Unbroken Review

Essential Reading

Chosen by our editors

Science Desk

Research, read carefully

$Line chart: right-ventricle ejection fraction fell from 52.4% before a marathon to 47.6% straight after, recovered to 51.3% by day 3, and was 51.9% ten years later$

Science Explainer

A marathon temporarily weakens the heart’s right side. Ten years of racing did not, study finds

11 October 2026

Forest plot: exercise snacks improved aerobic fitness in inactive adults (g = 1.37) and muscular endurance in older adults (g = 0.40); no effect on strength, body composition, blood pressure or lipids

Science Explainer

Five-minute “exercise snacks” improved fitness in inactive people, review finds

11 October 2026

Bar chart: heavy strength training improved anaerobic power (effect size 0.56), cycling performance (0.46) and cycling efficiency (0.35), with no change in VO2max or threshold

Science Explainer

Heavy lifting made endurance cyclists faster — without raising their VO2max

11 October 2026

Bar chart: 82% of endurance athletes, 70% of all participants and 65% of non-endurance athletes were at risk of REDs; among endurance athletes 30% reported missing periods and 48% a past bone stress injury

Science

Four in five elite female endurance athletes at risk of energy deficiency, Finnish study finds

11 October 2026

Race Report

Triathlon, running, trail and cycling

Running Analysis

Two world records and four course records — the year the marathon got faster everywhere

11 October 2026

Running Feature

3:42.66: how Josh Kerr took down the oldest record in middle-distance running

11 October 2026

Running Analysis

The Commonwealth Games dropped the marathon for the first time since 1930. What that says about endurance sport

11 October 2026

Triathlon

Vilaça wins the world title by finishing second as Beaugrand completes a perfect season

11 October 2026

Cycling Analysis

Enric Mas finally wins a Grand Tour after Pogačar’s Vuelta ends in a crash

11 October 2026

Cycling Analysis

Giro, Tour, rainbow jersey: Demi Vollering’s season for the record books

Demi Vollering celebrating as she crosses the finish line to win the 2025 European road race championship

11 October 2026

Mind

The psychology of performance

Bar chart of effect sizes for anti-choking interventions: motor accuracy 0.66, executional success 0.44, closed-skill sports 0.46, target deviation 0.30

Mind Explainer

Choking under pressure is not a character flaw. A review of 21 studies shows it can be trained against

11 October 2026

Forest plot: mental fatigue reduced decision-making (g = 0.67), technical skill (g = 0.61) and reaction time (g = 0.50) in sport tasks

Mind Explainer

A tired mind makes worse decisions on the field, meta-analysis finds

11 October 2026

Forest plot: exercise reduced depression symptoms by a standardised mean difference of −0.61 and anxiety symptoms by −0.47

Mind Explainer

Exercise reduces depression and anxiety across every group studied, review of 79,551 people finds

11 October 2026

Diagram of three breathing waves at 80, 60 and 40 per cent of a person's natural breathing rate; the slowest produced lower heart rate and higher HRV

Mind Explainer

How slowly should you breathe to calm down? Two 2026 trials give a more nuanced answer

11 October 2026

More Stories

Science

Caffeine before work in the heat raised core temperature and heart rate, trial finds

11 October 2026

Running

Assefa limps home in a course-record 2:11:04 as Adola wins Berlin again

11 October 2026

Science Explainer

Ring, strap or watch? What the best evidence says about your overnight HRV

11 October 2026

Triathlon Analysis

Eighteen seconds in Nice: Wilde holds off Blummenfelt as Knibb rewrites the 70.3 record book

Hayden Wilde running during the men’s triathlon at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games

11 October 2026

Science Explainer

‘220 minus your age’ gets endurance athletes wrong, survey of 4,375 finds

11 October 2026

Science Explainer

Strength and mood shifted across the menstrual cycle — but no two athletes followed the same pattern

11 October 2026

Science Explainer

Five more minutes of sleep and two of brisk activity — the small changes linked to an extra year of life

11 October 2026

Mind Explainer

The mental-health benefit of walking levels off — and the plateau arrives earlier than you might think

11 October 2026

Science Explainer

Athletes sleep well before they race. It’s the night after that goes wrong

11 October 2026

Trail & Ultra Analysis

The summer 100-mile racing got faster

American trail runner Ben Dhiman photographed in August 2026

11 October 2026

Cycling Analysis

Pogačar’s fifth Tour was the fastest ever ridden — in a heatwave

11 October 2026

Cycling

McNulty’s 33 km solo in Montreal ends a 33-year American wait for the rainbow jersey

11 October 2026

Science Analysis

The Enhanced Games promised a flood of world records. The results told a different story

11 October 2026

Unbroken Review

Top Stories

Knibb snatches Kona title in the final mile as Luis wins on debut

Kipruto breaks away to win Chicago in 2:01:09 as Feysa defends her title

Two years, two champions on the roadside. What Kona’s last mile does to the human body

No recovery method beat simply resting, new analysis of endurance trials finds

1:59:30, six months on: how the two-hour marathon finally fell — and what it changed

Essential Reading

Science Desk

A marathon temporarily weakens the heart’s right side. Ten years of racing did not, study finds

Five-minute “exercise snacks” improved fitness in inactive people, review finds

Heavy lifting made endurance cyclists faster — without raising their VO2max

Four in five elite female endurance athletes at risk of energy deficiency, Finnish study finds

Race Report

Two world records and four course records — the year the marathon got faster everywhere

3:42.66: how Josh Kerr took down the oldest record in middle-distance running

The Commonwealth Games dropped the marathon for the first time since 1930. What that says about endurance sport

Vilaça wins the world title by finishing second as Beaugrand completes a perfect season

Enric Mas finally wins a Grand Tour after Pogačar’s Vuelta ends in a crash

Giro, Tour, rainbow jersey: Demi Vollering’s season for the record books

Mind

Choking under pressure is not a character flaw. A review of 21 studies shows it can be trained against

A tired mind makes worse decisions on the field, meta-analysis finds

Exercise reduces depression and anxiety across every group studied, review of 79,551 people finds

How slowly should you breathe to calm down? Two 2026 trials give a more nuanced answer

The Signal

More Stories

Caffeine before work in the heat raised core temperature and heart rate, trial finds

Assefa limps home in a course-record 2:11:04 as Adola wins Berlin again

Ring, strap or watch? What the best evidence says about your overnight HRV

Eighteen seconds in Nice: Wilde holds off Blummenfelt as Knibb rewrites the 70.3 record book

‘220 minus your age’ gets endurance athletes wrong, survey of 4,375 finds

Strength and mood shifted across the menstrual cycle — but no two athletes followed the same pattern

Five more minutes of sleep and two of brisk activity — the small changes linked to an extra year of life

The mental-health benefit of walking levels off — and the plateau arrives earlier than you might think

Athletes sleep well before they race. It’s the night after that goes wrong

The summer 100-mile racing got faster

Pogačar’s fifth Tour was the fastest ever ridden — in a heatwave

McNulty’s 33 km solo in Montreal ends a 33-year American wait for the rainbow jersey

The Enhanced Games promised a flood of world records. The results told a different story