The Track and Field Performance Podcast
The Track and Field Performance Podcast
Colm Bourke
Dedicated to giving coaches, athletes, and fans of Track and Field expert knowledge and insights from practitioners across the various event disciplines and domains of human performance.
Ross Jeffs: Profiling Sprinters and Jumpers, Preventing Hamstring Injuries, and Coaching in Realtime
In this episode, we sit down with Ross Jeffs — jumps and combined events lead coach at Aspire Academy in Qatar, and former sprints and hurdles coach with experience across the UK, Netherlands, and now the Middle East. Ross brings a deeply curious and evidence-informed approach to coaching, shaped in part by his own experiences as an athlete, working directly with coaches like Jonas Dodoo, and much more. This conversation gets into the weeds on athlete profiling, monitoring, injury preve...
Jul 8
1 hr 10 min
Jack Green: The Human Side of Athletic Performance and Coaching
Jack Green is a two-time Olympian, World and European relay medalist, European U-23 champion in the 400m hurdles, and now the lead coach for Saudi Arabia's long hurdles and sprint relay program. Jack's athletic career was shaped not only by his successes but also by his promise as an adolescent and the battles he faced thereafter. Now, channeling those difficult lessons combined with the knowledge he has gained from working with coaches like Lauren Seagrave, Jack is in an ideal position to no...
Jun 7
1 hr 19 min
David Kerin: Fixing the Right Problem
David Kerin is a former collegiate coach, USA Track and Field national team administrator, and performance consultant. David brings a refreshingly unconventional lens to some of the sport's most persistent challenges. His articles on '2D, 2.5, 3D Coaching' and 'Fixing the Right Problem' and most recently, developing a provisional patent for an innovative movement analysis system shows that he has never stopped asking the questions others overlook. Topics 0:00 – Introduction — Da...
May 15
1 hr 8 min
Angus Ross: Enhancing Strengths & Weaknesses; Eccentric Training for Speed and Power
Angus Ross is the Strength and Conditioning and Power Physiology Lead with High Performance Sport New Zealand (HPSNZ), working with elite track & field athletes and multiple Olympic sports across lead coaching, s&c, and sport science. He is also a three-time Winter Olympian in bobsleigh and the full-time coach of New Zealand 60 m record holder Tiaan Whelpton. His PhD focused on sprint performance and tapering, complemented by many peer-reviewed publications on topics including eccent...
Mar 7
1 hr 12 min
Dr. Christopher Stanley: Mental Skills for Managing High Pressure Moments
Dr. Christopher Stanley (CMPC) is a sport and performance psychology professor at the University of Western States, former Lead Sport Psychologist for USA Track & Field across the Tokyo–Paris Olympic cycle, and the Atlanta Track Club Elite. In this episode, Chris illustrates how coaches can implement mental skills training in track & field without adding extra time—covering practical tools for confidence, focus, and performance under pressure. In addition, the relational aspect of coa...
Feb 7
1 hr 6 min
Ernie Clark, Bob Thurnhoffer, and Jason Wakenight: Training for the 400 meters
This episode brings together three coaches with documented success coaching the 400 meters and 4×400 m relay within the NCAA system. Ernie Clark, the Head Coach for sprints, hurdles, and jumps at Northern Arizona University, previously coached at San José State and Ashland University. He has guided athletes such as Trevor Bassitt, Myles Pringle, and Jeremiah Walker to 45-second performances, while also producing multiple school and conference record holders in the 400 m. Most recently, Clark ...
Jan 8
2 hr 22 min
Craig Pickering: Developing Elite Sprint Relay Teams and High Performance Systems
Craig Pickering – former Olympic sprinter, Winter Olympian in bobsleigh, sport scientist, and now Director of Performance Sustainability at Athletics Australia – joins the show to unpack what it takes to build a world-class sprint and relay system. He shares insights on athlete transitions, skill acquisition, and the systems driving Australia’s sprint resurgence. We explore his journey from elite athlete to high-performance leader, how Australia has built depth and buy-in across its relay pro...
Dec 6, 2025
56 min
Marco Airale: Sprint Mechanics, Intensive Tempo Training, and Warm Ups
Marco Airale has been one of the fastest-rising elite sprint coaches of the past five years — and one of the youngest — guiding athletes like Reece Prescod, Andre De Grasse, Daryll Neita, Amy Hunt and others to fast times and global medals. With a background in physiotherapy and osteopathy, Marco blends therapy and coaching to maximise performance and keep athletes healthy. In this conversation, we discuss: Balancing step length and step frequency for each athleteUsing intensive tempo t...
Aug 6, 2025
1 hr 12 min
Paul Burgess: Vaulting from Elite Athlete to World-Class Coach
From being a 6 meter pole vaulter back in 2005 to coaching the 2024 Olympic gold medallist Nina Kennedy and 2023 World Championships bronze medallist Kurtis Marschall, Paul Burgess has transitioned from elite athlete to coach with huge success, particularly over the past 5 years. That journey, however, hasn’t been totally straightforward. In this episode, you’ll hear real humility from someone who has clearly stayed curious and driven to help his athletes perform at their best. We spo...
Jul 7, 2025
1 hr 29 min
Eamonn Flanagan: Key Principles Behind Effective Plyometric and Jump Training
Eamonn Flanagan is the Head of S&C at the Sport Ireland Institute. In this episode, Eamonn shares deep insights from a career that spans elite Olympic (including track & field), Paralympic, and professional rugby environments. He is very well known for his work on jump or plyometric training with peer-reviewed research, online courses and much more on this form of training. We unpack a range of topics including: -Eamonn's career journey and some key perspective shifts along the...
May 19, 2025
56 min
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