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What could be a more perfect toddler adventure? When the snow starts to fall, Peep and Ducky climb into their sleds for a race, landing happily on each other after hitting a bump. Then they're on to building a snowman. But when the top half crashes, someone kicks snow and both friends get mad . . . until they crack each other up. With irresistible illustrations and a singsong text that begs to be read aloud, David Martin and David Walker usher the winsome duo into another season. -- amazon.com

Background Systematic surveillance of injuries and illnesses is the foundation for developing preventive measures in sport. Aim To analyse the injuries and illnesses that occurred during the XXII Olympic Winter Games, held in Sochi in 2014. Methods We recorded the daily occurrence (or non-occurrence) of injuries and illnesses (1) through the reporting of all National Olympic Committee (NOC) medical teams and (2) in the polyclinic and medical venues by the Sochi 2014 medical staff. Results NOC and Sochi 2014 medical staff reported 391 injuries and 249 illnesses among 2780 athletes from 88 NOCs, equalling incidences of 14 injuries and 8.9 illnesses per 100 athletes over an 18-day period of time. Altogether, 12% and 8% of the athletes incurred at least one injury or illness, respectively. The percentage of athletes injured was highest in aerial skiing, snowboard slopestyle, snowboard cross, slopestyle skiing, halfpipe skiing, moguls skiing, alpine skiing, and snowboard halfpipe. Thirty-nine per cent of the injuries were expected to prevent the athlete from participating in competition or training. Women suffered 50% more illnesses than men. The rate of illness was highest in skeleton, short track, curling, cross-country skiing, figure skating, bobsleigh and aerial skiing. A total of 159 illnesses (64%) affected the respiratory system, and the most common cause of illness was infection (n=145, 58%). Conclusions Overall, 12% of the athletes incurred at least one injury during the games, and 8% an illness, which is similar to prior Olympic Games. The incidence of injuries and illnesses varied substantially between sports.

\"Setting out to find the North Pole, an imaginative pig receives a little help from his sister\"-- Provided by publisher.

ObjectiveTo describe the epidemiology of injuries at the Sochi 2014 Winter Paralympic Games.MethodsA total of 547 athletes from 45 countries were monitored daily for 12 days during the Sochi 2014 Winter Paralympic Games (6564 athlete days). Daily injury data were obtained from teams with their own medical support (32 teams, 510 athletes) and teams without their own medical support (13 teams, 37 athletes) through electronic data capturing systems.ResultsThere were 174 total injuries reported, with an injury incidence rate (IR) of 26.5 per 1000 athlete days (95% CI 22.7% to 30.8%). There was a significantly higher IR recorded in alpine skiing/snowboarding (IR of 41.1 (95% CI 33.7% to 49.6%) p=0.0001) compared to cross-country skiing/biathlon, ice sledge hockey or wheelchair curling. Injuries in the shoulder region were the highest single-joint IR (IR of 6.4 (95% CI 4.6% to 8.6%)), although total upper and lower body IR were similar (IR 8.5 vs 8.4 (95% CI 6.4% to 11.1%)). Furthermore, the IR of acute injuries was significantly higher than other types of injury onset (IR of 17.8 (95% CI 14.7% to 21.4%)).ConclusionsIn a Winter Paralympic Games setting, athletes report higher injury incidence than do Olympic athletes or athletes in a Summer Paralympic Games setting. The highest incidence of injury was reported in the alpine skiing/snowboarding sporting category. There was a similar incidence of injury in the upper and lower limbs. The joint with the greatest rate of injury reported was the shoulder joint. Our data can inform injury prevention programmes and policy considerations regarding athlete safety in future Winter Paralympic Games.

The little bears are ready to play in the snow. But, uh-oh, their sled is too small! It's not as fun sledding when they can only go two at a time. What can they use to carry them all? Luckily, Big Brown Bear has an idea.

The development of ice and snow sports is a crucial aspect of building China into a leading sports nation. Enhancing adolescents’ willingness to participate in ice and snow sports reflects the essence of sustainable and high-quality development in this field. Using data from 23 provinces and municipalities in China in 2023, this study adopts an integrated theoretical framework combining the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and the Norm Activation Model (NAM). Employing fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA), the study identifies key influencing factors and explores the configuration paths affecting adolescents’ willingness to participate in ice and snow sports. The findings are as follows: (1) Although public participation in ice and snow sports among adolescents is being actively promoted in China, there remains a lack of comprehensive understanding of their participation intentions and demands. (2) Subjective norms and personal norms, as sufficient conditions, show strong explanatory power in shaping adolescents’ willingness to participate in ice and snow sports. This highlights the importance of exploring multiple condition-variable configurations to gain a more comprehensive and in-depth understanding of adolescents’ participation intentions. (3) Four primary paths to promoting adolescents’ willingness to participate in ice and snow sports were identified: the comprehensive driver path (C1), the emotional and normative resonance path (C2), the integrated participation path (C3), and the knowledge-behavior co-driven paths (C4 and C5). The study recommends a collaborative approach between government and schools to integrate ice and snow sports into adolescents’ quality education system, leveraging digital technologies to enrich and enhance their ice and snow sports experience. Additionally, fostering an ice and snow culture to strengthen adolescents’ emotional identity and cultural value perception of these sports is essential to attract more youth participation. By focusing on the integrated TPB-NAM theoretical framework and incorporating risk perception and prior knowledge for evaluating participation willingness, this study effectively overcomes the limitations of single-method approaches. This expansion provides new perspectives and proposes novel paths, such as emotional and normative resonance and knowledge-behavior co-driving, for understanding and promoting ice and snow sports. These findings offer targeted market insights and intervention strategies for policymakers and practitioners. The fsQCA method identifies key drivers and contextual combinations, assisting policymakers, educators, and learners in promoting participation. Overall, this study enriches theoretical understanding and proposes comprehensive and scenario-adaptive dynamic paths to foster high-quality development in ice and snow sports while providing practical guidance for policymakers and educators.

