High altitude training - developing an international centre for Sri Lanka: evaluating for the best outcome

This article is based on the detailed inception report on technical evaluation, which was presented on request to the Ministry of Sports, Sri Lanka in June 2017, proposing the establishment of a Sports Medicine Human Performance and Research Centre at the planned High Altitude Training Centre (HATC), Nuwara Eliya, Sri Lanka. The report was compiled by the Sports Medicine and Research Evaluation Team at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo and the Project Consultancy Unit, University of Moratuwa in collaboration with international content experts. The objective of this report was to inform the Sports Medicine requirements that should be considered during development of the high altitude training centre in Sri Lanka. This article discusses the scientific basis of altitude training, the global context listing several international centres for altitude training and the Sri Lankan context with the assessment of the environmental suitability and recommendations based on available evidence.