Knowledge Nuggets

Canadian athletes have embraced Plato’s contention that “necessity is the mother of invention” during the COVID-19 pandemic, being creative with their training plans and tapping into the physical and mental resources needed to stay at the top of their game. In the SIRCuit, athletes, team leaders, and top medical experts explore the challenges and silver...

Do the shoes make the cyclist? New research from the University of Colorado found stiff-soled cycling shoes combined with clip-in pedals delivered a maximum sprint power during high-power, uphill sprints that was 16.6 ± 10.2% greater than flexible soles with a pedal attachment (i.e. running shoes with toe clips).

Effective teams communicate knowledge in a variety of ways, including the creation of transactive memory systems and shared mental models. Game and performance reviews, team training, and group planning sessions are three strategies that can enhance team communication skills and ultimately contribute to performance.

A new mathematical model developed by researchers at the University of Alberta reveals how figure skaters move across the ice in three dimensions. Their findings could help skaters hone their technique or avoid common injuries like spiral fractures in the lower leg.

The Tour de France starts August 29th, featuring 3,470km of racing over 23 days. To keep athletes and fans safe, all French bike races have adopted a policy whereby “2020” stands for keeping 2 metres away from the riders at all time; asking for 0 autographs; remembering 2 vital habits – to use hand sanitizer...

Hot summer temperatures combined with long training or competition sessions can raise athletes’ body temperature, with devastating effects on performance. Strategies to maintain optimal body temperature for performance including cooling before exercise (e.g. with cold water immersion or ice vests) or during exercise (e.g. by drinking cold water or using cold water spray); or through...

Whether you’re racing for the finish line at the UCI World Tour event or your Sunday café ride, sprinting velocity is key to success. Research shows adopting a forward standing position during a sprint could give riders a speed boost of up to 5kph.

Everesting is the latest fad sweeping the cycling world. The concept is easy – pick any hill, anywhere in the world, and complete repeats of it in a single activity on bike (or on foot or online), until you climb 8,848m – the equivalent height of Mount Everest. Current cycling record holders are two climbing...

The 2020 Summer SIRCuit in now available! Browse our newest collection of articles, offering timely and relevant research and insights relating to leadership, athlete development, and high performance sport.

Competitive swimmers use an undulatory underwater swimming technique that until now, was little understood. Scientists from the University of Tsukuba in Japan used underwater 3D motion capture and stereo particle image velocimetry to discover how swimmers gain thrust by creating vortices around the foot during the downward kick, which collide to form a jet.