Rotational acceleration of the head is a principal cause of concussion and traumatic brain injury. Several rotation-damping systems for helmets have been introduced to better protect the brain from rotational forces. But these systems have not been evaluated in snow sport helmets. This study investigated two snow sport helmets with different rotation-damping systems, termed MIPS and WaveCel, in comparison to a standard snow sport helmet without a rotation-damping system. Impact performance was evaluated by vertical drops of a helmeted Hybrid III head and neck onto an oblique anvil. Six impact conditions were tested, comprising two impact speeds of 4.8 and 6.2 m/s, and three impact locations. Helmet performance was quantified in terms of the linear and rotational kinematics, and the predicted probability of concussion. Both rotation-damping systems significantly reduced rotational acceleration under all six impact conditions compared to the standard helmet, but their effect on linear acceleration was less consistent. The highest probability of concussion for the standard helmet was 89%, while helmets with MIPS and WaveCel systems exhibited a maximal probability of concussion of 67 and 7%, respectively. In conclusion, rotation-damping systems of advanced snow sport helmets can significantly reduce rotational head acceleration and the associated concussion risk.

Background Data on the injury and illness risk among young elite athletes are of utmost importance, because injuries and illnesses can counter the beneficial effects of sports participation at a young age, if children or adolescents are unable to continue to participate because of residual effects of injury or chronic illness. Objective To analyse the frequencies and characteristics of injuries and illnesses during the 2012 Innsbruck Winter Youth Olympic Games (IYOG). Methods We employed the International Olympic Committee (IOC) injury surveillance system for multisport events, which was updated for the Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver 2010. All National Olympic Committees (NOCs) were asked to report the daily occurrence (or non-occurrence) of newly sustained injuries and illnesses on a standardised reporting form. In addition, information on athletes treated for injuries and illnesses by the Local Organizing Committee medical services was retrieved from the medical centre at the Youth Olympic Village and from the University hospital in Innsbruck. Results Among the 1021 registered athletes (45% women, 55% men) from 69 NOCs, a total of 111 injuries and 86 illnesses, during the IYOG, were reported, resulting in an incidence of 108.7 injuries and 84.2 illnesses per 1000 registered athletes, respectively. Injury frequency was highest in skiing in the halfpipe (44%) and snowboarding (halfpipe and slope style: 35%), followed by ski cross (17%), ice hockey (15%), alpine skiing (14%) and figure skating (12%), taking into account the respective number of participating athletes. Knee, pelvis, head, lower back and shoulders were the most common injury locations. About 60% of injuries occurred in competition and about 40% in training, respectively. In total, 32% of the injuries resulted in an absence from training or competition. With regard to illnesses, 11% of women and 6% of men suffered from an illness (RR=1.84 (95% CI 1.21 to 2.78), p=0.003). The respiratory system was affected most often (61%). Conclusions Eleven per cent of the athletes suffered from an injury and 9% from illnesses, during the IYOG. The presented data constitute the basis for future analyses of injury mechanisms and associated risk factors in Olympic Winter sports, which, in turn, will be essential to develop and implement effective preventive strategies for young elite winter-sport athletes.

The visual system has a strong information processing ability, and visual attention tracking has various applications in various scenes. This paper mainly focuses on the sports scene of ice and snow far mobilization. It constructs a visual attention system model based on eye tracking. It first establishes an eye tracking system framework using deep learning, and improves the gaze estimation by optimizing the feature extraction network. The visual attention system model was constructed using particle filtering based on motion feature cognition. In the eye-tracking visual attention system model experiments, the Accuracy of the improved eye-tracking system in this paper can be significantly improved to 1.13°, and the error of the visual attention system can be kept within 10°. Furthermore, the four ice and snow sports scene types have an average accuracy of 85.47%, and the constructed model performs well. This study offers a guide for effectively combining eye tracking technology and visual attention.

Background Owing to the separation into age groups at the first winter Youth Olympic Games (YOG), athletes differed in age by up to two years, leading to a potential relative age effect (RAE). Objective The purpose of this study was to define the role of the RAE in the first winter YOG with regard to sex, type of sport and performance. Methods The birth dates and anthropometric data of all 1021 athletes (557 male, 464 female, 14–19 years old) participating in 15 sports were analysed. A χ2 test was used to assess the difference between the observed and expected birth distributions. ANOVA (analysis of variance) and Kruskal−Wallis analyses were used to investigate differences in anthropometrics. Results The birth date distribution of the overall sample was significantly different from an equal distribution, with an over-representation of athletes born shortly after the cut-off date (χ2=284.7, p<0.001). A significant RAE was found in both male (χ2=245.1, p<0.001) and female competitors (χ2=74.6, p<0.001). An analysis based on the type of sport showed an RAE in all categories (strength—χ2=229.9, p<0.001, endurance—χ2=60.4, p<0.001 and technique-related sports χ2=25.2, p=0.001). Relatively older competitors were also over-represented among medal winners (χ2=47.9, p<0.001). Relatively older male competitors were significantly taller (p=0.005) and heavier (p<0.001) than younger competitors. No differences were found in female competitors. Conclusions The results suggest that relative age had a highly significant influence on participation in various sports regardless of sex. A possible strategy to reduce the RAE would be a fixed quota for each birth year within the two-year age group across events.