In downhill alpine skiing, skiers often exceed speeds of 120 km h −1 , with air resistance
substantially affecting the overall race times. To date, studies on air resistance in alpine skiing
have used wind tunnels and actual skiers to examine the relationship between the gliding posture and
magnitude of drag and for the design of skiing equipment. However, these studies have not revealed
the flow velocity distribution and vortex structure around the skier. In the present study,
computational fluid dynamics are employed with the lattice Boltzmann method to derive the
relationship between total drag and the flow velocity around a downhill skier in the full-tuck
position. Furthermore, the flow around the downhill skier is visualised, and its vortex structure is
examined. The results show that the total drag force in the downhill skier model is 27.0 N at a flow
velocity of 15 m s −1 , increasing to 185.8 N at 40 m s −1 . From analysis of the drag distribut…