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Wednesday, Jul. 3, 2024

Do Colorado athletes have an advantage playing at altitude?

Justin George, The Colorado Sun
yes

From team sports to individual competitions, nearly all athletes who train at altitude gain advantages, studies show.

Athletes seek out high-altitude training to limit available oxygen so their bodies will feel a boost when competing at sea level. That’s one benefit provided by the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, at 6,350 feet of elevation.

A December 2018 study by researchers and an NFL data analyst found Denver professional sports teams had an outsize home field advantage compared to their competition.

The Denver Nuggets and Utah Jazz posted the first and second best home-court advantages in the NBA while the Colorado Rockies and Denver Broncos were also found to have distinct home-field advantages, the study found.

But not everyone has an advantage. While baseball hitters see their balls fly farther, pitchers have a rougher time keeping balls in the park and throwing curve balls that rely on denser air. 

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The Colorado Sun is a journalist-founded, award-winning and nonprofit news outlet based in Denver that strives to cover all of Colorado so that our state — our community — can better understand itself. In this way, we believe we can contribute to a more vibrant, informed and whole Colorado. We are committed to fact-based, in-depth and nonpartisan journalism. We cover everything from politics and culture to the outdoor industry and education. Our goal is to produce the best possible journalism. We do that with the help of you, our readers, and community backers. We launched on Sept. 10, 2018.

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