Abstract
The aim of the present study was to compare swimming performances of successful finishers of the 'Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming' from 1875 to 2017, assessing the effects of sex, the place of event and the nationality of swimmers. Data from 535 finishers in ‘Catalina Channel Swim’, 1,606 finishers in ‘English Channel Swim’ and 774 finishers in ‘Manhattan Island Marathon Swim’ were analysed. We performed different analyses and regression model fittings for all swimmers and annual top-5 finishers. Effects (sex, event, time, nationality) and interaction terms (event—time) were examined through a multi-variable spline mixed regression model. Considering all swimmers, we found that (i) women were approximately 0.06 km/h faster than men (p = 0.011) and (ii) Australians were 0.13 km/h faster than Americans (p = 0.004) and Americans were 0.19 km/h faster than British (p<0.001) and 0.21 km/h faster than Canadians (p = 0.015). When considering annual top-5 finishers, we found that (i) women were 0.07 km/h slower than men (p = 0.042) and (ii) Australians were not faster than Americans (p = 0.149) but Americans were 0.21 km/h faster than British (p<0.001). Our findings improved the knowledge about swim performances over time, in the three events, considering the effects of sex and the nationality of swimmers.
Highlights
Open-water ultra-distance swimming is of increasing popularity
Recent studies found that women were faster than men in the ‘Catalina Channel Swim’ [9] and in the ‘Manhattan Island Marathon Swim’ [10], but not in the ‘English Channel Swim’ [1]
The main findings of the present study were that (i) the participation in women and men varied by nationality and for all swimmers by event, (ii) the nationality of finishers varied by event, (iii) women were faster than men when considering all swimmers; on the contrary, men were faster than women when considering annual top five, (iv) swimming speed was the fastest in the ‘Manhattan Island Marathon Swim’ and was the slowest for all swimmers in the ‘English Channel Swim’, and (v) Australians were faster than Americans, who in turn were faster than British and Canadians
Summary
Open-water ultra-distance swimming is of increasing popularity. Women reduced the gap to men considerably in long-distance swimming [3,4,5]. This decrease in sex difference in performance might be attributed to the increased participation of women in open-water swimming, which is associated with improved training and nutrition [4]. This trend was of great scientific interest as sex difference in performance is a major field in exercise physiology.
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