We are back with another round of ‘Ask the Athlete’!
Taking on our questions this month is Astrid Nyame, a Canadian athlete who specialises in the 60 Metres Hurdles and the 100 Metres Hurdles.
Astrid is also a former training partner of our founder and CEO Alvina Chen, and we’re excited to see how she performs during the upcoming athletics season.
This series will ask athletes a number of athletic and technology based questions, while also delving into what makes these athletes tick, and addressing the mental side of the sport.
Let’s jump right in!
- How does technology help athletes today? Thinking about races, training etc, are there any specific tools/apps/pieces of equipment etc that really help the modern athlete? What are they?
We hear it all the time - knowledge is power! Technology has given us the ability to collect more data, and to take what we learn and apply it to athlete’s training programs. The number one piece of technology I see being used are smartphones. Everybody has one and there are so many apps nowadays where coaches can record the athlete and analyse certain movements, angles, stride pattern/length, vertical, foot placement.. The list goes on!
- What are the three main areas where you wish there was more innovation in athletics?
Ohh I fear I will not be able to name three! There have actually been so many interesting innovations in the sport - like the wavelight system used in long distance events for example. I often wonder what else we can offer in some of our field events. So far, we have seen laser measurements and the laser takeoff boards in the horizontal jumps. I would love to see if there is something different that would elevate the field events.
Perhaps there is something in apparel? Shoes? (shoes change all the time!) Maybe the starting blocks in the sprints? A combination of all three (the apparel, shoes and starting blocks)?
- How do you think technology like Feldspar could revolutionise your life as a professional athlete?
There is still so much we can learn! I think what Feldspar can offer is a base for athletes to truly individualise their training specifically to their needs. There is more than one way to execute and I think having that data at their fingertips has the potential to make a huge difference in a pro athlete’s training regimes.
- If you could communicate with your younger self, as an aspiring professional, what is it that you’d tell that person, that you wish you had known at the time?
Oooh, wow! I don’t think you would want my advice on this one younger Astrid haha! And knowing how stubborn I am, I know for a fact younger me wouldn’t take it anyway.
- We’ve just seen a very competitive Olympic games, albeit with very few new World Records. What were your thoughts on the games?
The Games this year felt different, and not necessarily in a bad way. I think I felt very… in the middle about the Games. I would say overall, it seemed like another successful Games (across all sports).
I think that now I have a deeper understanding of how much work a lot of those athletes put in to be there. I will always have huge respect for all those athletes.
- Following Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone’s Olympic dominance, there have been some calls to make the hurdles for women higher. What are your thoughts on this?
Great question! This question might actually be in the top 5 of most controversial questions I hear in Athletics.
I, actually, happen to believe that this question is deeper than we think - meaning that I don’t think it is as simple as “just make the hurdles for women higher.” I hear this all the time, where people think you can just raise the hurdles and that’s that.
If the event is going to evolve, there are so many aspects of the race that need to be looked at, and I think there is likely a lot more science that goes into changing an event (I’d like to think the heights, distances, etc were methodically analysed, tested and selected for a reason).
What I will say is that if you take a moment to look into the history of hurdling, it has happened before (we went from 80m hurdles to 100m hurdles, I am not sure about the 400mH, I believe there was a 200mH at one point), so it is possible.
So should this happen? I actually don’t know! I will speak for myself and share my experience - I have run over 36 inch hurdles before, and one time I did a start over a 42 inch hurdle in practice (a story for another day). If the hurdles were to go up in height during my time as an athlete, I would still compete.
- Mental health is a huge part of athletics. There are obviously huge highs, but how do you deal with low points during your career (injuries, losing big races etc)?
Your mentality will make or break you, and perspective is everything! I know for myself, I have taken more L’s than W’s, but I have learned so much in my journey.
I would encourage athletes to talk to a Sports Psychologist and make a plan, especially if you are injured! If you iron out a plan, you will have a target that you are working towards, and that is a better place to work from than to feel down and out because you are injured.
- If it wasn’t for hurdling, which other sport would you have liked to have competed in?
Ooo sport or event? If it were another event - long jump or discus. If it were another sport - volleyball or tennis.
- Who is your all-time sporting hero?
There are so many other athletes that I look up to and who have inspired me. I will pick one within the sport of Athletics, and that is Brittany Brown, sprinter from the USA (shout out to Brittany).
- We saw breakdancing added to the Olympics. What one crazy sport or skill would you add to a future Olympic games?
Oh boy! So I will start by saying that it does take quite a lot of athleticism to execute a lot of the skills in breaking. This one was quite the topic at this year’s Olympics!
Truthfully, I tend to be a bit of a see-saw when it comes to the sports that seem to have more of a subjective system of scoring athletes (although, I absolutely LOVE gymnastics and diving).
I will say that the Olympics does have a great team of commentators and officials who are great at articulating what is happening or why X amount of points were deducted. It makes it easier for viewers who may know nothing about the sport to follow along and ID what judges are looking for.
I will take a different route though, and I’ll say darts or chess. I think either could be interesting!
Follow Astrid on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/astridnyame