Determinants of Track Cycling Performance
Antony Stadnyk, PhD student
Antony is a PhD student at the Human Performance Research Centre (HPRC). As part of his PhD, Antony works with the NSW Institute of Sport (NSWIS) as a physiologist with the cycling programme. His role is busy and varied, conducting regular fitness testing, facilitating ergometer-based training sessions, running heat exposure/acclimation protocols, monitoring athlete training loads, and preparing training/race reports for athletes and coaches.
Antony’s PhD is on the ‘Determinants of Track Cycling Performance’. His goal is to understand the key factors leading to elite performance in track cycling. Antony says that while most people would rightly consider elite cyclists’ physical abilities to be a primary contributor to performance and any success, they are still not certain of what physiologically separates the best from the rest.
That’s why, Antony says his research needs to consider all physical aspects of performance, independently and interactively, with mental, tactical and technical components. Through his research, he is hoping to create a framework that will guide coaches, sport scientists, and researchers on what is required to develop track cyclists and advance our understanding of their needs.
Antony completed a Bachelor and Master’s degrees at the University of Otago in Dunedin, NZ. He says he is intrigued by the limits of human performance and understanding how the body responds to exercise and environmental stress, both independently and interactively, and how those stressors can be used to achieve desirable adaptations.
His Master’s research looked at the effects of muscle heating on physical and functional adaptations to resistance training. During this time, he also worked as a strength and conditioning coach for rugby and football clubs, making sure that athletes were physically prepared for matches.
After taking a break from study, and missing the research side of things, it was at a conference that he met his now PhD supervisors, who also introduced him to Dr Katie Slattery, and began the development of his PhD project.
Antony says that the opportunity to complete his PhD at the UTS HPRC and NSWIS, under the guidance of great researchers, was too good to refuse.
The facilities, tools, and academic and industry experts I have access to here on a daily basis has been invaluable, and is no doubt contributing to better research outcomes that will contribute to on-track success. My research so far is highlighting the changing demands of track cycling performance, and that will help us to stay ahead of our competitors and result in more gold medals.
