If Team USA brings home the gold in bobsled or skeleton at the next two Winter Olympic games, those athletes will be sure to thank Honda’s team in Ohio.
That’s because of a new partnership American Honda announced June 16 with the USA Bobsled/Skeleton Team (USABS). The partnership will leverage the car manufacturer’s engineering and racing expertise to advance athletes’ training and performance through 2030, Head Coach of the USA Bobsled Team Chris Fogt said in a statement.
USABS and Honda engineers will specifically utilize the aeroacoustic wind tunnel at Honda Automotive Laboratories of Ohio, better known as HALO, in East Liberty. The $124-million testing facility opened in 2022 and provides aerodynamic flow quality testing for vehicle development.
“In sports where sleds can reach speeds of over 90 miles per hour and the difference between first and last can be measured in fractions of a second, our Honda engineers are eager to apply their engineering skills and racing background to the USABS programs,” Larry Geise, executive vice president of Honda Development & Manufacturing of America, said in a statement.
Aron McGuire, CEO of USABS, said in a press release that the partnership is an exciting moment for the team.
“Bringing together the precision, performance and innovation of Honda’s U.S. based engineering teams with the athletic excellence of our bobsled and skeleton athletes will give the USA team a distinct edge on the world stage,” McGuire said.
The goal is for Honda to learn more about the speed and extreme forces athletes endure in competition to help fine-tune their performances. Between time in the HALO wind tunnel and study by Honda’s research and development engineers, USABS will glean engineering data, analysis and design input to make sure its athletes and equipment are set up for their best performance. Athletes will also spend time at HALO to study the aerodynamic impact they have on the sleds.
“In skeleton, an athlete’s head, shoulders, arms and leg positions are all imperative to aero and performance,” Matt Antoine, head coach of the USA Skeleton Team, said in a statement. “Time at Honda’s HALO wind tunnel will provide valuable feedback to our athletes about their sliding positions to allow them to optimize their results.”
The multi-year partnership will help prepare USABS team for the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026. That support will continue over the five years at other international competitions, leading up to the Olympic Winter Games French Alps 2030.
Higher education reporter Sheridan Hendrix can be reached at shendrix@dispatch.com and on Signal at @sheridan.120. You can follow her on Instagram at @sheridanwrites.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: USA Bobsled/Skeleton Olympic athletes to train at Honda’s Ohio facilities through 2030
Reporting by Sheridan Hendrix, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
