Performance People

As the summer of sport moves towards the 37th America’s Cup, we look back to the remarkable 2013 edition in a special episode of Performance People with the Inside Tack podcast.Oracle Team USA were 8-1 down and going nowhere against Emirates Team New Zealand who needed only one more win to lift the Auld Mug. Enter Ben Ainslie, who was brought in as tactician in a last-gasp move to try to change things up. And boy did it work, as he reeled off seven straight wins to set up a winner-takes-all decider. Ben takes us back to that time when the sporting world was glued to events in San Francisco Bay, recalling the moment he was asked to join the crew, the nature of the challenge he faced, the details that helped shift the momentum and the impact it had on his own career, as he leads INEOS Britannia in their attempt to win the trophy for Britain this autumn.

Georgie Ainslie and guest Professor Greg Whyte debate the most memorable performances from the second week of the Paris Olympics, breaking down what made them stand out from the rest. Featuring the serene brilliance of Team GB’s Keely Hodgkinson, the emergence of a new European track and field superstar and the mechanics behind what made the men’s 100m so special.

Georgie Ainslie and guest Professor Greg Whyte look back at the most memorable performances from the first week of the Paris Olympics, breaking down what made them stand out from the rest. From the otherworldly brilliance of Simone Biles to the longevity of Tom Daley, plus the Team GB all-time great who doesn’t get the recognition they deserve.

When Craig Wood was an 18-year-old soldier, a roadside bomb in Afghanistan left him a triple amputee.After a gruelling rehabilitation full of operations and setbacks, he needed a new focus and felt the pull of the sea as soon as he left hospital.A keen windsurfer before his injuries, he began to learn para sailing and it changed his life. He now lives on a catamaran with his wife and two young kids, travelling the world.But that’s the just the start. In January 2025 he is planning to sail 6,000 nautical miles solo from Mexico to Japan to raise money for the charities which helped him recover and to show other amputees just what’s possible. He'd become the first para sailor to do so.At the heart of Craig’s story is his lust for life and his resolute unwillingness to compromise on how he wants to live it. He discusses with Georgie why he’s taking on a challenge that to many of us consider terrifying, the specific hurdles he’ll need to face down and why he’s already excited about coming home. Craig’s attitude is contagious and his story speaks to the freedom that comes from finding your passion.

At the Tokyo Olympics, two-time gold medallist Helen Glover showed to herself and the world that a working mother could also be an Olympian. And that, so we thought, was that. Except, well, some people are cut from a different cloth and Helen saw an opportunity to prove that women shouldn’t be written off at a certain age or life stage. What if she could medal in Paris at 38 with her kids at the finish line and at an age when they would remember seeing their mum doing her thing? Helen describes how she came to decide on such a big turnaround, how she juggles the different roles in her life and why she thinks being a parent has actually changed her career as an athlete for the better. Helen also compares how this Olympics compares to her first in 2012, the differences in moving from a pair to a team of four and she describes, beat by beat, what it’s like to actually race in an Olympic final when it’s all on the line.

When Tim Herman first went to Wimbledon as a 6-year-old and saw Bjorn Borg play, his fate was sealed. It was tennis all the way. Fifteen years later, he was playing his first match as a pro on Centre Court, the place he wishes he could have played his whole career on. Tim looks back on his life in a tennis and sports-obsessed family, how he handled the pressure of being the great British hope at Wimbledon, the matches he remembers most fondly and a few inside stories from behind the ropes at the All England Club. He also shares his views on the opponents who stood out including his pick in ‘the greatest of all-time’ debate. Tim recalls the moment he knew it was the right time for him to retire, and what he wishes for Andy Murray as he prepares to do the same. He remembers his tennis-obsessed father who had to pretend he was a picture of calm for every Wimbledon and tells us why his own daughters haven’t followed in his tennis shoes.

Think of Wimbledon and the name Andrew Castle won’t be far from your mind. A former British number one as a player, he took a chance in broadcasting and never looked back - his voice is now one of the most recognisable soundtracks to the British summer.Andrew talks frankly and entertainingly about his early life, how he got his break in tennis, his trials on tour and why making it as a pro from an unlikely background is something he’s still proud of.He also shares how he got his break in TV and looks back on the many highs and lows of a life in TV and radio - like why the stresses of covering news made him quit LBC, and why calling the Wimbledon final is a privilege he'll never take for granted.

One of the big stories going into this year’s America’s Cup is the collaboration between two different sports which share more similarities than you might expect. In a special episode of Performance People with the Inside Tack podcast, Toto Wolff, Team Principal and CEO of Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 team sat down with Sir Ben Ainslie, CEO and skipper of INEOS Britannia, to discuss how Formula One thinking has influenced this campaign, highlighting the areas which have seen the most benefits on both sides. Toto describes what it felt like to be a member of Ben’s crew for the day, and they look ahead at the ways Formula One’s commercial know-how might influence the cup’s future, including what sailing could learn from the ‘Netflix effect’ of Drive To Survive. They also discuss the different challenges involved in business and sport, and why winning after periods of adversity and criticism make the sweetest victories.