The Real Science of Sport Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

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In this emergency bonus episode, Ross reacts to the bombshell news: Kenya's Ruth Chepng’etich, who stunned the world with her record-breaking marathon in Chicago last year, has been provisionally suspended by the Athletics Integrity Unit after testing positive for a banned diuretic in March. The performance shocked the running community at the time — questions and doubts sparked a parliamentary inquiry in Kenya after a journalist’s pointed question at the press conference. We even released a podcast titled “Too Good To Be True?” analyzing the run.

Now, that skepticism feels vindicated. Ross breaks down why the doubts were justified despite the usual defenses ("she's always been talented", "she worked hard"). He explains what a diuretic does, why this kind of doping bust leaves him cold and underwhelmed, and how it fits a familiar pattern in elite sport. We also explore the shadowy roles of agents and coaches — and ask why it's always the athlete left holding the bag?

Finally, Ross reflects on the cycle of hope, hype, and heartbreak that defines modern sport — from the marathon course to the Tour de France, can we trust what we see? Why should we, when the characters and incentives remain the same? Same script, different stage.

Links

• The AIU statement on Chepng'etich's provisional suspension
• The timeline as posted by Chris Chavez on X
• Our podcast on the performance at the time - we were highly, highly skeptical
• The Discourse thread at the time of that performance - members only
• The Discourse thread that is growing now, out of the announcement last night - members only

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In a packed episode of Spotlight, we kick off with a Discourse Digest that begins on the grass of Wimbledon, where Jannik Sinner and a dominant Iga Świątek took home the titles. Then it’s to the rugby fields of South Africa, where the Springboks—led by the ever-innovative Rassie Erasmus—have once again found a tactical edge. But is it genius strategy or a rule-bending loophole?

In Center Stage (17:10), the Tour de France is in focus. Jonas Vingegaard's muscle has matched Pogacar on short, punchy climbs, but can he hold his own as the race hits the high mountains? We also break down Remco Evenepoel’s pre-race cooling technique - placing hands and forearms in ice water - to explore what the science says about its effectiveness. Plus, we revisit the ongoing issue of concussions in cycling to explain the paradigm shift that is needed to buy space and time for better concussion identification.

In Ross Responds (52:07), we revisit the topic of cramp and sodium loss, answering a listener question about 'salty sweat' with a dive into how our bodies prioritize the regulation of sodium concentration, and why sweat testing is nothing more than a measure of the body's systems working to defend physiological 'normal'. In Listener Lens (1:00:10), Tim is looking to break a barrier over 10km, and our Discourse community zeros in on the key to unlock that performance: pacing. We offer some advice to help him nail it.

And finally (1:06:53), a Zwift racing series has Ross questioning the platform’s 'fairness'. Are the game's efforts to simulate equipment and drafting creating more distortion than accuracy?

Links

• Article on South Africa's innovative midfield maul set up
• Stanford study that finds that palm cooling (with a vacuum device) improves performance in bench press and pull ups. Too good to be true
• Conversely, study showing that palm cooling does not improve interval running performance
• And conversely again, study showing that immersing the hands and forearm in cold water improves sprint performance
• Healy's power numbers from the day, the trigger for our IF discussion
• Cycling's concussion policy
• For Discourse members only, Tim's question about his 10km quest and discussions on improving pacing
• Discourse members talk cramp

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Most sport takes place outdoors, and with growing concerns around sun exposure, active people are at a higher risk of developing skin cancer than most. Dr Dagmar Whitaker, vice president of the World Melanoma Society and one of the leading authorities on the subject, breaks down the current trends, explains which countries present a higher risk, the most effective ways to prevent skin cancer (hint: you smear it on from a young age!) and the breakthrough treatments that are not yet available. Whitaker is also president of the Melanoma Society South Africa and Immediate Past President of the Dermatological Society South Africa

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Knowing how to measure and train close to your VO2Max may lead to big performance gains. But what is VO2Max and what's the best way to use it? We also discuss the latest developments around rugby's smart mouthguard and the announcement by World Athletics that they are trialling a new way of measuring the long jump which involves a take-off zone rather than a take-off mark. And no, it's not an April Fools joke!

