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There are many examples to behold of how technology is changing the fitness industry and kit such as the latest Huawei GT3 Smartwatch has been beneficial for many in allowing access to training programs, providing the motivation to smash records and generally monitor athletic progress. Yet, with the upcoming metaverse, it appears technology will have a far more visible impact on athletics and sports training in general.

Meta view

Despite huge investment, not everyone is really sure what the metaverse is or what it will be. We can say for sure that it is a hypothetical persevering network of 3D areas as an iteration of the internet to form an immersive virtual world that is enabled through virtual or augmented reality. There’s huge confidence that we’ll spend an ever-growing amount of our leisure and social time inside virtually simulated environments and people are genuinely looking forward to participating in some kind of Ready-Player-One scenario.

Considered by many to be a major driver towards athletics and sport in general in the metaverse are the big players in the world of online casinos. Online casinos have benefited from being early adaptors of new tech to make the casino games such as roulette, slots or blackjack more appealing and it’s believed that the metaverse will do the same for sportsbooks. Many UK betting sites use third-party technology contributors that allow sites such as bet365 to live stream thousands of events every year, accept a number of different currencies and payment methods, and provide casino games with live dealers and the latest graphics.

While the major providers already attract a great deal of traffic and regular customers through their promotions and bonuses, offering a virtual reality viewing experience for events such as the Olympics will make them phenomenally favoured. We’ve had a glimpse at what’s possible with developments such as NBC Olympics VR by Xfinity, but as iGaming has benefited so much from new tech like digital wallets, live dealers and mobile optimization, they seem the favourites to bring athletics and other sports to a metaverse gambling hub.

Meta training

While the metaverse should make for a more immersive viewing experience for athletics fans with a new way of viewing events from different states of view, the scope for the development of a fresh form of immersive athletics training is exciting. There’s been a gradual rise in VR use in the fitness market and a focus on fitness gamification as more youthful fitness enthusiasts are attentive to fitness regimes that are both healthful and amusing.

So, looking at what’s currently available should give us some idea of what athletics training in the metaverse will look like. Athletics Games is the first VR game in which you can participate in various events including 100 metres flat, long jump, 110 metres hurdles and others, with the natural movement of your hands as if you were running and trigger buttons for actions. While the immersive stadium is appealing, it looks dated now and a big-budget improved version is required to make people shell out for the expensive equipment.

VZ Fit and the Klocked app perhaps give us a better clue as to what our workouts will look like in the metaverse. VZ Fit by VirZOOM, Inc. uses Google Street View to make bike rides or elliptical training more fun with challenges and different areas to explore such as the Italian Alps or the coast of Oahu. Whereas Klocked by ePlay Digital is an Augmented Reality fitness tracking app that permits users to run anywhere in the world and has a number of celebrity coaches, race day experiences and avatar options to keep you motivated.

We don’t yet have the killer metaverse viewing or training experience, but it’s an exciting time as tech companies try to produce that innovative app that will become a must-have for serious athletes and athletics fans.