Competition-Based Success Factors During the Talent Pathway of Elite Male Swimmers

Born, Dennis; Lomax, Ishbel; Horvath, Stephan; Meisser, Elena; Seidenschwarz, Philipp; Burkhardt, David; Romann, Michael (2020). Competition-Based Success Factors During the Talent Pathway of Elite Male Swimmers Sports and Active Living, 2(589938) Frontiers 10.3389/fspor.2020.589938

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Marginal differences in race results between top swimmers have evoked the interest in competition-based success factors of long-term athlete development. To identify novel factors for the multi-dimensional model of talent development, the aim of the study was to investigate annual variation in competition performance (ACV), number of races per year, and age. Therefore, 45,398 race results of all male participants (n = 353) competing in individual events, i.e., butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, freestyle, and individual medley, at the 2018 European Long-Course Swimming Championships (2018EC) were analyzed retrospectively for all 10 years prior to the championships with Pearson's correlation coefficient and multiple linear regression analysis. Higher ranked swimmers at the 2018EC showed significant medium correlations with a greater number of races per year and small but significant correlations with higher ACV in 10 and nine consecutive years, respectively, prior to the championships. Additionally, better swimmers were older than their lower ranked peers (r = −0.21, p < 0.001). Regression model explained a significant proportion of 2018EC ranking for 50 m (47%), 100 m (45%), 200 m (31%), and 400 m races (29%) but not for 800 and 1,500 m races with number of races having the largest effect followed by age and ACV. In conclusion, higher performance variation with results off the personal best in some races did not impair success at the season's main event and young competitors at international championships may benefit from success chances that increase with age. The higher number of races swum per year throughout the career of higher ranked swimmers may have provided learning opportunities and specific adaptations. Future studies should quantify these success factors in a multi-dimensional talent development model.

Item Type:	Journal Article (Original Article)
Division/Institute:	Swiss Federal Institute of Sports Magglingen SFISM > EHSM - Leistungssport > Trainingswissenschaft
Name:	Born, Dennis0000-0002-1058-4367; Lomax, Ishbel; Horvath, Stephan; Meisser, Elena; Seidenschwarz, Philipp; Burkhardt, David and Romann, Michael0000-0003-4139-2955
Publisher:	Frontiers
Language:	English
Submitter:	Service Account
Date Deposited:	22 Feb 2021 13:57
Last Modified:	23 Sep 2021 02:18
Publisher DOI:	10.3389/fspor.2020.589938
Uncontrolled Keywords:	age key performance indicators long-term athlete development number of races performance variation Leistungssport
ARBOR DOI:	10.24451/arbor.14423
URI:	https://arbor.bfh.ch/id/eprint/14423