The Real Science of Sport Podcast

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Show notes

This week, why Solveig Løvseth and Magnus Ditlev collapsed in the heat at the Ironman World Championship in Kona, whether sports science innovation plays a part, and a Chicago Marathon that was faster than it felt:

• (00:01:52) Amos Kipruto and Hawi Feysa win Chicago in the fifth-fastest times in history, though with no splits on screen we were left guessing. Jacob Kiplimo’s hamstring leaves him off a road podium for the first time in 27 races, and treadmill-trained Vincent Mauri made a bid for the US record but also fell foul of hamstring issues
• (00:07:40) Ross analyses the top 100 marathoners in history. How many races did it take them to run their best time, and what does a suspicious late PB look like?
• (00:23:02) Paul Seixas wins Il Lombardia, after riders delay the start to protest vehicles on the course. Gareth wants more from the riders, for their own benefit
• (00:34:05) Solveig Løvseth collapses within reach of a second Kona title, and Ditlev drops out while leading. Her manager blamed nutrition and salt, while she doesn't know what went wrong. We think heat is the likeliest suspect, and that these athletes are highly unlikely to be under fuelling. We ask whether carbs and super shoes have have raised every limit except body temperature, and allowed athletes to crash into it more often? Should races monitor core temperature, and pull staggering/falling athletes out?
• (00:54:16) Two new carb studies (150 vs 120 vs 10 grams an hour, and 100 beats 60 for improved durability), and how much you really need
• (01:00:02) Pieter Coetze breaks the 50m backstroke world record. Is he South Africa’s likeliest gold medallist in LA?
• (01:02:29) And finally, Rwanda will host Africa’s first Grand Prix since 1993, and a FIFPro report shows Luka Modrić played 76 matches in a season, and Moisés Caicedo flew 25,000km for four matches in 14 days.

Other links:

• One of the many famous Ironman "collapses" - the crawl with Sian Welch and Wendy Ingraham, this was for 4th/5th in 1997
• In 1982, perhaps the first, and the one that helped create the aura around Ironman, featured Julie Moss losing the race with 50m to run

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Show notes

This week, the UCI's Future of Cycling report, why people believed Tigst Assefa when they doubted Ruth Chepngetich, and whether athletes are asked to take on too much load and risk of harm:

• (00:02:11) The UCI proposes 16-day Grand Tours from 2029, teams of seven or six riders, shared media money, budget caps, and GPS tracking of riders and cars. Ross backs most of it, but asks how any sporting governing body knows what its sport really needs when the loudest voices may not be in the majority
• (00:17:20) Remco Evenepoel beats Giulio Ciccone to the European title by under three-thousandths of a second, and we explore how a photo finish works
• (00:25:23) Can Jacob Kiplimo break the marathon world record in Chicago this weekend?
• (00:28:19) Had Assefa broken Chepngetich's record in Berlin, would we have believed her? We compare their career trajectories, the confounding effect of prototype super shoes, and tease a new paper that Ross is involved in, suggesting women benefit more from the shoes than men
• (00:41:19) Emma Navarro ends her season after almost three years of under-fuelling and RED-S. How did her team miss it, and what should "normal" feel like?
• (00:48:44) Player unions take FIFA to court over fixture congestion. Ross plays devil's advocate, since clubs carry most of the load, nobody has defined how many matches is too many, and nobody really considers the other side of the impact of players being classified as workers
• (01:02:01) Jannik Sinner's season is over, and no semi-final or final was completed at the China Open. Is tennis limping to its year end, and what evidence is needed to fix it?
• (01:03:31) And finally, Stuart Phillips dismantles a hyped creatine study, and we pick the 2036 Olympic host on tourism grounds alone (Kirsty Coventry, please consider South Africa!)

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Episode guest Dr Ian Gallen is an award-winning Consultant Endocrinologist at Royal Berkshire Hospital, Reading. He is a consultant physician, endocrinologist, and diabetologist whose career has included clinical medicine, research, medical education, and work relating to diabetes, exercise, and sport. His particular expertise is in diabetes, exercise and sport, including the practical challenges of managing diabetes during physical activity and competitive sport.