SHOW NOTES

The New Science of Sport Discourse - a Patron exclusive, a community that we aspire to make the most well-informed forum on sports science in the world: https://scienceofsportpodcast.discourse.group/. Log in with your patron details

Become a Patron of The Science of Sport to get access to the community: https://www.patreon.com/thescienceofsport

The IFSC Policy on RED-S

Article on that RED-S policy, including athlete interviews

The Long Jump article re changing of the laws

The BBC article on the mouthguards in rugby. Full of holes and errors, a bit of misunderstanding, and some outright dishonesty, which we tried to explain and address in the show

The paper on the sub-2 hour marathon physiology that shows how those elite runners can get to 90% of VO2max for two hours

A more lay explanation of the 2 hour marathon, again discussing how close to max elites can run

Paper on how different durations of interval training affect Power, HR and RPE, which may be useful to guide your choice of interval session structure

The research study that shows how 8 min blocks at close to VO2max improves VO2max and performance, and that the more time you spend close to VO2max, the greater the benefit

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Can you make your own sports drink and what would be the right mix? Here's what to look for. The team also tackles (see what we did there!) the use of smart mouthguards in rugby, whether trail star Stian Angermund was really guilty of doping, why parkrun has removed some of its records from its website and if the controversial Enhanced Games has any chance of succeeding.

SHOW NOTES

Stian Angermund Doping Case

Reigning world short-course trail running champion Stian Angermund says he is innocent and “utterly bewildered” after testing positive for banned substance chlorthalidone after winning the 55km OCC event at the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc for the second time last year.

Also the Quartz WADA crossover

https://runningmagazine.ca/trail-running/anti-doping-in-trail-and-ultrarunning-is-the-quartz-program-enough/

James Magnussen and the enhanced games

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/feb/09/australian-swimmer-james-magnussen-enhanced-games-drug-taking

Parkrun removes records

https://www.parkrun.com/blog/news/2024/02/08/changes-to-statistics-on-the-parkrun-websites/

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The team are joined by renowned sports dietician, Australian Louise Burke, to discuss everything from keto and fasting to the latest guidelines in fueling and nutrition in sport. Burke has spent over 40 years working in the field of sports nutrition and is an academic and author. She was the head of sports nutrition at the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) throughout its existence from 1990 to 2018 and in 2018 was appointed Chief of AIS Nutrition Strategy. Since 2014, she holds the chair in sports nutrition in the Mary MacKillop Institute for Health Research, Australian Catholic University.

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Welcome to the Science of Sport Discourse. A monthly wrap of all the stories doing the rounds on our Patreon and newly-launched Discourse channel. Want to be part of the discussion? Become a supporter of the Science of Sport Podcast on Patreon HERE and get free access to our exclusive Discourse channel moderated by Gareth Davies.

SHOW NOTES

The New Science of Sport Discourse - a Patron exclusive, A community that we aspire to make the most well-informed forum on sports science in the world: https://scienceofsportpodcast.discourse.group/. Log in with your Patron details.

Become a Patron of The Science of Sport HERE

The Valieva doping story - now banned for four years. Sean Ingle wrote the story that summarises the case HERE

After we discussed the case on the show, the full decision was published, which revealed that Valieva’s team had blamed a contaminated strawberry cake for the test. We’ll touch on this in our next show. READ MORE

The full decision in the case of Michael Saruni, now banned after trying to send a friend to provide a doping test

An update on the Enhanced Games, which, as you’ll hear on the pod, Mike thinks is complete “bollocks”

The documentary about rugby’s referees at the 2023 Rugby World Cup. Well worth a watch.

Track and field will soon join the docuseries trend

Sean Ingle’s article on rugby risks in children, including mention of the call to ban tackling and rugby in Under 18s, and the mixing of age grades

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To kick off Season 6 we wrap up some of the latest news from the world of sports science including the craziness of world running records, UCI bans on in-turned brake levers, one athlete's crazy high VO2 Max numbers and why cold weather may increase the risk of concussion in contact sports.

SHOW NOTES

Letsrun article on the 10km WR of Agnes Ngetich

Article on the UCI’s clampdown on inturned brake levers

More detailed discussion of the implications of the UCI policy

The discussion about the insanely high VO2max reported in Blummenfeldt, and some chat about why it may not be entirely legit

The paper we mention that shows how many of the gas analysers used in exercise testing don’t have the reliability and accuracy they should have

The analysis showing that concussion risk in the NFL may be higher on cold days

Rugby start Louis Rees Zammit heads to make it in the NFL, this article explains the challenges he’ll face

Podcast that mentions Coco Pops as a pre-exercise ‘meal’ (don’t overdo this advice!), part of Ross’ tongue-in-cheek New Year’s resolutions (full episode is subscriber only)

Article by Stuart Philips, a future guest of the pod, on the benefits of resistance training

Interview with Tommy Lundberg on the same resistance training topic

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