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Sky Christopherson

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Sky Christopherson
BornJanuary 19, 1976 (1976-01-19) (age 48)
United States
Employer(s)GOLD AI, Biolinq
Known forOlympic athlete, World Record Holder, entrepreneur, public speaker
world record in sprint cycling

Sky Christopherson (born January 19, 1976)[1] is an American entrepreneur, Olympic cyclist, world record holder, and motivational speaker. He has been covered by Fortune[2] Forbes,[3] Sports Illustrated,[4] Wired, Outside magazine, the Financial Times, and other publications. In 2015 he was voted 5th nationwide in "Top 40 under 40 in Healthcare Innovation" [5]

A member of the U.S. Cycling Team, an alternate for the 1996 Olympic Team and winner of the 2000 Olympic Trials, Christopherson is known for breaking a world record in 2011 in the velodrome sprint, notably using a ‘digital health’ model inspired by Dr. Eric Topol.[6] The previous holder of the record, Steven Alfred, subsequently received a lifetime ban for performance-enhancing drug use.[7]

Christopherson founded the $8million dollar software platform Vicaso in 2007,[8] and the biometrics and big data health company Optimized Athlete in 2012,[9] which helped the underdog 2012 women's cycling team win medals at the London Olympics when Lance Armstrong and the men’s team were banned for drugs. The story was featured in the feature documentary Personal Gold: An Underdog Story.

Early life

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Sky Christopherson was born on January 19, 1976[1] to American parents,[10] and raised by his parents in Tucson, Arizona in the United States. He had an early interest in both sports, film, and technology, using a Sears video camera to create 3D playback when he was eight years old.[11]

Cycling career

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Cycling Stats
Personal information
BornUnited States
Team information
Current teamRetired
RoleRider
Rider typeSprinter
Amateur team
1980s-1993-
Professional team
1995-2000U.S. National Cycling Team
Major wins
World Record(s) 35+ 200m velodrome sprint
2000 Olympic Trials: Gold 1km, Gold Team Sprint.

Early years

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Christopherson won his first national title in bicycle racing at age 19, beating a six-time undefeated cyclist in a controversial event at the 1995 US National Championships.[12] His specialty was the 1,000-meter time trial, considered to be the most painful event in sprint cycling.[13] Christopherson is one of five Americans in history to ride a sub 1:03.0 in the 1000m ‘Kilometer’ event.[14] He was quoted "My blood was turned into battery acid...I would commonly ride that fine line of losing consciousness."[15]

Project 96: Atlanta Olympics

He was named to the U.S. National Cycling Team in 1995 following a win of two national titles at the U.S. National Track Cycling Championships.[12] Accordingly, he was made part of ‘Project 96’ to prepare for the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. The program included experimental ‘Hyperoxic' training using enriched oxygen at the U.S. Olympic Training Center. During the special training conduced by Randy Wilbur and Dave Morris, Christopherson broke a record at the US Olympic Training center for highest blood lactate ever measured at 31.5mmol/dl. He was named official alternate to the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Cycling Team after placing second at the trials to Olympic medalist Erin Hartwell.[10]

Union Cycliste Internationale

He made his international debut in the 1000m placing 6th at the 1996 UCI Track Cycling World Cup in Cali, Colombia. When racing at the international level, he never ranked lower than ninth in the world.[13] He placed 4th at the 1997 UCI Track Cycling World Cup in Adelaide, Australia, and 9th at the 1997 UCI World Track Cycling Championships. In 1998, he transitioned to the Team Sprint event with Marty Nothstein and Erin Hartwell, winning Silver at the 1998 UCI Track Cycling World Cup Classics in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, and 4th at the 1998 UCI Track Cycling World Championships in Bordeaux, France.

Later Olympics

He battled upper respiratory illnesses throughout the 1998 and 1999 seasons, developing walking pneumonia in 1999.[16]

In 2000, Christopherson won the U.S. Olympic Trials in Frisco, TX in the 1000m[17] and Team Sprint Events,[16] and was named alternate to the 2000 Sydney Olympic Team allowed through new rules.[13] [18]

Following the Closing Ceremonies at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, he proposed to his girlfriend Tamara Jenkins, an Olympian in flatwater kayaking.

He continued training for the 2004 Athens Olympics, but after breaking his femur in a bike crash, decided to retire from competitive racing.[13] He joined the Washington Athletic Club in January 2007, where he helped to create "the program that will be giving sponsorship to athletes training for the Olympics."[13]

World record

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In 2010 he made a bid to return to the 2012 London Olympics, notable by his use of a ‘digital health’ model inspired by Dr. Eric Topol. The project was a subject of a TEDx talk Christopherson gave in Del Mar, CA,[19] and a Quantified Self talk at the Google headquarters in Mountain View, California.

