The South Australian Sports Institute’s (SASI’s) latest staff appointment has stepped into a brand new role, dedicated to finding the winning edge in a new purpose built high-performance environment.

We are excited to welcome John Pitman as our Head of Aerodynamics, where he will lead the aerodynamics strategy, people and projects in the soon-to-be opened Australian Centre for Sports Aerodynamics (ACSA).

With 15 years of experience under his belt, John brings international expertise to the role, having worked with Jaguar Land Rover in the UK after obtaining his degree in Aerodynamics.

He then made the move to Australia in 2017 after getting the call up from AusCycling to work on their aero projects, where he played a pivotal role in Australian cyclists’ preparation for the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games.

John will now bring his expertise to the ACSA (also referred to as the SASI wind tunnel), where he will not only work with cyclists but with athletes from a wide variety of sports who will benefit from the custom-built technology.

“It was a logical progression – I was involved in the specification of the tunnel when I was with AusCycling so the interest was already there,” Pitman said.

“And I think Kevin Tabotta (SASI High-Performance Manager) leading it up has only increased my level of interest in the doing the role – his vision for how it is.”

“Before I became employed, I was doing some consulting work for Kevin on the national sports strategy for usage of the facility so I was really engaged with what could be done and I had a vision of my own of all the different opportunities.”

“It’s a good career step for me and to be the aerodynamics lead in the most prestigious aero facility in the country and probably in the Southern Hemisphere.”

With the wind tunnel set to cement Adelaide’s reputation as a hub for elite training, SASI Director Keren Faulkner explained how delighted she was to have John join the team, further adding to the world-class performance support that SASI offers its athletes.

“We’re really proud to have recruited John Pitman who has an outstanding international reputation in sports aerodynamics and brings amazing experience to this role,” Faulkner said.

“John’s work in high-performance cycling is one of the things that will make him an asset to us at SASI and with his broad knowledge of aero projects, we can’t wait to see what he achieves in a whole range of sports that are impacted by aerodynamics.”

With the ACSA set to open in the coming months, John is now focused on how he will help athletes achieve their maximum potential in an effort to cross the finish line first… and believes preparation will be the key.

“We’ll be looking at performance models so we can have informed conversations with coaches and athletes about the sort of increment of performance they might be able to get,” Pitman said.

“You need to have those pieces of homework done before the day so you can have useful conversations and say if you think about trying to do this or that, it could make this much difference.

“Half the time is about prepping and then the other days will be running the wind tunnel – the tunnel is an aero measuring tool so we need to make sure that it’s running and reading correctly.”

As Australian athletes prepare for the 2032 Games on home soil, it’s anticipated that John’s work will not only impact sport performance directly but will be a key catalyst for collaboration and innovation in the areas of sport technology and sport engineering.

The ACSA is proudly supported by the Government of South Australia, SASI and the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS).