Whitehorse startup hopes to have its technology in athletes' hands for 2022 Winter Olympics

A Whitehorse company is hoping to make a mark on the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.

The startup, Proskida, makes cross country ski pole hand grips that measure an athlete's effort.

The grips have electronic software embedded in them that calculates the force an athlete is using to push down on their polls. This information is transferred in real time onto a smartphone app.

"Cross country skiing is the only sport that doesn't have performance measurements," said Alastair Smith, co-founder of the company.

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In November the company teamed up with Swiss-Ski, the Norwegian Olympic Federation and Cross Country Canada to run a beta test program. Smithsaid that teams are expecting this kind oftechnologywill be used in training leading up to the next WinterOlympics.

Measuring the speed of a cross-country skier does not give an accurate picture of an athlete's ability because snow conditions have a big influences on askier's speed.

"It may require just as much effort to go 10 kilometres per hour on a different day [depending on snow conditions]," Smith said. "This is where this particular tool adds the most value because now you can measure the amount of effort pushing out and not just the speed."

Smith was at the world juniors in Switzerland this year where athletes could demo the product. This allows coaches to measure an athlete in the field opposed to tools that are used in a gym, according to Smith.

"What we're providing is the cutting edge tool for this sport," he said.

Proskida is not currently available for public purchase but the company hopes to have it on the marketby next winter.

However, Smith isn't setting itssights strictly on skiing. The technologycan be easily transferredto other endurance sports withhand grips like cycling and rowing.

Smith is currently in Victoria to meet with investors.