Abstract
Background The present study investigated longitudinally the performance development of a multigenerational sample of competitive swimmers. The aim of the study was to provide unique insight into the junior toward senior performance development of those few who reached top-elite level. Season Best Times (SBT) of 100 m freestyle performance of international swimmers, (1.305 males, aged 12-26 and 1.841 females, aged 12-24) competing in at least five seasons between 1993 and 2018, were corrected for the prevailing world record (WR). Swim performance was defined as a relative measure: relative Season Best Time=(SBT/WR) x 100. Based on rSBT, four performance groups were defined: top-elite, elite, sub-elite, and high-competitive. Results Univariate analyses of variance showed that male top-elite swimmers outperformed high-competitive swimmers from the age of 12, sub-elite swimmers from the age of 14 and elite swimmers from the age of 18 while female top-elite swimmers outperformed high-competitive and sub-elite swimmers from the age of 12 and elite swimmers from the age of 14 (P <.05). Frequency analysis showed that male top-elite swimmers for the first time achieved top-elite level between the 17 and 24 years old (mean age of 21) while female top-elite swimmers started to perform at top-elite level between the 14 and 24 years old (mean age of 18). Conclusion Male and female top-elite swimmers are characterized by a high-performance level from 12 years on and progressively outperform swimmers from similar age. However, this goes together with a large variety in the individual pathways toward top-elite level within and between sexes.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 564-571 |
Number of pages | 8 |
Journal | Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports |
Volume | 30 |
Issue number | 3 |
Early online date | 8-Dec-2019 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2020 |
Keywords
- acquisition of expertise
- competitive swimming
- sport performance
- talent
- world record
- COMPETITIVE PERFORMANCE
- ATHLETIC PERFORMANCE
- EXPERT PERFORMANCE
- SPORT
- PROGRESSION
- BENCHMARKS