Krista Austin is a sport scientist currently serving as a performance specialist for professional and Olympic sport athletes and industry consultant. Austin has worked for the United States Olympic Committee, the English Institute of Sport, England’s Cricket team and multiple national governing bodies of sport. Her wide range of expertise includes developing high performance plans, consulting for professional sport teams, preparing athletes for the NFL combine, endurance coaching for distance runners and triathletes of all levels, and providing performance nutrition to multiple populations from elite athletes to diabetics. Her industry consulting has included start up companies such as Coala Life, Generation UCAN, EatRx, and Hypoxico Training Systems. In addition, she has consulted for Ironman, Michael Johnson Performance, TriDot, Masimo and Hutchinson Technology.

She is best known for “Rebuilding Meb” Keflezighi, the 2009 NYC Marathon champion and supporting the 2008 USA Taekwondo team as they made Olympic history. In addition, her recent work includes performing validation of occupational physical assessments for the U.S. Marine Corps ground combat elements and external review of the selection and assessment process for Marine Reconnaissance Training Company to support reductions in attrition and enhancement of student resiliency. 

In this interview she discusses: the most pressing issues facing anti-doping, including responding to the Covid-19 crisis; the reasons why traditional testing methods don't work; the potential for new approaches to anti-doping based on performance change assessments; the specific challenges and inconsistencies in applying the WADC to age group and amateur athletes; and why health should be central to anti-doping policies.    

Listen to the podcast with Krista Austin here.

Disclaimer: The texts and interviews do not represent the opinions of the INDR members or their employers. They belong solely to the author or interviewee.