With $5.9 in pledges from 12 different countries and matching funds from the IOC, the World Anti-Doping Agency is kicking off their next research push. Among the priorities are learning how to use sophisticated genomic techniques to detect autologous blood transfusions. What the heck does that mean? Read on.
Anti-doping scientists used "data triangulation" to gather many different types of evidence about doping, and concluded that between 14 and 39 percent of elite athletes dope. The number is impressive - in part because estimates of doping are rarely published. But, the authors note, "tools to evaluate the prevalence of doping use in sports are readily available; they only need to be used more often." So why are we only talking about it?
Dr. Paul Anderson and World Cup sprint champ Kikkan Randall chat with us about a new study of American Birkebeiner participants. Using 24,000 skiers who have competed in the Wisconsin marathon over the years, they hope to gain valuable insight into what gets people to exercise - and then apply it in a public health perspective.
Research published last fall found that using testosterone, even briefly, had long-lasting effects on muscle in mice - and extrapolated that in humans, these effects could last decades. The mechanism for this cell memory opens the door to similarly long-lasting effects of HGH or other performance-enhancing drugs.
You know that moment after the transition in a skiathlon, when your skis seem to be sliding all over the place and your arms and legs say, "what!?" A team of researchers, including former Gustavus Adolphus skier Sarah Willis, investigated what's going on physiologically.
In the 2013 World Junior Championships sprint, half of the male competitors in the final were born in the last five months of the eligibility window. Is this a case of a relative age effect - and what are the implications for elite sports on the whole, or retaining youngsters to be recreational athletes for life?
Regardless of whether breathing xenon gas was a prohibited method before WADA bothered to expressly ban it this spring, it would be hard to ban anyone for using it without direct evidence or a positive test. One group of German scientists has been working on developing just such a test, and says that their initial trials indicate that it may be a good match for anti-doping efforts.
Dr. Blair Evans, whose work on group dynamics and competitive suffering (i.e. failure) we've highlighted twice in "This Month in Journals", chats about the process of doing sports psychology research. Evans' experience skiing in college informs almost all of his research, and he told us what he thinks makes skiing special from a psychological standpoint.
Did you know that “competitive suffering” is a thing, a real phenomenon with a definition and scientists studying it? That’s right, when you’re failing and get discouraged in the middle of a race (perhaps, like Alex Harvey at the Olympics, because your skis don't work), someone wants to ask you how you feel about it. This is what they've found out.
In April, researchers got into a fight about whether Tylenol should be banned by WADA; looked at the effects of breathing pure oxygen between laps in a team sprint; considered the difference in fatiguability between male and female athletes; and checked whether you should be mixing up your strength training with sprints (hint: you should).
This winter, researchers built a rollerski with strain gauges to measure force application and work on technique; studied the microclimate inside your ski boots; put out a consensus statement about overuse injuries in young athletes; and studied the female athlete triad, an energy deficiency syndrome which can lead to bone loss.
This winter, three teams of researchers investigated attitudes towards climate change within the ski industry. They found huge cultural differences between how Austrians, Finns, and New Zealanders perceived the threat - with the Austrian industry having no adaptation strategy, while New Zealand is ramping up snowmaking - as well as between CEO's and the skiers themselves.
Idaho Masters Skiers, Montana State University’s Movement Science Lab is looking for Nordic skiers to participate in a research project this fall and winter. We are looking for Masters-level cross country skiers who fit the following criteria: 40-69 years old, male or female. Competitive cross-country skiers who plan on participating in the 2014 Boulder Mountain Tour. Interested in being part of a ground-breaking study on this unique population of athletes. The purpose of the project...
Researchers have completed a "cradle-to-grave" life cycle analysis of a pair of skis, estimating the environmental impact of everything from how the raw materials are procured to the manufacturing process to distribution and throwing away an old pair. Turns out, your skis are probably more sustainable than your hiking boots, but there's still ways to improve.
The latest research used Norwegian and French World Cup skiers to look at how VO2Max and heart rate variability fluctuate over the course of one or several seasons. Plus, a new kind of "neurodoping" is now possible, using electrical currents or magnetic fields to make your brain better at everything.
Arm muscles aren't as good at leg muscles at extracting oxygen from the bloodstream - and they are actually worse in double-poling than in striding. That might limit the effectiveness of your upper body, but research suggests that modern double-poling technique actually maximizes what's possible for these arm muscles, while enabling faster skiing.
USSA has posted the article “Biomechanical Analysis of Double Poling in Elite Cross-Country Skiers” by Hans-Christer Holmberg, Stefan Lindinger, Thomas Stoggl, Erich Eitzlmair, and Erich Muller. Holmberg is part of the Department of Physiology & Pharmacology, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden and the Åstrand Laboratory, Stockholm University College of Physical Education and Sports, Stockholm, Sweden. The other authors work with Department of Sport Science and Kinesiology, University of Salzburg, Austria and the Christian Doppler Laboratory Salzburg, Austria. From...