Fig. 1
PCA analysis of athlete metabolomics data. a A score plot of PC1 and PC2 indicating clustering of samples into two groups according to PC1. Neither PCs is explained by sport type or class. b, c Loading plots offering clues on what the two PCs may represent: The heme/hemoglobin metabolites suggests a hemolysis signature for PC1 (b) while the TCA energy metabolite highlighted by PC2 indicates an energy generating process which may be associated with exercise (c)