A UK-based sports technology company founded by biomechanical expert Dr Dario Cazzola and Roy Shubhabrata has played an important role in the record-breaking success of TeamGB’s bobsleigh and skeleton team and their record-breaking gold medal run at the recent Winter Olympics.
Dario is using computer vision technology and AI to transform how elite athletes and teams analyse and improve performance using video, which is analysed in a matter of minutes, so that actions and improvements can be taken quickly and easily. The British Bobsleigh and Skeleton Association were among his company’s first clients.
“In a world where minute improvements are so important, our technology can provide those insights which could be the difference between winning and losing, winning gold, silver or bronze or even winning a local sports league,” Dario said. “We’re so proud of the whole skeleton team and are in awe of the record medal haul they achieved for TeamGB.”
Mike Muckelt, strength and conditioning coach for the British Skeleton team, said: ‘In Froceteck, we had a really powerful tool that helped us understand why our athletes achieve what they achieve, and what we need to do to make them better.”
Dario has been an academic in biomechanics for decades and wanted to specialise in sports tech. To follow his passion he made the decision to move to the UK from Milan, Italy in 2012 and now works as reader in biomechanics at the University of Bath. The university is also one of the UK’s top training centres for elite athletes so for Dario this was a perfect fit.
In 2023, Dario came up with the idea of supporting elite athletes to reach their full potential using AI technology and ForceTeck came into being. It was then spun out of the University of Bath, and the company became members at SETsquared Bath. Dario was joined in that enterprise from the start by Roy Shubhabrata, who brought skills from the commercial and the digital product world.
Andrea Kelly, Centre Manager of the University of Bath’s Innovation Centre, home of SETsquared Bath said: “One of the reasons SETsquared Bath works for busy founders is flexibility. Dario and Roy have been able to tap into our team, of entrepreneurs and advisers-in-residence, and the wider community when it mattered, fitting support around real deadlines and pressures rather than forcing the business to fit a fixed timetable.
“Forceteck continues to grow from strength to strength, through hard work and dedication, they are on the right track to achieve amazing success, my team, especially Pete, are all proud to have played a small role in that success so far.”
Drawing on decades of academic research and practical expertise in biomechanics, Dario founded ForceTeck to bridge the gap between laboratory science and on-field performance.
“My sport biomechanics experience recognised the critical need within elite sport: the ability to capture, process and interpret performance data instantly rather than retrospectively. Our proprietary technology enables teams to record athlete performance on video, upload it to the Cloud and receive lab-grade biomechanical analysis in a matter of minutes.
“The system is designed to support sports teams, elite athletes and sporting academies seeking marginal gains in highly competitive environments. By delivering near real-time feedback, coaches and athletes can make immediate adjustments to technique and strategy.”
Over time, Dario and Roy hope to provide this technology to other areas of sport. The timing for this start-up has been perfect and last year they raised more than £550,000 in equity investment and Dario was awarded the prestigious Royal Academy of Engineering Enterprise Fellowship to move the business forward. The investment has supported product development and expansion into additional sporting disciplines. Their stellar client portfolio now includes national rugby teams, Premier League football teams, elite sprinters, and even Australian Football teams.
Roy Shubhabrata said: “We are seeing a growing demand from professional sport for solutions that are both scientifically robust and operationally practical. Our platform is built to deliver elite level analysis quickly and reliably, without disrupting the training environment.”
Michael Muckelt, Starts Coach for the British Bobsleigh Skeleton Team shares his experience of using Forceteck.
For more information, visit Forceteck.