Abstract
Cross-country (XC) skiers employ whole-body exercise to generate speed through poles and skis. The choice of optimal pole and ski lengths are therefore of high importance. The aim of this study was to document pole and ski lengths among elite male and female cross-country skiers in the classical and skating styles and to investigate sex differences in body-height-normalized pole and ski lengths. Our secondary purpose was to correlate body-height-normalized pole and ski lengths with performance level within both sexes. In total, Norwegian men and women (n = 87 and 36, respectively), participating in the Norwegian XC championship 2020, were investigated. Most athletes used poles close to the length allowed by the International Ski Federation (FIS) in the classical style among both sexes, with men using slightly longer poles than women (p < 0.05). Body-height-normalized pole lengths in skating were similar in men and women (around 90% of body height). Women used relatively longer ski lengths than men in both styles (p < 0.05). Women showed moderate correlations (r = 0.43, p < 0.05) between body-height-normalized pole lengths and sprint performance. Male and female cross-country skiers use as long classical ski poles as possible within the current regulations, while they use skating poles similar to recommendations given by the industry. The fact that men use longer body-height-normalized poles than women, where there is a correlation between pole length and sprint performance, indicate that faster women are able to better utilize the potential of using longer poles when double-poling. However, while women use relatively longer skis than men, no correlation with performance occurred for any of the sexes.
Highlights
Cross-country skiing is a winter endurance sport, performed while gliding over snow-covered hilly terrain using different sub-techniques of the classical and skating styles (Sandbakk and Holmberg, 2017)
The main findings were that: (1) most of the athletes used poles close to the length allowed by FIS in the classical style among both sexes, with men using slightly longer body-height-normalized poles than women; (2) body-height-normalized pole lengths in skating were similar in men and women, with the average pole length being approximately similar to that recommended by the industry; (3) women used relatively longer ski lengths than men in both styles, which was longer than recommended for women; and (4) only women showed moderate correlations between body-height-normalized pole lengths and performance, while no other correlations between ski and pole lengths and performance occurred
This study reports pole and ski lengths chosen by elite male and female cross-country skiers and examines sex and performancelevel differences in this respect
Summary
Cross-country skiing is a winter endurance sport, performed while gliding over snow-covered hilly terrain using different sub-techniques of the classical and skating styles (Sandbakk and Holmberg, 2017). During this locomotion, skiers engage large muscle groups of the upper and lower limbs to generate and transfer power through poles and skis into the snow, thereby accelerating the center of mass forward (Holmberg, 2015). Harder ski tracks, better endurancetrained upper bodies of skiers (Stöggl and Holmberg, 2011), along with the introduction of sprint skiing and the professionalization of long-distance cross-country skiing have motivated skiers to experiment with longer pole lengths in the classical style. The standard pole recommendations are ∼20 cm below body height but FIS regulations do not allow poles to exceed an athlete’s body height (FIS, 2020)
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