The training led to a world record in the 35+ 200m velodrome sprint.[10] The previous record holder Steven Alfred received a lifetime ban[7] for use of performance-enhancing drugs. When asked how he trained, Christopherson stated, "In prior efforts we did not have the ability to formulate such a complete picture with data amassed continuously 24/7. This time around I benefited from genetic testing, sleep data, glucose tracking, etc."[10]

Business career

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Vicaso

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Upon retirement, Christopherson began attending UC San Diego,[8] where he studied Intradiscpliary Computing and the Arts,[11] and graduated in 2006.[20] In 2007, upon graduating UCSD, he founded Vicaso, a software platform for mass production of HDR imagery with the market application of real estate marketing.[8] Headquartered in Seattle, UCSD has stated "the startup was wildly successful, turning over $1.2 million in its first year."[20][21] and over $8 million since. The company was exclusive national provider to Redfin, and now works with brokerages such as Prudential, Sotheby's, Coldwell Banker, among others. It specializes in software based automation of high dynamic range (HDR) photography.[10]

Optimized Athlete

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Main article: OAthlete

In July 2012 The Financial Times revealed that several health technology companies[22] have supplied Olympics athletes with devices intended to optimize their performance,[22] in what CNN said some people were calling the "Data Olympics."[23]

OAthlete, a company co-founded by Christopherson,[10] and another athlete earlier that year, helped the US track cycling team (specifically the women's sprint cycling team[8]) track their health with a software platform that he developed to collect athlete data including the first non-diabetic use of glucose monitors, sleep monitor, and genetic reports indicating nutritional needs and muscular capacity.[24]

About using the method, Christopherson stated, "When we arrived in Spain [to consult for OAthlete] we met a [US track cycling team] that had become America’s medal hopes in cycling when Lance Armstrong and then men’s team were banned for performance enhancing drug use. What unfolded was amazing."[25] We began to assemble a big-data portrait of each athlete’s health and fitness through a partnership with San Francisco based Datameer and software developed by Christopherson and former Olympic teammate Adam Laurent.[26] The team won an ‘underdog’ Silver Medal at the 2012 London Olympic Games in the Women's Team Pursuit. It was the first US women's track cycling medal in over 20 years.[27]

The story was featured in the feature documentary Personal Gold: An Underdog Story, which was acquired by Netflix and received worldwide distribution. Optimized Athlete has since been rolled into the company GOLD AI.

GOLD AI

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On August 1st at the 2024 Paris Olympics, the company GOLD AI was launched as “the world’s first artificial intelligence platform bridging Olympic medal-winning advice for consumer health and fitness”[28]

Biolinq

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GOLD AI also has plans to incorporate the revolutionary patch-based biosensor developed by Biolinq, a San Diego biotech company[28] that has raised over $200m in funding, as a one of the first preferred partners. Christopherson held an official role at Biolinq as ‘Director of Connected Health and Fitness[29]’ to help with the initial $100m B round fundraising, and to develop the new micro needle based sensor with multi analyte sensing capabiliies including Glucose, Lactate, Cortisol, and DNA apromere based sending in development.[30] Christopherson demoed the patch-based sensor for the first time in a live demonstration on-stage with CEO Rich Yang and Co-Founder Jared Tagney in Park City, UT at a Fortune new technology conference.[31]

Personal life

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Sky Christopherson's parents live in Tucson, Arizona.[11]

Athletic achievements

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1995
Gold, Kilometer, U.S National Track Cycling Championships, Indianapolis, IN
Gold, Team Sprint, U.S. National Track Cycling Championships, Indianapolis, IN
1996
Record for highest blood lactate (31.5mmol/dl) recorded by the US Olympic Training Center
6th, Kilometer, Round 1, 1996 Track World Cup, Cali
4th, Team Sprint, Round 1, 1996 Track World Cup, Cali
7th, Kilometer, Round 2, 1996 Track World Cup, Havana
5th, Team Sprint, Round 2, 1996 Track World Cup, Havana
1997
4th, Kilometer, Round 6, 1997 Track World Cup, Adelaide
1998
Gold, Team Sprint, Pan American Cycling Championships, Sao Paulo, Brazil
2nd, Team Sprint, Round 1, 1998 UCI Track Cycling World Cup Classics, Victoria
4th, Team Sprint, UCI World Track Cycling Championships, Bordeaux, France
2000
Gold, Kilo, US Olympic Trials, Track Cycling, Frisco, Texas[17]
Gold, Team Sprint, US Olympic Trials, Track Cycling, Frisco, Texas[16]
7th, Kilometer, Round 1, 2000 Track World Cup, Cali
2001
Gold, Team Sprint, 2001 U.S. National Track Cycling Championships, Blaine, MN
2011
World Record, 35+ 200m Time Trial, Colorado Springs, CO (August 20, 2011)