In this episode, Gallen breaks down the basics of Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes, the latest in management and care, how modern technology is helping sufferers and why there is no reason diabetics cannot play sport at the highest level.

His work has explored the relationship between insulin, glucose metabolism, nutrition and exercise, including the practical management of diabetes in people undertaking intensive physical activity. His clinical experience has included work with athletes and physically active people with diabetes. (Society for Endocrinology⁠)

He has served as a Special Medical Adviser to the London 2012 Olympic Games, with responsibilities relating to medical issues affecting athletes with diabetes. His work in this area has included teaching, lecturing and professional education on diabetes and exercise.

Ian has contributed to publications in diabetes, endocrinology, and exercise medicine, including work on exercise physiology, hypoglycaemia, insulin management, and athletic performance in diabetes.

In 2012 he edited Type 1 Diabetes: Clinical Management of the Athlete, published by Springer. The book addresses the clinical management of athletes with type 1 diabetes and the practical considerations involved in participating in sport. (Springer⁠)

He has also contributed to professional medical literature, including a chapter in the Oxford Handbook of Sport and Exercise Medicine.

Ian has contributed to professional and advisory work relating to diabetes, driving and medical practice. He received the Royal Society of Medicine Gold Medal in 2012 and was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2019.

He is also a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians (FRCP) and a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (FRCPE) and holds the degree of Doctor of Medicine (MD).

Ian’s professional interests include the interaction between diabetes, metabolism, exercise and healthy ageing. He is particularly interested in helping people with diabetes participate safely in exercise and sport while managing the physiological challenges of training and competition.

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Our Applied shows are normally exclusive to our Supporters. However, the 2026 track and field season has been so good, and given us so many threads to follow, that we've opened up the first part of this one to everyone! The Guardian's Sean Ingle joins us to look back on a year of 17 world records, from Sabastian Sawe's sub-two hour marathon and Josh Kerr's mile record to 17-year-old Cooper Lutkenhaus becoming the youngest ever world champion, and a women's 800m that kept on giving all summer. Sean gives us his inside view on the Ultimate Championships, why World Athletics plans a world championships every year after 2030, why London lost out to Nairobi, why a doping-tainted marathon world record still stands, the brand wars behind the scenes, and whether a skin suit could ever be worth 2.5% over 800m.

Then, exclusively for our Supporters, the show becomes a journey into the mind of one of sport's most fascinating characters. Sean spent a day with Norway's Jakob Ingebrigtsen at his home in Norway, and shares what he learned about his upbringing (serious training from the age of seven), how his talent was shaped, his relationship with running, and the principles that drive him, from 180km weeks and no days off, to his rivalry with Kerr.

Links

• The article on the Ingebrigtsen brothers that we discuss in our exclusive segment (full article available to members on Discourse)
• Sean's two pieces on Jakob Ingebrigtsen. First, at home with Jakob and "obsession" he feeds
• And the second instalment - 10 lessons from one of the world's most beguiling athletes
• Epstein's Sports Gene - the best book on nurturing talent (and nature) you'll ever read
• The paper that comes up in Sean's Talent discussion, showing that "successful juniors and successful seniors are largely two disparate populations"

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Become a Supporter and you'll get Friday's VIP member exclusive half of our Sean Ingle interview on the training and philosophy of Jakob Ingebrigtsen. Plus you'll get ad-free shows and access to our world-class Discourse community.

This week, Tigst Assefa's Achilles injury and a near-miss marathon world record in Berlin, Demi Vollering and Brandon McNulty's world titles in Montreal, and the UCI's long-overdue crash and injury data:

