Tag Archive for: Pressure

Craig Pickering

How to perform with pressure

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Many of us will have had times where we’ve experienced some level of pressure, but had to perform regardless. Looking back over my career, there are plenty of times where I felt an increased pressure to perform—a memorable example for me is the World Championships final in the 4x100m. Here, we had a good opportunity to win a medal (which is something I really wanted to achieve personally), with the heightened awareness that comes with knowing that three other athletes’ dreams depend on me delivering a good performance when it matters. 

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Craig Pickering

Sports Science Quarterly – Q3 2026

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Every quarter we take a deep dive into the latest research in sports science. In this edition we look at the latest research on factors influencing team vs. individual performance more, examples of turning coaching failure into future success, and how to implement pressure training.

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Craig Pickering

Sports Science Quarterly – Q2 2023

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Every quarter we take a deep dive into the latest research in sports science. In this edition we look at the latest research on resilience, pressure training, multidisciplinary teams, injury prevention, and much more.

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Craig Pickering

Sports Science Quarterly – Q4 2022

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Every quarter we take a deep dive into the latest research in sports science. In this edition we take a special look at what is happening above the shoulders of athletes and coaches with new research on key competencies in sports psychology, transformational leadership, pressure training, and psychological safety. In addition we also take a look at a few other topics like nutrition and altitude training.

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Craig Pickering

The Pressure Principle

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Many years ago, in 2003, I raced at the World Youth Championships in Canada. Just sixteen years old, and having only been doing athletics for two and a half years, I wasn’t sure what to expect. Going into those championships, I wasn’t really a medal hopeful; I had, at best, an outside chance. I had run 10.54 earlier that year, but then suffered a bad hamstring injury, and missed a number of races in the run up the championships. I can’t remember exactly where I was ranked going in, but on the end-of-year rankings I was equal 14th in the World (alongside Daniel Bailey), a good way back from the World Leader, Oluwole Ogunde from Nigeria, who had run 10.38 that season. As I didn’t know what to expect, I was quite nervous before my heat, which led to me running a personal best of 10.53, and feeling pretty comfortable. I was the fastest qualifier was the semi-final, which was to take place the next day. Read more