Age at Peak Performance of Successful Track & Field Athletes

Abstract

Knowledge of age at peak performance in competitive sport could inform decisions about selection and preparation of athletes for specific events. The purpose of the study was to estimate age at peak performance of elite track-and-field athletes. 168,576 performance times and distances by 2017 athletes in 19 men's and 19 women's track-and-field events from 1979 to 2009 were downloaded from tilastopaja.org . Each athlete had finished in the top 16 (track events and combined events) or top 12 (field events) of their event at an Olympic Games or a World Athletics Championships between 2000 and 2009. After adjustment for year of competition, and venue-related factors such as altitude, wind-speed, indoor or outdoor and level of competition, a mixed linear model provided quadratic age-related performance trajectories to estimate each athlete's age at peak performance and age window for negligible contiguous improvement and decline. Age at peak performance for men ranged from 23.9 ± 2.4 y (10000 m; mean ±SD) to 28.5 ± 2.2 y (discus throw) and for women from 24.7 ± 2.5 y (pole vault) to 28.1 ± 3.9 y (discus throw). There were clear differences in mean age at peak performance between male and female throwers (mean;±CL) (28.0;±0.4 vs. 26.7;±0.6 y), between male and female runners (25.1;±0.3 vs. 26.2;±0.4 y), and between throwers and runners or jumpers (27.3;±0.5 vs. 25.6;±0.3 or 25.7;±0.3 y). In conclusion, the current generation of track-and-field athletes should prepare for an age window of ~2.5 y each side of a peaking age of ~23-28 y depending on event. Differences and trends in participation, ethnic representation, professionalization and specialization could account for differences between events and for apparent changes from age at peak performance of previous generations.