Résumé
This presentation will discuss how recent and future work in high-performance sport addresses key design challenges in motor control and sport psychology while striving for ecological validity. Through a scoping review, methodological trends and gaps in the sport of curling research were identified, highlighting the need for sport-specific approaches. Building on this, our recent study aligns qualitative and quantitative measures of attentional focus during stone delivery. We discuss the interplay between perception, action, and cognition in elite athletes. This work informs the design of future studies by advocating for representative task design, athlete-centered methodologies, and context-sensitive measurement tools that better reflect the demands of sport performance. Building on our curling research, we will continue to explore high-performance sport within ecologically valid environments, now focusing on Olympic weightlifting. We aim to investigate the physiological, biomechanical, and perceptual effects of sport rituals that utilize ergogenic aids, such as ammonia inhalant, on the performance of the Snatch and Clean and Jerk among national-level weightlifters. These tools are frequently used in competition with the intent to enhance arousal, focus, and execution, yet remain under-researched in applied settings. Understanding ergogenic aid’s impact on athletes’ ability to enter or maintain their zone of optimal functioning is critical in a sport that frequently utilizes these tools. Studying these aids in real-world conditions, rather than in lab settings, ensures that findings are directly relevant to athlete preparation and coaching strategies, aligning with the broader goal of advancing ecologically valid sport science research.
