Change of the age and performance of swimmers across World Championships and Olympic Games finals from 1992 to 2013 - a cross-sectional data analysis.

Stefan König,Thomas Rosemann,Christoph Alexander Rüst,Fabio Valeri,Stefanie Wild,Beat Knechtle

doi:10.1186/2193-1801-3-652

Abstract

The aims of the present study were to investigate the changes in the age and in swimming performance of finalists in World Championships (1994–2013) and Olympic Games (1992–2012) competing in all events/races (stroke and distance). Data of 3,295 performances from 1,615 women and 1,680 men were analysed using correlation analyses and magnitudes of effect sizes. In the World Championships, the age of the finalists increased for all strokes and distances with exception of 200 m backstroke in women, and 400 m freestyle and 200 m breaststroke in men where the age of the finalists decreased. The magnitudes of the effects were small to very large (mean ± SD 2.8 ± 2.7), but extremely large (13.38) for 1,500 m freestyle in women. In the Olympic Games, the age of the finalists increased for all strokes and distances with exception of 800 m freestyle in women and 400 m individual medley in men. The magnitudes of the effects were small to very large (mean ± SD 4.1 ± 7.1), but extremely large for 50 m freestyle in women (10.5) and 200 m butterfly in men (38.0). Swimming performance increased across years in both women and men for all strokes and distances in both the World Championships and the Olympic Games. The magnitudes of the effects were all extremely large in World Championships (mean ± SD 20.1 ± 8.4) and Olympic Games (mean ± SD 52.1 ± 47.6); especially for 100 m and 200 m breaststroke (198) in women in the Olympic Games. To summarize, in the last ~20 years the age of the finalists increased in both the World Championships and the Olympic Games with some minor exceptions (200 m backstroke in women, 400 m freestyle and 200 m breaststroke in men in World Championships and 800 m freestyle in women and 400 m individual medley in men in Olympic Games) and performance of the finalists improved.

Highlights

Peaking during the Olympic Games is a major challenge for swimmers, coaches, and scientists (Issurin et al 2008)
We investigated the age of finalists in the World Championships and the Olympic Games
The present study investigated potential changes in the age of finalists and in swimming performance in all strokes and distances in indoor pool swimming for both women and men competing at world class level

Summary

Introduction

Peaking during the Olympic Games is a major challenge for swimmers, coaches, and scientists (Issurin et al 2008). As a landmark in the exploration of age and peak athletic performance in elite pool swimmers, Schulz and Curnow (1988) investigated Olympic gold medal winners competing between 1896 and 1980. The age of peak athletic performance was described to be stable at ~18 years for women and at ~21 years for men for almost a century (Schulz and Curnow 1988). In a very recent study, Allen et al (2014) described the age of individual peak swimming performance in top 16 swimmers competing in the Olympic Games in 2008 or 2012. More studies were done in the field of the age of peak swimming performance, but most of them focused on freestyle (Berthelot et al 2012; Buhl et al 2013b; Kollarz et al 2013b; Wolfrum et al 2013; Rüst et al 2014)

Objectives

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Conclusion