Insufficient sleep is linked to elevated injury risk in athletes through a specific biomechanical mechanism, not just generic fatigue. In adolescent athletes, sleeping under 8 hours/night is associated with roughly 1.7x (170%) the injury risk of sleeping over 8 hours/night.
Proposed mechanism: sleep deprivation produces biomechanical inconsistency — e.g., more variable vertical jump performance and altered knee-hip movement coordination — which raises injury likelihood during athletic movement, independent of any change in strength or conditioning.
Related: Sleep Extension for Athletic Performance frames the inverse (sleep extension improving performance); this concept isolates injury risk specifically. Also relevant to the elevated-injury-risk window right after travel — see Jet Lag Travel Protocol (Pre/In/Post-Flight)'s post-flight caution against maximal exercise.