In this Spotlight episode, Ross and Gareth tackle a provocative question: should sports embrace fatigue to make the show better? We kick off with rugby union, where fresh legs off the bench and player welfare are fuelling debates about injury risks. But things quickly get philosophical. Some sports are basically designed to test how much fatigue you can take. Others are compromised when fatigue creeps in — skills drop, mistakes rise — yet fatigue also cranks up the drama and emotion. So, which sports thrive when athletes are running on empty, and which ones fall apart? And what would happen if you dialed up fatigue across the board — would it wreck the sport or make it even better?

We also take a quick spin through the opening Grand Slam Track meeting in Jamaica, and peek ahead to the LA Olympics, where a bunch of new sports and events just got announced. Plus, concussion protocols and management are in the spotlight: a study from Scotland provides the first results on the lowering of tackle height in the community game; cyclist Elisa Longo-Borghini was pulled mid-race at Flanders; and Aussie cricketer Will Pucovski retired after his 13th concussion. Finally, we throw out a few predictions for Paris-Roubaix this Sunday. Got thoughts on these topics? Come chat with us on Discourse — link’s in the show notes!

Show notes

To get stuck into these and other conversations in sports science, become a Patron of the podcast here, and then jump into the Discourse forum here

Links

• The Guardian article on the new events for the LA Olympics
• World Rugby announces no evidence that the forwards-backs bench split needs to be changed
• In 2023, I did a video presentation on the substitutes/fatigue injury risk issue, and you can watch that here
• Here is Discourse member Hamish Gornall's paper on the tackle height findings from Scotland
• Report on Longo-Borghini's Flanders crash and subsequent removal with concussion
• Will Pucovski's retirement due to repeat and worsening concussions

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