Introducing Brunhild Analytics
How two forgotten work projects became the foundation for a figure skating analytics platform.
Brunhild Analytics is a free, public dashboard for figure skating data. Fullmetal Analyst is where I’ll be posting write-ups with the data.
Ironically, my 9-5 job served as the foundation for Brunhild. I work in construction and wrote a scraper in Python to pull product specifications from construction front-end documents. Similar to ISU protocols, front-end docs follow predictable formats. Around the same time, I built a project-tracking dashboard with Shiny App.
Neither project was recognized fully (surprise!), and I stewed for a bit. I thought I had been sent on, not one but two, pointless sidequests where I devoted a lot of time and energy to building things that never saw the light of day. In hindsight, both experiences provided me with enough training to build Brunhild from the ground up.
I’ll stop yapping. Let’s take a look at the dashboard.
Head to the main page to filter results by season(s), gender, country, and competition. On any of the element tabs, you can sort by individual competition or season. As an FYI, these take a little longer to load than the main page. (The dashboard is currently hosted on the cheapest Amazon EC2 server tier.)
I’m proud to say there are over 58,000 elements in the database. After digging further into older protocols (shoutout to the Wayback Machine), the dataset now spans from the 2018-19 season to the present day.
Before 2022, protocol formats weren’t standardized. At first glance, they look the same, but they contain minor variations that make it hard to pull the data, so I ended up writing eight different scrapers for each format. I did my best to ensure that everything looks correct on the front end, but if you see anything that looks off, please let me know.
The biggest driver behind all this was fan accessibility to data. Just being able to look at scores is great, but I don’t want anything hidden behind a paywall. I also don’t want to be bombarded with advertisements. ISU protocols are free and publicly available, except that the numbers are buried in PDFs, so you can’t easily copy and paste the information into Excel.
That’s where Brunhild lands. I’m a sucker for a scatter plot, and pulled the data below from the dashboard. You can make your own chart too, using whatever stats you want!
I can’t believe how quickly everything has come together over the past three months. Without your support, I’m just spewing thoughts into the endless void of the internet.
Before I sign off, I have one tiny ask: I’m terrible at self-promotion. I’ve been relying on cold outreach and word-of-mouth for marketing Brunhild Analytics and Fullmetal Analyst. If you have a moment, I ask that you share both with anyone you think would be interested, whether it’s friends, family, or the person behind you in line at the grocery store. Every little bit helps!
I hope everyone has a lovely summer! Talk soon.
— Maddie