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FT editor Roula Khalaf selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
Ready? We’re pretty excited about this issue: it’s not an Olympic edition per se, but one that looks at the rewards associated with athletic endeavour; the things that get our pulse racing and our adrenaline pumping.
Our cover star Enzo LefortThe French world fencing champion, who hopes to win gold this summer, captures the mood. He tells Simon Kuper: “Once I’m in action… all the adrenaline in my body is directed towards one goal: winning the game. Adrenaline helps me do things faster, stronger, longer, better. It helps me be even better than in training. You need adrenaline to be a champion.”
Mere mortals may not be vying for those laurels, but an adrenaline rush can be addictive. Countless studies have concluded that we sleep, eat and concentrate better when we move, so this issue is a paean to all the ways we can get a thrill.
First off, are you an Ōura bore? I am. I’ve had my health tracker, a gold bracelet that sits on my ring finger, for almost 18 months now, and I’ve become a slave to all the data it offers me ever since. Thanks to Ōura, I can now tell you how much REM sleep I had last night, how many steps I took, and whether my cardiovascular age matches my actual age.
Right now, as in any relationship, we’re having some issues. Last week I went on a walking vacation, and despite exceeding my daily activity goals by a massive amount, I managed to nullify my “readiness” rating by drinking copious amounts of vacation red wine. As a result, my stats haven’t been championship material. My Ōura has been nagging me to “take it easy,” like a grumpy schoolteacher yelling at me to watch “lights out” at night.
I’m not the only one who’s married to their Ōura: on a recent press trip, I found myself among a group of editors who used Ōuras and who spent their days talking about the depth and quality of their sleep. What is it about this device that makes people so receptive to its data? Grace Cook meets with the company’s CEO to discover what its cult appeal consists of.
This isn’t the only cult group Grace has examined in this issue; she’s also broken down the most macho tribe, the marathon runners. Marathons have become a huge social event in recent years, with running clubs becoming the new social gatherings and young people moving from drinking to running 10km. Grace has looked at the new niches within the marathon community and has compiled a brilliant field study of the tribes from 2024. (Side note: Grace is a multiple marathoner, something I feel at least partially responsible for. Two years ago she wrote an article about the rise of running clubs for HTSIShe went for a bit of a run “for research” and then underwent a complete lifestyle change. She has since run four full marathons and five half marathons (she barely has time to write because she is too busy these days running around Berlin or Boston).
Another adrenaline junkie, HTSI Contributor Igor Ramírez García-Peralta is never happier than when he’s diving into icy rivers or pedaling through some rugged mountain range. This week, He has started water trekking in Oman.a relatively new sport that involves walking through canyons, abseiling down waterfalls and jumping off cliffs. He is convinced that this activity will become a major leisure industry: for now, however, he has the country’s stunning wadis to himself.
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