Abstract
The aims of the present research were to estimate the age of peak performance (APP) and to examine the role of previous experience at the world-level open water race performances. Finishing positions and age of swimmers (639 females and 738 males) in the 10-km events of World Championship (WCH) and Olympic Games (OG) from 2000 to 2019 were obtained from the official results websites. Years of previous experience were computed using the number of previous participations in WCH or OG. APP was estimated using quadratic models of the 10th percentile top race positions and resulted in 28.94 years old for males (R2 = 0.551) and 27.40 years old for females (R2 = 0.613). Regression analysis revealed an improvement of 1.36 or 8.19 finishing positions for each additional year of age or experience, respectively (R2 = 0.157). However, significant differences (p < 0.001) between age and experience showed that the swimmer’s age became less relevant for performance as years of experience increased. These results, in terms of age, are in line with other mass-start disciplines of similar duration (≈2 h) and, in terms of experience, confirm the importance of previous participation in improving tactical decision making during open water races.
Highlights
Open water swimming is an endurance discipline that became part of the Olympic programme in 2008, with events ranging from one to five hours duration [1]
One previous study estimated the age of peak performance (APP) in open water races at 23.4 ± 0.9 years old for females and 25.6 ± 1.6 for males [4]
In 2015, Allen et al [10] determined a relationship between race duration and APP in a variety of sport disciplines, indicating that APP ranged from 20 years-old for swimming pool events to 39 years-old for ultra-distance cycling
Summary
Open water swimming is an endurance discipline that became part of the Olympic programme in 2008, with events ranging from one to five hours duration [1]. The most common race distances for open water events are 5 km, 10 km, and 25 km, only the 10-km race is held during Olympic Games (OG) [2]. One previous study estimated the age of peak performance (APP) in open water races at 23.4 ± 0.9 years old for females and 25.6 ± 1.6 for males [4]. This estimate was made by selecting the annual ten fastest times in world-level races from 2000 to 2012. Pool-swimming races presented the youngest APP estimation compared to other endurance disciplines, including open water events
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