Atos supports top Belgian long track speed skater Bart Swings with tailor-made application
Atos supports top Belgian long track speed skater Bart Swings with tailor-made application
Brussels, September 23, 2019
Atos, a global leader in digital transformation, has developed a tailor-made application for Belgian talent Bart Swings to track and monitor his training data, in order to better understand progress, improve training schedules and ultimately to improve performance. Bart will use the personalized app from today, at the start of his preparation for the new ice-skating season.
Atos has been Bart Swings’ sponsor since the end of 2018, committing to developing technology services which support his training and ultimately enhance performance. One of Atos’ first initiatives is this app, which is tailored to his personal activities and preferences. This fully personalized app is operational as of today.
The app will get rid of much of the manual tasks involved in registering, monitoring and structuring training data. Bart Swings’ track times are recorded in the app and are immediately available for analysis. This analysis can include other relevant data, such as the type of track, its location, the temperature, the number of skaters on the track and so on. Combined with Bart’s personal physical data such as lactate value and heart rate, this provides valuable information on the factors which influence each training session.
Gut feeling replaced with hard facts
“We are very proud to be supporting Bart with this powerful tool”, says Antoine Kerrinckx, CEO Belgium & Luxembourg at Atos. “We have designed and built the application from scratch in order to fully meet Bart’s needs. The result of this collaboration will undoubtedly contribute to enhancing Bart’s performance and to winning further titles at European and world level.”
“I am extremely pleased with this important addition to my set of training tools”, adds Bart Swings. “In the past, I felt that specific circumstances would impact my training and ultimately my results during the competition. Starting from this season, that general gut feeling will be replaced with exact data that is always available, now and in the future. The real impact of this tool will be seen when I start training and competing on the same track for a second time. In the meantime, it already provides some very valuable information. My only regret is that I didn’t have this tool available earlier in my career.”
First-ever speed skating training app
This custom-built app is unique in various ways. It is based on the requirements and personal needs of Bart and his trainer. For this reason, it is by definition different from any other app. Furthermore, it is the first app ever created to register, monitor, manage and analyze speed skating training performances.
“There are plenty of training support tools for running and cycling, but so far no software has ever been developed to specifically cater for the speed skaters’ needs. We are proud to be the first to create a tool like this for such a great champion”, says Martin Schoenmakers, Head of Business & Platform Solutions BTN at Atos.
The app has been developed using the Mendix Low-Code Platform for fast and flexible application development. The front-end is custom-made with a responsive lay-out that can be used on all screen types. It incorporates various JavaScript functions, such as the stopwatch functionality, with a scalable back-end. High availability is a guarantee, regardless of when and where the app is used. A flexible and powerful analytics engine, based on Atos Big Data technology, ensures that the available training data, combined with external information, such as temperature and elevation, will generate new insights that can lead to even better training programs and results.
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Press contact
Sacha Klingeleers | sacha.klingeleers@atos.net