What's the difference? - University of Birmingham

14 The Birmingham Magazine
Sports news
The ironman nutritionist
Ironman champion, academic and nutritionist to
elite athletes including Ethiopian marathon runner
Haile Gebrselassie, Professor Asker Jeukendrup
is far removed from the image of a sports scientist
in a lab coat.
In training: Asker prepares for a triathlon with alumna and Ironman World Champion Chrissie Wellington
Director of the Human Performance Lab in
the School of Sport and Exercise Sciences,
Professor Jeukendrup’s research is focused on
what athletes should eat and drink to achieve
optimum performance. He often uses his own
experiences to raise key questions, competing
in Ironman triathlons, comprising a 2.4-mile
swim, a 112-mile bike ride and a 26.2-mile
run, to test his body to its limits.
‘I’ve made it my mission not just to research
but to translate science into something more
practical. A lot of people do research and a
lot of people work with athletes but there’s
a big gap between the two and a huge need
to bridge that gap,’ he says.
of sports drink hourly to achieve this. The
research found that carrying and consuming
sports gels alongside sports drinks was an
effective way of improving performance.
Chelsea Football Club, cyclist Lance
Armstrong, Ironman champion Chrissie
Wellington (BSc Geography, 1998) and more
regular clients have all received nutritional
advice from Asker and he enjoys meeting the
different challenges that each presents.
‘If you compare the nutritional needs of
someone competing in an Ironman race to
someone who may be a bit overweight and
goes to the gym a couple of times a week
there’s a totally different focus,’ he says. ‘In
one case it’s about how to get enough energy
in, in the other it’s about encouraging someone
to manage what they eat and drink.’
On visits to Ethiopia to advise Haile
Gebrselassie, Gete Wami and other marathon
runners on nutrition, he has been amazed with
their level of training. ‘They train so hard that
when it comes to doing a race they find it
easy,’ he says. ‘Working with elite athletes
is like working with Formula 1 cars, it’s about
fine tuning to find out how you can make the
engine perform better. They’re also a really
good model for understanding how the human
body works and the influences of exercise
and training, meaning my research can often
be applied to treating obesity and diabetes.’
• In the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise,
a UK-wide quality survey, Sport and Exercise
Sciences research at Birmingham was rated
as world-leading and ranked equal first
in the country.
Learn more
www.liveweb137.bham.ac.uk
This unique approach to research was
recognised in 2005 when he became the
University’s youngest professor at the age of
35. His previous projects include studying the
amount of carbohydrate an athlete needs to
take on board during an endurance race such
as the Tour de France or London Marathon.
Around 90g of carbohydrate per hour is
required during these events but an athlete
would need to drink about a litre-and-a-half
Elite athletes: Ethiopian marathon runners in training