In this episode of The Podium: An NBC Olympic and Paralympic podcast, 13-time Paralympic medalist Chris Waddell sits down with Jeff Waldmuller, a research and development prosthetist from Ottobock.
Waldmuller shares insights into the fast-paced world of Paralympic prosthetic repairs, where precision and speed are crucial.
"Go look at wheelchair rugby, those guys, they beat the absolute tar out of [their chairs]. And they may have a brand new competition chair and coming into us and we're stitching them up on the sideline," Waldmuller said. "We have a welder on the sideline of of rugby tournaments every game. And if something goes on, we'll stitch them up and send them back out to go. It's that level of just on-the-spot technical work that makes it really impressive."
Learn about the essential role these "pit stops" play in keeping athletes at their peak performance on the latest episode of The Podium.
All episodes of The Podium are available now on the iHeart App, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music or your favorite podcast platform.