Characteristics of national, divisional, and club male alpine ski racers

Abstract

Forty-two Canadian male alpine ski racers of either club, divisional, or national team status were studied by group to evaluate the physiological parameters that distinguish these athletes. Measurements of physical characteristics, flexibility, muscular power and endurance, aerobic and anaerobic power, and isokinetic leg strength were made. Correlations of the test variables were performed to evaluate the test battery for validity. While there were few physiological differences between the national and divisional skiers, club skiers scored consistently lower (P less than 0.01) in maximum number of sit-ups, vertical jump, anaerobic endurance, muscular power, 2-mile run time, isokinetic leg strength at 30 degrees X s-1, and hamstring-to-quadriceps strength ratio. However, no significant differences between groups were observed in sum of the skinfolds, flexibility, and isokinetic strength at 180 degrees X s-1. There were also no differences in VO2max between club and national team skiers. Highly-significant correlations were found between selected test variables, which indicated that some of the physiological parameters shared common variance. It seems that many of these physiological tests do not discriminate between national and divisional skiers. Club skiers would, however, appear to benefit from training programs designed to develop leg strength, power, and anaerobic endurance.