We're one week away from Cortina 2021 Alpine Ski World Championships' official kick-off, and we expect to live quite an uncommon championship, given that no participants will be allowed to crowd the racecourse due to the coronavirus pandemic. Nevertheless, it will be as prestigious as ever, given that all the best skiers are going to compete during this edition. Between 7 and 21 February, Cortina 2021 will welcome the top-performing athletes from seventy nations to compete against each other and take the thirteen titles belonging to categories like downhill, super-G, giant slalom, slalom, combined alpine. This edition will welcome a first-ever competition for the individual parallel's race, too.
What is not changing is the official timekeeper of the event, instead: Longines. The Swiss brand is a long-standing partner to alpine skiing ever since alpine skiing became an official sport. Proof positive of how Longines is today involved in the sport is its ambassadors' list, including American skiing champion Mikaela Shiffrin, Marco Odermatt, and Loïc Meillard.
Longines' foothold as a timekeeper is rooted in the early days of sports timing to a more considerable extent. If you're lucky to visit the brand's museum someday, you'll discover how enduring the relationship between Longines and sports timing is; the brand boasts, therefore, unparalleled expertise in designing advanced digital timekeepers. The sports timekeeping's legacy holds a whole floor of the brand's museum. Today, Longines focuses on skiing and horse riding, but we can't forget how the brand was involved in motorsport timing back in the days.
Let's try and list some milestones that made Longines a sports timekeeper: the first experiment dates back to 1878 when the brand introduced its first chronograph, while in 1924, it timed a military alpine ski for the first time; it was the beginning of a closer relationship moving forward. Longines then unveiled the first electronically-activated-chronographs timing system in 1937, and in 1945 the first photoelectric-powered starting gates appeared. Research and development on new and more refined timing systems never stopped in St.Imier.
Today the brand is a forerunner in this class of technologies, as proved by an innovative technique called Live Alpine Data unveiled during the 2017 World Championships in St. Moritz. By installing a transponder on a skier's boots, engineers can collect plenty of data during the race, including acceleration, speed, jumps, and broadcast them live to race's viewers.
Cortina 2021's official watch is the blue Longines Spirit Chronograph we reviewed later last year. The Longines Spirit is a perfect wristwatch's companion to those looking for accuracy; the attention to timing accuracy during the product development was paramount. The result is a collection whose timing precision is above the average across the brand's offering and beyond. What I can add is that I'd love to see additional variations along the way, like a very Limited Edition model as a flagship to celebrate the event and attract those in search of the ultimate collector's piece.
(Photo credit: courtesy of Longines, Horbiter®)
Gaetano C @Horbiter®
Instagram – Gaetano Cimmino
