As the Centre continues its exciting rebrand and development, Richard has become one of the athletes featured prominently in the new visual identity and artwork displayed both inside and outside the laboratory spaces. His achievements and commitment to both high-performance sport and inclusivity (running for all) embody the Centre's mission to advance research, innovation and athlete support across para and disability sport.
During his visit, Richard completed a comprehensive physiological assessment, including a VO₂ peak test and an incremental blood lactate test led by Dr Tom O’Brien with the help of PhD student Natália Braga De Moura. These evaluations provide valuable insights into aerobic fitness, endurance capacity and exercise performance, helping to inform training and performance optimisation.
The testing formed part of the Centre's ongoing work with elite para athletes, combining world-leading research with practical applications to support sporting success. Richard's participation highlights the strength of collaboration between athletes and researchers in driving innovation within para sport.
The visit also provided an opportunity to showcase the Centre's new branding and artwork, with Richard featured as one of the inspirational athletes helping to tell the story of para and disability sport at Loughborough. The imagery reflects the Centre's commitment to celebrating athlete achievements while promoting inclusion, innovation and excellence.
As the newly named Centre for Para and Disability Sport Innovation continues to produce impactful research and innovation and applications to athlete performances, the team looks forward to working with athletes such as Richard Whitehead to shape the future of para sport research and performance support.
Richard said:” Loughborough University has supported my elite performance pathway over a number of years. I continue to value that support, not only for the world-class facilities, but also the practitioners buying into the world-class elite focus of the Paralympic program and the ability to be able to look at the data from an individual point of view and not a generic Paralympic athlete.
“And that is so important because every Paralympic athlete, whether they have the same disability or not, is individual and have individual everyday needs as well as elite performance needs.”
Richard went on to say “The things that I really value with utilising the Loughborough University services is the real history behind the athletes that have come through the door that showcase that not only is it a proven provider of elite sport, but also that you feel part of the history of elite sport at the University. You really get a sense of individuals that have the experience, knowledge and time to be able to provide the athletes with the tools to perform at the highest level. And the data is so important.”