Dr. Andrei Krassioukov has been recognized by the International Paralympic Sport Science Committee (IPC) for his research in the area of Paralympic Sports
In December 2020, the IPC Sport Science Committee published a manuscript entitled “Perspectives on research conducted at the Paralympic Games” with a review of all research conducted within IPC during the last few Paralympic games.
In the report, the IPC acknowledged Dr. Krassioukov’s important role in Paralympic research: “Scholars such as Nick Webborn, Lee Nolan and Andrei Krassioukov are true pioneers in Paralympic Games research, bringing health-, performance-, and classification related questions to a new level.”
In Vancouver 2010, London 2012 and Sochi 2014, Dr. Andrei Krassioukov and his team ran an interesting line of research on autonomic function in athletes with spinal cord injury. For competitors with SCI, limited mobility is only one of many factors affecting performance. SCI can also damage the autonomic nervous system, which regulates the function of the heart, stomach, skin and several other organs. During an event, this could mean the inability to raise blood pressure to increase endurance and move oxygen through the body, which would put any athlete at a disadvantage.
“My long-term goal, in collaboration with the IPC, is to answer this big question: Is only motor-function important in athlete classification? Or, in addition to motor function, do cardiovascular function, blood pressure and heart rate responses, also play a crucial role in performance of elite athletes during the Paralympic games?”
In collaboration with IPC and National Paralympic Committees from Chili, UK, Argentina, Brazil and South Africa, Dr. Krassioukov’s team recently began a large international study examining the impact of COVID-19 related postponing of Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games on the emotional health of Olympic and Paralympic athlete.
Click here to read more about Dr. Krassioukov’s research.