Career sustainability in flux: navigating tensions in elite athletes’ high-stakes careers

Purpose Crafting career sustainability is challenging in high-stakes contexts such as elite sport, which demand total commitment and intense physical competition. In our study, we build on the theoretical lens of tensions to explore how the seemingly sustainable and unsustainable aspects of elite athlete careers are in constant interplay. Our research question is: What tensions do elite athletes encounter in their careers, and how do these tensions affect their career sustainability? Design/methodology/approach We use a narrative methodology, drawing on 21 in-depth interviews with elite athletes competing at the highest international level. Through retrospective sensemaking, the athletes narrated key events, transitions, emotions, successes and failures in their careers. Findings Athletes’ narration constructs three tensions: the tension of performance, the tension of identity and the tension of work economy. Interpreting these, we employ the metaphor of knots between time, context and person. The findings demonstrate that career sustainability is tensional and shaped by how individuals navigate and interpret the complexities around them. Practical implications To address the tension of performance, national teams and academies should invest in psychological coaching that helps athletes decouple self-worth from competitive outcomes and frame success and failure as cyclical learning processes rather than existential judgments. To manage the tension of identity, sport organizations could facilitate structured opportunities for athletes to engage with nonsporting mentors and networks, enabling the development of alternative identities alongside athletic commitment. Regarding the tension of the work economy, we emphasize multi-year athlete grants alongside entrepreneurial training, including branding, marketing and legal literacy. Originality/value Career sustainability is in a constant state of flux in high-stakes environments. The seemingly unsustainable elements, such as mental and physical burdens, total commitment, collegial competition and forced autonomy, can also serve to empower athletes.