Faculty of Science
Extreme Environments Laboratory assists local rising squash star
Thu, 10 May 2012 09:56:00 BST
The Extreme Environments Laboratory in the Department of Sport and Exercise Science is helping Robert Downer to prepare in his attempt to beat some of the best squash players in the world. The Portsmouth based athlete turned professional last year and has risen from a world ranking of 450 to his current high of 157.
In the next couple of weeks he will be competing in the final set of Professional Squash Association tournaments of the winter season, being held in Atlanta, Guatemala and Mexico City. The last two tournaments will be at moderate altitudes (1,500 m and 2,240 m above sea level respectively) an environment the young squash player has no experience of.
The team in the Extreme Environments Laboratory have been helping him to experience how it will feel to live and exercise at similar altitudes through the use of their hypoxic facility.
Rob says, “It has been great working with the team in the lab, I’ve been training in the simulated altitude chamber in preparation for these tournaments and am excited to compete in these challenging new conditions”.