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b "Birthdays". January 19: Today In Sport. Retrieved June 12, 2013.
  2. ^ "Brainstorm Tech 2024: Biohacking Our Way to Better Health". fortune.com. Retrieved August 2, 2024.
  3. ^ Marr, Bernard. "Big Data Not Doping: How The U.S. Olympic Women's Cycling Team Competes On Analytics". Forbes. Retrieved August 2, 2024.
  4. ^ Taylor, Tom (May 14, 2015). "How the US Womens Cycling Team Transformed itself using Technology". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved May 15, 2015.
  5. ^ "MedTech Boston's 40 Under 40 Healthcare Innovators | MedTech Boston - Part 6". web.archive.org. September 26, 2022. Retrieved August 2, 2024.
  6. ^ Davis, Sally (July 27, 2012). "Barometer: tech". Financial Times. Retrieved June 12, 2013.
  7. ^ a b "Cyclist Stephen Alfred banned for life for refusing drug test; considered 3rd offense". USA Today. February 5, 2008. Retrieved June 12, 2013.
  8. ^ a b c d "The Young Guns" (PDF). San Diego Business Journal. June 4–10, 2012. Retrieved June 20, 2013 – via oathlete.com.
  9. ^ "Online Tool Helps Athletes Track Performance From Inside Out | Playbook | Wired.com". web.archive.org. June 8, 2012. Retrieved August 2, 2024.
  10. ^ a b c d e f Rucker, Michael (December 23, 2012). "Interview with Sky Christopherson about Biometric Hacking". Enhanced Kinetics. Retrieved June 20, 2013.
  11. ^ a b c Christopherson, Sky (August 7, 2010). "'The Greater Meaning of Water' – Freediving Feature Film Hollywood Premiere". Deeper Blue. Retrieved June 20, 2013.
  12. ^ a b Litsky, Frank (June 6, 1996). "OLYMPICS;Hartwell Back in the Money for Cycling". The New York Times. Retrieved June 20, 2013.
  13. ^ a b c d e McPherson, Hope. "The Competitive Edge". Washington Athletic Club.
  14. ^ "North American All-Time Lists: Men's 1km Time Trial (standing start): Edition NATT02" (PDF). trackcycling.info. March 2, 2008. Retrieved June 12, 2013.
  15. ^ "Cycling: Hoy is ready to dig deep again and raid Olympic gold mine". The Independent. June 29, 2008.
  16. ^ a b c "Cycling". Tucson Citizen. April 27, 2000. Retrieved June 12, 2013.
  17. ^ a b "CNNSI.com - Olympic Sports - U.S. cyclists fall short of estimated Olympic medal times - Wednesday April 26, 2000 12:56 AM". web.archive.org. May 12, 2012. Retrieved August 2, 2024.
  18. ^ Past Biker Stories in 2000
  19. ^ "Envisioning Transhumanity: Speakers". TEDx DelMar. April 29, 2012. Retrieved June 20, 2013.
  20. ^ a b Danziger, Malinda (2000). "Olympic Entrepreneur". UCSD. Retrieved June 12, 2013.
  21. ^ "Vicaso Real Estate Photography". vicaso.com. Retrieved June 20, 2013.
  22. ^ a b "Olympians trade data for tracking devices". Financial Times London. 2012. Retrieved June 20, 2013.
  23. ^ Sutter, John D. (July 27, 2012). "The 10 coolest tech stories of the 2012 London Olympics". CNN. Retrieved June 20, 2013.
  24. ^ "London 2012 Olympics: athletes trade data for technology". The Daily Telegraph. July 23, 2012. Retrieved June 20, 2013.
  25. ^ Rucker, Michael (December 23, 2012). "Interview with Sky Christopherson about Biometric Hacking". Mike Rucker, Ph.D. Retrieved August 2, 2024.
  26. ^ "Sky Christopherson & Datameer". Simone Scarpino. Retrieved August 2, 2024.
  27. ^ "U.S. Women Win Silver In First Team Pursuit Event". NPR. August 4, 2012.
  28. ^ a b "Brainstorm Tech 2024: Biohacking Our Way to Better Health". fortune.com. Retrieved August 2, 2024.
  29. ^ "Sky Christopherson - Director of Connected Health & Fitness at Biolinq". THE ORG. Retrieved August 2, 2024.
  30. ^ "Investors Put $58 Million Into Biolinq's Push for Easier Glucose-Monitoring". www.wsj.com.
  31. ^ "Biolinq - Raised $174M Funding from 27 investors - Tracxn". tracxn.com. July 27, 2024. Retrieved August 2, 2024.
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