Season 1, Episode 5: Paolo Saldahna, Part One: The Road To The Top of Endurance Sports Science
In Part 1 of this two-part series, Paulo traces his unlikely path from an undergraduate kinesiology student at McGill University—initially uninterested in endurance sport—to becoming Canada’s first sub-9-hour finisher at the Hawaii Ironman and later the country’s first finisher in the ultra-endurance Race Across America (RAAM). We close the episode by exploring Paulo’s transition from elite athlete to coach, his role in bringing power-based training to the forefront of Canadian cycling, and the founding of Premier Performance, one of Canada’s leading state-of-the-art training facilities in Montreal.
Paulo rarely gives interviews and has rarely shared his history and accomplishments as one of Canada’s top ultra endurance athletes. Sit back and savour these incredible and unlikely stories to the absolute top of endurance sport.
Paolo briefly talks about his experience competing in the Race Across America (RAAM). If you are unfamiliar with RAAM, here is the ABC Wide World of Sports documentary on it back in 1985!
Guests
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Paolo Saldanha
Paulo Saldanha is a Canadian performance coach, exercise physiologist, and high-performance leader in professional cycling. He currently serves as Performance Director for the UCI WorldTour team NSN based in Girona Spain, where he helps shape performance strategy, athlete development, and a culture of excellence at the sport’s highest level.
Born and raised in Montreal, Saldanha is the founder of PowerWatts, a pioneering indoor cycling training system he launched in 1994. Built on a science-driven, power-based approach, PowerWatts integrates physiological testing, structured training, and real-time data to maximize training efficiency. The system has grown into an international performance platform, supporting everyone from recreational riders , to high performance Masters athletes, to WorldTour professionals and Olympic medallists.
A former elite Ironman triathlete, Saldanha brings decades of experience in endurance sport and human performance. His coaching résumé includes long-term work with top professional cyclists such as Michael Woods, Hugo Houle and Dan Martin, as well as a key role in guiding Chris Froome’s return to competition following a career-altering injury. He is also deeply involved in identifying and developing emerging talent, particularly among Canadian riders, helping create pathways to European racing and the WorldTour.
Paulo (right) is pictured with cycling great Eddy Merckx!