An Olympic and Paralympic year always brings elite sporting performance into sharp focus. In the dynamic landscape of sports science, the 2024 Paris Games are poised to highlight performance trends such as cutting-edge technology, personalised analytics, and holistic athlete well-being. The wide-scale adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning might have come too late to substantially influence outcomes in Paris, but its use will continue to revolutionise performance analysis, offering coaches and athletes unprecedented insights into strategic decision-making. 

British Athlete Dina Asher-Smith has called for more research into the effect of periods on female athletes. The 2019 World 200m champion made the statement following pulling up in the European Athletics Championship final because of cramping calves. She attributed the cramps to “girls stuff” linking the incident to her menstrual cycle.

Concussion is an issue for athletes in many sports. In a recent blog, we highlighted the higher relative risk of concussion amongst female athletes compared to their male counterparts. In this follow-up blog, we will take a deeper look at some of the proposed reasons women are at a higher risk and what the stakeholders in women's sport can do to help as part of their sponsorship or partnership mix.