Everything else has to be so form fitting to the body.

[NPR Sponsor Announcer]

Wow.

[Regina Barber]

I'm so glad we brought you on for this. I've been hearing so much about it. But for our last physics lesson, let's actually review conservation of energy. One of my favorite things through the bobsleigh competition. So that starts Sunday, the 15th. Let's imagine going up a snowy hill. You're gaining potential energy. So that's what we physics professors also call, like, stored energy. Then if you sled down, that stored or potential energy converts to kinetic energy, which is this moving energy. And when we're looking at the bobsleigh competition, it really does, like, tell you so much about conservation of energy. Why is that whenever you're looking at.

[Amy Pope]

The bobsleigh competition, you are finding that you have a race that is decided by hundredths of a second? Okay. The entire race takes about a minute. And so there are several parts to it, because as we have our runners, our athletes getting into the bobsleigh, they have to run as fast as they possibly can. And that is because they want to maximize their kinetic energy or the energy of motion at the top of the hill. All of the bobsleighs start from the same height, so our athletes can have a small advantage by actually having a slightly larger initial speed. So as these bobsleighs go down the track, they're getting faster and faster and faster. So they're gaining that kinetic energy.

[Regina Barber]

Yeah, I. I think a lot of people don't know this. If you have the most speed at the very top, you'll go even further. So they, like, recruit runners, right? Like Olympic track runners?

[Amy Pope]

Yes. Olympic sprinters. Yes. They love to have those on the team because they can go fast enough.

[Regina Barber]

Amy, this is so much knowledge and physics that you kind of gave us great analogies. It makes me wonder, is there a physics like sports question a student has asked you that you still haven't been able to answer?

[Amy Pope]

Oh, there's so many questions that I can't possibly answer. I often have students ask me questions that seem rather simple at the onset about why one athlete might have an advantage over the other or who's supposed to win this race. And these are questions that I really can't answer because there are different weather conditions that go in. There are material conditions that go in. There are just so many factors and we're not even talking yet about the skill of the athletes. So there are just a lot of things that I can't tell my students definitively how things are going to work out.

[Regina Barber]

That's it's the pain of physics sometimes, sometimes we just oversimplify it.

[Amy Pope]

Right? Absolutely.

[Regina Barber]

Amy, thank you so much for talking to us today about the physics of the Winter Olympics.

[Amy Pope]

Well, thank you. This was great.

[Regina Barber]

If you liked this episode, give us a follow on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts. And you could check out our episodes on how extreme G forces affect Olympic bobsledders or our Summer Olympics episode on gymnastics. This episode was produced by Hannah Chin. It was edited by our showrunner, Rebecca Ramirez, and it was fact checked by Tyler Jones. Jimmy Keeley was the audio engineer. I'm Regina Barber. Thank you for listening to Short Wave from npr. We're just, we're just gossiping about physics, that's all.

[Amy Pope]

Hey, that's what I do all day.

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