Abstract
Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the physiological factors affected by rifle carriage during biathlon skiing performance, as well as the sex differences associated with rifle carriage.Methods: Seventeen national- and international-level biathletes (nine females and eight males; age 23.0 ± 3.3 years, O2max 59.4 ± 7.6 mL.kg–1.min–1) performed a submaximal incremental test and a maximal time-trial (TT) using treadmill roller-skiing (gear 3, skating technique) on two occasions separated by at least 48 h. One condition involved carrying the rifle on the back (WR) and the other condition no rifle (NR) and the tests were randomized. Submaximal O2, skiing speed at 4 mmol.L–1 of blood lactate (speed@4mmol), gross efficiency (GE), aerobic (MRae), and anaerobic (MRan) metabolic rates, and O2max were determined.Results: Submaximal O2 (at all intensities) and GE (16.7 ± 0.9 vs. 16.5 ± 1.1%) were higher for WR compared to NR (p < 0.05), while speed@4mmol was lower (3.1 ± 0.4 vs. 3.3 ± 0.5 m.s–1, p = 0.040). TT performance was improved (4.6 ± 0.4 vs. 4.3 ± 0.4 m.s–1, p < 0.001) and MRan was higher (31.3 ± 8.0 vs. 27.5 ± 6.5 kJ.min–1, p < 0.01) for NR compared to WR, with no difference in O2max or MRae. For skiing WR, TT performance was correlated to speed@4mmol (r = 0.81, p < 0.001), MRan (r = 0.65, p < 0.01), O2max (r = 0.51, p < 0.05), and relative muscle (r = 0.67, p < 0.01) and fat (r = −0.67, p < 0.01) masses. Speed@4mmol together with MRan explained more than 80% of the variation in TT performance (WR 84%, NR 81%). Despite a higher relative mass of the rifle in females compared with males (5.6 ± 0.4 vs. 5.0 ± 0.4% of body mass, p = 0.012), there were no sex differences associated with rifle carriage measured as absolute or relative differences.Conclusion: Rifle carriage in biathlon skiing led to significantly higher physiological demands during submaximal exercise and reduced performance during maximal treadmill roller-skiing compared to NR for both sexes. The most important variables for performance in biathlon treadmill skiing seem to be speed@4mmol combined with MRan, both of which were lower for WR compared to NR. To improve skiing performance in biathlon, improving speed at 4 mmol.L–1 of blood lactate and anaerobic energy delivery while carrying the rifle are recommended.
Highlights
Biathlon is an intermittent endurance sport that combines rifle shooting and cross-country (XC) skiing while carrying a rifle
This study aimed to investigate the physiological factors affected by rifle carriage during biathlon skiing performance, as well as the sex differences associated with rifle carriage
The blood lactate concentration was higher for WR compared to NR only for the fourth submaximal level
Summary
Biathlon is an intermittent endurance sport that combines rifle shooting and cross-country (XC) skiing while carrying a rifle. A biathlon competition consists of 6–20 km of XC skiing divided into three or five laps each lasting ∼3–9 min, depending on the competition discipline, and between each lap athletes shoot five shots in a prone or standing position. While few scientific studies have investigated the physiological, biomechanical, technical and tactical demands of biathlon (reviewed in Laaksonen et al, 2018), more have examined XC skiing events (i.e., competing without a rifle). Biathlon has multiple similarities to XC skiing, especially sprint XC skiing, which involves repeated bouts of skiing (up to 4 × 2–4 min). Reported findings on physiological responses in sprint XC skiing studies may not be directly transferrable to skiing performance in biathlon
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