• (00:00:31) Assefa was on world record pace through 40km of the Berlin Marathon before her Achilles tendon gave way. Ross doubts anyone could run the last 2.2km on a complete rupture, and we discuss whether her super shoes helped, and whether pushing on was brave or foolish
• (00:17:43) Adidas sweeps both Berlin podiums, and we look ahead to Chicago and Valencia, where Ruth Chepngetich's tainted world record may not last long, and Sawe's 2026 record is also under threat
• (00:20:04) Vollering adds the world title to her Giro and Tour triumphs, beating Kasia Niewiadoma and Elisa Longo Borghini in a fantastic women's race
• (00:23:49) McNulty wins a chaotically competitive men's race with help from Quinn Simmons and Matteo Jorgenson, as the chase sits up within ten seconds of him. Is "second group syndrome" ever rational? Plus Paul Seixas's cramps, and a junior double not seen since Remco Evenepoel
• (00:36:41) New UCI data shows women suffer 4.3 times more head injuries and 2.5 times more fractures in crashes than men. We explore bone health, low energy availability, skill gaps in the peloton, and how this research may open up evidence-led opportunities for rider safety
• (00:47:35) Does looking fabulous make elite athletes faster? A debate about Keely Hodgkinson's skinsuit (and beige) gets out of hand on Instagram
• (00:53:52) And finally, a six-year-old Rubik's Cube world record holder, a 15-year-old skateboarder given anaesthetic injections at the Asian Games, and what to do with prodigious talent

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Show notes

This week: how Jakob Ingebrigtsen was beaten over 5km on the roads, the physiology of altitude and 800m pacing, and what to do with outrageous teenage talent:

• (00:02:33) The Ultimate Championships, national vests, and whether real-time data on release angle could make field events worth watching
• (00:14:58) The World Road Running Championships in Copenhagen, where Ingebrigtsen was beaten by Eritrea's Dawit Seare in the 5km. We trace the decisive suicidal surge at 4km, why closing that three-second gap emptied his tank for the last 200m, and what it means for athletes who race the Norweigian over 5000m in future. Plus, we preview a show focused on the fascinating approach that Ingebrigtsen brings to his life and training
• (00:26:29) Likina Amebaw wins the women's 5km, Agnes Ngetich sets a women-only half marathon record, and Andreas Almgren runs a 58:06 European record ahead of his New York Marathon debut
• (00:33:16) Nairobi gets the 2029 World Championships at 1,760m. Why does thin air help sprinters (and track cyclists) but hurt anyone racing 1500m and up?
• (00:42:08) Athlos, 'action density', Keely Hodgkinson's speed suit, and whether aerodynamics matters in running at all
• (00:55:05) Are women pacing the 800m wrong? Peripheral fatigue, and why race duration (roughly 100 vs 115 seconds) might shift the optimal strategy
• (01:01:28) Enric Mas wins the Vuelta, and a wide-open cycling Worlds road race awaits
• (01:08:29) 13-year-old swimmer Yu Zidi wins two Asian Games golds. How should coaches handle talent this young?
• (01:17:18) Joe Warne explains MetaStudent, pooling student research projects into bigger, better studies
• (01:22:28) And finally, the Red Roses' 39-match winning streak ends, Wales women put 50 on South Africa, and Anna's ride around Australia reaches nine magpie attacks and counting!

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In a groundbreaking study - commissioned by the British Heart Foundation and published in July 2025 (see details below) - Dr Peter Swoboda led a team from the University of Leeds to establish whether prolonged endurance exercise could be a risk factor for heart health in older athletes. The results offer revealing insight into the role of exercise in long-term heart health and whether endurance training carries any risks. Dr Swoboda also explains the basics of what exercise does for heart health, which types of exercise work best, why sudden death can happen in sporting events, and how best to look after your heart in the long term. Swoboda is an Associate Professor of Cardiology and Consultant Cardiologist at the University of Leeds with over 100 peer-reviewed publications. 

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SHOW NOTES

• The VENTOUX Study led by our guest, Dr Peter Swoboda
• The British Heart Foundation write up of that study's first finding
• A recent review article that looks at the overall picture of heart health in endurance trained athletes, discussing the three risk factors we explore on the show
• One of those risk factors is Coronary Artery Disease, which is studied in this paper
• Going back some time, this is one of the papers that first raised the fear that endurance training in large doses could be harmful to the heart
• One of a few studies that showed progressive improvements in life expectancy and health with more exercise
• Alex Hutchinson has done a great deal to explain the risks, and misplaced fears, of endurance training. Here is one such article
• Another by Hutchinson, from 2021, providing a good overview of the three purported risks of endurance training on the heart

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More than most other species, humans are perfectly adapted to endurance running. We may not be the fastest or strongest, but our ability to endure meant our early ancestors could survive and thrive, and modern-day humans can rightfully claim we are all meant to run. Prof. Ross Tucker and sports journalist Mike Finch, who has been the editor of Runner's World SA for 26 years, discuss the amazing adaptations that humans have developed for running, why running may be the most natural sport for you to do, how to train from couch to 5km safely and effectively, the role of shoe tech and why the world seems to be on a running high right now.

