Race car drivers compete in full-body safety gear while sitting in a piping hot car, which puts tremendous strain on the heart.
Grant Halverson/Getty Images for NASCAR
Imagine an NBA game played outdoors in August, with no substitutions and players wearing snowsuits, gloves and ski masks. Race car drivers routinely compete under similar conditions.
This May, Olympian bronze medallist Damian Warner set three new Decathlon Bests in 100m, long jump, and 110m hurdles, earning a new Canadian record for overall points.
(AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
Some Olympic athletes have thrived in the year-long delay leading up to the Tokyo Games, using the extra time off to improve their performance and shatter national records.
More than 200 gene variants have been linked to outstanding sporting performance and this number could increase as we continue to research the link between genetics and athlete performance.
Lukas Coch/AAP
Genetic testing could help us build targeted and effective training routines for athletes, but the emerging science could also introduce opportunity for discrimination in the sporting world.
What helps an athlete leap tall distances in a single bound?
AP Photo/Tom Lynn
It probably sounds bad or uncomfortable to you. But stiffness is part of what gives elite athletes the spring in their muscles.
While this football player’s arms may look like they give him an onfield advantage, his fingers may actually be more predictive of his athletic ability.
Ostill/Shutterstock.com
Athletic ability is often linked to size – of muscles and bones. New studies are suggesting, however, that the relative size of two fingers could be more predictive of ability.
Clinician Scientist, Canada Research Chair in Injury Prevention and Physical Activity for Health, Sport Medicine Physician, Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, Western University