NovaSpeed started with a pole vaulter who wanted to measure his own run-up
Simen Guttormsen is an Olympic pole vaulter. He wanted to know exactly how fast he was running into the box, and the only options were timing gates, which give a few times, or a lab. So he started building a laser that follows the whole approach.
- Olympian in pole vault
- NCAA Division 1 champion
- Top 15 in the world rankings
- Norwegian national team
- Princeton UniversityB.S.E. in Operations Research and Financial Engineering
- Duke UniversityB.S. in Economics and Computer Science
- PhD student in FinanceCurrent
Simen is a professional pole vaulter. He has competed at the Olympic Games, won an NCAA Division 1 title and been ranked among the top 15 in the world.
In pole vault, the speed you bring into the take-off is something every coach watches. Simen wanted to see that speed over his whole run-up, not just a time between two gates, and without booking a lab. Nothing he could find did that at the track, so he built his first prototypes to measure his own approaches.
Those prototypes grew into NovaSpeed: one laser behind the start that follows a sprinter or a jumper down the lane, and an app that shows the coach the result as soon as the run ends.
His studies in operations research, economics and computer science shape how NovaSpeed measures a run and checks its own numbers.
What you can expect from NovaSpeed as it grows
Every new version is tested on a real track before coaches get it
We take the unit to a track, record real runs and check the results against video and the raw laser data before a release.
The app shows a dash when it can't stand behind a number
If the laser loses the athlete, or a run doesn't cover the distance, you see a dash instead of a guess. A dash is never counted as zero.
Your data belongs to you, and you can take it with you
Export your runs as PDF or CSV at any time, and delete your account and all of its data from the app whenever you want.
Get in touch about NovaSpeed for your team
Emails to team@getnovaspeed.com go straight to the team. Tell us about your athletes and the tests you run.