on May 19, 2022, 2:48 pm, in reply to "we wouldn't notice from the stands, most likely..."
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...but the players themselves are all at risk of a minor impact on performance - they'll notice it and be maybe a fraction below where they could be with a flight the previous day and time to recover from it. given how thin the margins are in elite sports performance, it wouldn't surprise me if it could have a slight impact.
there are various papers around on the topic, but mostly aimed at american trans-continental flights where circadian rhythm and jet lag are significant factors e.g.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21874551/
which suggests in the abstract that jump performance is impacted for several days after the flight.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6162549/
lists other elements that hadn't occurred to me, like the effects of the vibration of the engine/plane and disruption of routines, impact on immune function, exposure to mild hypoxia and so on. one particularly interesting statement:
"A primary issue regarding air travel occurs as a result of significant reductions in oxygen saturation, which has been found to decrease significantly from 97% at ground level to 93% at cruising altitude (p https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29099652/
obviously, this is cherry picking and the results of about ten minutes on google, but it seems to suggest that any travel has an impact on performance and fatigue and muscle recovery, and the effects are stronger directly after travelling when there's been no time to rest and recuperate.
so yeah, let's hope it does play to our advantage!
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