ESPN SportsNation recently held a competition to determine the World’s Greatest Athlete (won by Bo Jackson). We have decided to hold our own competition using a similar format, but this time comparing the sports themselves rather than the athletes, to determine which world sport is more physically demanding.
I started by selecting 32 sports, from which a draw was created so there are one-on-one match-ups which you can vote on, which will continue until only one sport remains – The World’s Fittest Sport! See our full list of nominated sports.
The first sport comparison is between Formula One and Team Handball – which one is more demanding? The physical demands of formula one often goes unappreciated, requiring a high aerobic capacity and good upper body and leg strength. Drivers perform with heart beats of up to 200 per minute for extended periods. Team Handball is not well known outside of Europe, where it is a popular sport. Similar in many ways to basketball, however the demands are possibly greater for handball as the players move faster up and down the court and throw the ball more powerfully.
UPDATE: see the full results
