A SKI-TIMING FIRST

At the Olympic Winter Games Garmisch-Partenkirchen 1936, OMEGA timed the downhill skiing competition with a new, novel method that saw two separate chronographs used – one at the start and another at the finish. The start and finish time of each skier was noted on paper and then calculated later in the race office.

This new method had its own challenges to overcome. Lists of start times were transported down the course in the pockets of competing skiers. If a skier were to fall, the start times of proceeding skiers may be lost. OMEGA solved this problem at the following Olympic Games with the introduction of photoelectric cell technology.