Show notes

• The original Lieberman paper, Running and the Evolution of Homo
• That paper was challenged, not for what, but why. Here's one example
• The BBC video of a bushman hunting down a kudu
• In time, evidence emerged to support Lieberman's argument, showing persistence hunting in over 200 geographical locations
• How many injuries? A systematic review and meta-analysis on injury rates in runners
• A systematic review on risk factors for injury during running
• One of the more robust research studies looking at pronation and injury risk
• Subsequent analysis of that paper offered more support for motion control shoes in specific populations
• The plot thickens: Another well-conducted study finds that pronation does not increase injury risk in novice runners

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Show notes

Our recap of the final night of the Ultimate Championship in Budapest:

• (00:01:53) Jasmine Jones upsets the women's 400m hurdles field in 52.45, while the two who dominated the season may have slightly mistimed their peaks
• (00:05:57) Alison dos Santos wins the 400m hurdles in 45.98, the third fastest ever run, and we look at what Rai Benjamin's year on the flat may buy him next year.
• (00:13:10) A solo win for Likina Amebaw in the women's 5000m. She breaks away with a surge faster than world record pace after 2000m, but the broadcast fails to tell the story of her dominant performance
• (00:25:43) Daniel Sedjati pounces to win a somewhat surprising 800m in 1:41.91. We talk about Marco Arop, who did what was best for him, but also the other main contenders, while Wanyonyi found the 2026 season a week too long
• (00:32:13) The USA win the mixed 4x400m. We pick apart some of the fastest and slowest segments
• (00:36:17) Josh Kerr wins the 1500m in 3:29.35 without leaving fourth gear (after being seeded 13th in a 12 man field)!
• (00:40:41) Kenny Bednarek's 19.52s is the fifth fastest 200m in history, as he delivers what his 100m said he could
• (00:43:45) Melissa Jefferson-Wooden runs 21.47s to win the women's 200m. It's the third fastest women's 200m ever, and we ask which old sprint record goes first?
• (00:53:06) Josh Kerr would rather wear his sponsor's kit than his country's. We disagree, and discuss where the Ultimate Championships belong on the global calendar
• (00:59:26) Our verdict on the first Ultimate Championship, and when it should be held

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Join us for the last night! Our members watch live together on Discord and pull it apart on Discourse afterwards, all for the price of a coffee a month

Show notes

Our day two recap, and a preview of the final night of the Ultimate Championships:

• (00:01:02) Night two was a clear step up on day one, with six finals and qualifying races that actually mattered and produced intrigue.
• (00:01:34) Marileidy Paulinho wins the 400m in 49.07 to end an unbeaten season, and we wonder why Lieke Klaver keeps going out so hard.
• (00:06:53) Collen Kebinatshipi wins the men's 400m in 43.39s, with a new race plan, which he explains himself. A record number of sub-44s in a season, and a 42 second man in the making.
• (00:15:50) Klaudia Kazimierska outkicks Georgia Hunter Bell in a tactical 1500m, to establish herself as versatile in addition to the world leader.
• (00:16:15) World Athletics' AI predictions become a running joke, and we offer to fix them (again!).
• (00:27:42) Audrey Werro leads the 800m from the gun and wins as we predicted, albeit more slowly. Hodgkinson and Bol round out the concrete-ists. We discuss Werro's dominant race, the progressive wind-up, and Hodkingson's stuttering season.
• (00:34:31) Melissa Jefferson-Wooden's start beats Julien Alfred in the 100m, and Kenny Bednarek surprises Oblique Seville in the men's race.
• (00:38:37) We preview the final night, with both 400m hurdles finals, a wide open women's 5000m, Josh Kerr's 1500m to win however he pleases, and both 200m finals.
• (00:54:55) And finally, which event pays the most per second of work?

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