Picture of the biathlon stadium in Östersund

Cross-Country Skiing Performance Analysis

Accurately track the athlete's movement during all training sessions

How does performance analysis work in cross-country skiing?

Archinisis' cutting-edge sensor technology and intelligent algorithms transform cross-country skiing performance analysis, offering a comprehensive suite of insights with minimal setup. By simply wearing our Naos Classic tracking sensor on the athlete's upper back, coaches gain access to a wealth of performance data, cadence, speed, time, sub-technique, all seamlessly analyzed and presented to optimize the athlete's performance on snow and roller skis.

Our system goes beyond basic metrics, providing in-depth analysis of skiing technique, automatic detection of laps, and comparisons across different athletes and over time. Whether you're a national team or a high-performance university program, Archinisis' cross-country skiing performance analysis tool adapts to your needs, offering actionable insights that can make the difference between victory and defeat in this highly competitive sport.

Picture of the sensor worn by the athlete
Picture of a cross-country skier being tracked with Archinisis sensor

Types of Analyses for Cross-Country Skiing

Screenshot of an example smart segmentation

Our innovative smart segmentation technology automatically identifies laps, eliminating the need to manually sift through warm-up and cool-down data and manually finding the start and finish. This automated process ensures that you focus solely on the crucial performance segments, streamlining your analysis workflow.

Screenshot of the cycle parameter overview

Each skating and classic cycle is detected automatically, providing cycle-by-cycle speed, length, duration, lateral excursion, meters climbed, and more, to quantify how efficiently every meter is skied. Cycles can be located in time, by distance skied, or on a map.

Screenshot of the continuous upper body inclination and lateral excursion in skating

From a single sensor on the upper back, the system reconstructs center-of-mass position, speed, and upper body inclination to reveal how the athlete moves over the entire course.

Screenshot a satellite image with cycle and sub-technique overlay

The system identifies which sub-technique an athlete uses for every cycle, so you can verify intended technique use in specific terrains and refine technical and pacing strategies.

Screenshot of the time waterfall plot comparing time lost between laps

Metrics are mapped to climbs, flats, and descents, allowing you to see exactly where time is gained or lost and how technique changes with terrain. Advanced statistics automatically pool similar terrain to better understand an athlete's strength and weakness: flat, uphill, transitions, turns, etc.

Screenshot of the segment comparison overview

Detailed speed and cycle metrics over time reveal how pacing evolves and how fatigue affects technique. Lap comparisons and dedicated reports show where exactly performance changed on the course and cycle performance information explains how the performance changed.

Screenshot of the interactive 3D profile analysis

Our analysis pathway "from macro to micro" allows a fast and efficient performance comparison between laps and athletes. Start with a race overview to identify key areas of interest, then dive into detailed and interactive cycle-by-cycle comparisons to understand exactly how performance changed and what the underlying causes were.

Screenshot of a speed comparison profile

Speed and time comparison plots allow to instantly identify where exactly time was lost or gained and how that relates to changes in speed. The same speed difference in two sections may result in two completely different time differences, depending on total speed and section length. Our speed comparison plots and time waterfall plots allow you to understand this context-dependent relationship.

Book a Demo Call

Experience the power of Archinisis' cross-country skiing performance analysis firsthand in a personalized 30-minute online demo. Schedule your one-on-one Zoom call now to see our solution in action and get all your questions answered by our expert team.

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Who works with Archinisis' cross-country skiing analysis?

Almost all cross-country skiing and biathlon national teams are our customers: Finland, Germany, France, Italy, United States, Austria, etc. We are so prevalent that, according to rumors, FIS explicitly mentioned Archinisis in their sudden and unexpected ban of external tracking devices during the 2026 Milano-Cortina Winter Olympic Games.

Benefits
for Coaches

As a coach you cannot see everything your athletes are doing. Our system sees everything and makes sure you do not miss anything. Double-check if your athletes are following your instructions and make sure they are not overdoing it. Help them overcome bad sections or bad days by focusing on the positive aspects of their performance.

Make informed decisions based on objective performance metrics. Confirm your subjective observations with concrete data, ensuring that your coaching strategies are grounded in evidence. This data-driven approach enhances your credibility and authority, fostering trust and respect among athletes and staff.

Our system provides insights at multiple levels, from overall performance trends to detailed cycle-by-cycle analysis and continuous center of mass kinematics, measured 200x per second. This allows you to identify not only where performance is changing but also why it is changing, enabling you to tailor your coaching interventions with precision and effectiveness.

Automating data collection and analysis to save time on manual review. No more need for manual split times and counting pole plants. Our system does it all for you. Performance can easily be tracked and compared over time, without the need to fill in spreadsheets or manually calculate averages.

Our meticulously crafted graphs and automatic video overlays serve as powerful visual aids, enabling you to articulate strategies and deliver feedback with greater clarity and impact. By grounding your coaching advice in objective, verifiable data, you'll build stronger trust with your athletes, enhancing the effectiveness of your communication and the overall coaching process.
Picture of an athlete double poling

Skiing Power

Our specialized algorithms estimate the average skiing power for every cross-country skiing cycle. For all techniques and all sub-techniques. The power analysis is the perfect tool for working on the skiing technique: try out different adaptations in technique such as a different cadence, different work with the upper body, altered arm movement and much more and measure how this affects skiing power and efficiency. What adaptations allow you to ski the fastest with the least power requirement? Measure how much power you are missing to ski 1 km/h faster. Find out if it is worth to put extra effort in the two last uphill cycles to gain extra speed during the following downhill. Perform ski testing and measure which ski creates the least ski-snow friction and is therefore the fastest.

Graph comparing skiing power for two different speeds on the same track
Comparing the skiing power of two laps on an uphill section of the same round. The dark blue was skied with medium intensity and the light blue was skied with medium-to-high intensity.

Interested to know how we estimate this average skiing power? Read our blog post Cross-Country Skiing Power

Screenshot of the sychronized video for double poling cross-country skiing

Video Analysis and Overlay

Training videos come to life with automatically overlaid performance data, showing exactly how each movement influences speed and efficiency. This powerful visual feedback helps athletes and coaches fine‑tune technique with precision and confidence. Combined with objective data from our system (requiring a separate synchronization unit), it turns every session into a clear, data‑driven learning experience.