Performance-tracking specialist Lionel Yersin discusses his paragliding inspiration and behind-the-scenes work in developing the LAZRSpray.
Lausanne, Switzerland. A stunning city where tourists can enjoy gothic history, bustling high streets, and grand mountain views, all on the shores of Lake Geneva’s crystal blue water.
It is also the home to one of the world’s renowned sports federations, the 131-year-old International Olympic Committee, and at the city’s heart stands a towering cathedral that was built in the 13th century.
But while Lausanne is rooted in history, working among the cathedral’s jagged shadows are some of the leading futuristic minds in technology – including one Lionel Yersin.
He founded a company called innove SA that specializes in Electronic Performance and Tracking Systems (EPTS), helping athletes and teams to record physiological, movement, and health data in training and competition.
Through innove’s expertise and experience, this precise technology has been built into the LAZRSpray device that has been designed to support football referees in high-pressure situations by measuring the ball-to-wall distance during free kicks.
Developing the LAZRSpray took innove into uncharted territory, having never integrated performance-tracking capabilities with a laser, but Yersin was more than up for the challenge.
“We are using the latest technologies,” he said.
“We are pushing the boundaries of what we can do with a live tracking device, using the newest network technologies, the most accurate positioning technologies, and making our device as open to third-party devices [as possible] to get more and more data.
“That’s a little bit of our DNA, to have that possibility to connect to any sensor, be able to measure any kind of data, and transmit that in live.
“In football, 10 years ago, almost no athlete was using electronic tracking devices and now it’s really common. They are used by almost every athlete at the professional and elite levels, and it will be the same in other sports. It’s a big market.
“Performance tracking is important, particularly important in football for tracking distances, sprints, accelerations, and all the efforts that are made by the athletes, helping to make sure they are training well and understand risk of injuries.”
It was a very different mission that first set Lionel on course for a career in sports technology in 2010, one that isn’t relevant to football whatsoever: measuring changes in altitude.
The Swiss, who has walked Lausanne’s twisting streets since he was a little boy, grew to love the city from the sky as he became a keen paraglider over the nearby mountains.
“My two passions were electronics and paragliding, so that’s why I started.
“My idea was to create a device that helped paragliders by connecting to smartphones using Bluetooth. It was a live tracker that measured air pressure to detect altitude variations.
“It does not seem so far away, but at that time, it was the beginning of smartphones, and this tracker was one of the first mobile apps on the market to have that kind of live connectivity.”
Since then, Yersin has enjoyed a successful career spanning more than 15 years in technology, and worked at the highest level in a variety of sports.
Some of innove’s latest work includes building their ONE model. It’s a Live Outdoor Tracking Ecosystem that records and processes real-time data to provide coaches with customized interfaces, instant analysis, and cutting-edge support.
Now, it’s the turn of referees to have their own bespoke tracking system that will take their training and development to new heights.
“Tom Beaumont [founder of LAZRSpray] came to us a few years ago because we have an EPTS device for football. He wanted to develop the LAZRSpray connected to EPTS, and we started to develop multiple variations of the prototype.
“For referees, it’s important to make decisions based on real data, on accurate data. For the 9.15-meter distance during free kicks, there is no real accurate measurement up until now.
“Adding EPTS measures the current position of an athlete or a referee at a high frequency. With that position we can determine motion, distance, speed, acceleration – and then you also know the effort – so trainers can rely on real, accurate data to make their decisions as well.
“It’s a good idea – great to have it incorporated with the vanishing spray – and it’s easy to use for the referee due to its feel and design. There is a need for it.
“It’s a really interesting product and I believe it will be successful.”