| Title |
The best triathletes are older in longer race distances – a comparison between Olympic, Half-Ironman and Ironman distance triathlon
|
|---|---|
| Published in |
SpringerPlus, September 2014
|
| DOI | 10.1186/2193-1801-3-538 |
| Pubmed ID | |
| Authors |
Raphael Knechtle, Christoph Alexander Rüst, Thomas Rosemann, Beat Knechtle |
| Abstract |
The purpose of this study was (i) to determine the age of peak triathlon performance for world class athletes competing in Olympic, Half-Ironman and Ironman distance races and (ii) to investigate a potential change in the age of the annual fastest athletes across years. Data of ages and race times of all finishers in the international top races over the three distances between 2003 and 2013 were collected and the annual top ten women and men were analysed using linear, non-linear and hierarchical multivariate regression analyses. The age of peak male performance was 27.1 ± 4.9 years in the Olympic, 28.0 ± 3.8 years in the Half-Ironman and 35.1 ± 3.6 years in the Ironman distance and the age of peak male performance was higher in the Ironman compared to the Olympic (p < 0.05) and the Half-Ironman distance (p < 0.05) triathlon. The age of peak female performance was 26.6 ± 4.4 years in the Olympic, 31.6 ± 3.4 years in the Half-Ironman and 34.4 ± 4.4 years in the Ironman distance and the age of peak female performance was lower in the Olympic compared to the Half-Ironman (p < 0.05) and Ironman distance (p < 0.05) triathlon. The age of the annual top ten women and men remained unchanged over the last decade in the Half-Ironman and the Ironman distance. In the Olympic distance, however, the age of the annual top ten men decreased slightly. To summarize, the age of peak triathlon performance was higher in the longer triathlon race distances (i.e. Ironman) and the age of the annual top triathletes remained mainly stable over the last decade. With these findings top athletes competing at world class level can plan their career more precisely as they are able to determine the right time in life to switch from the shorter (i.e. Olympic distance) to the longer triathlon race distances (i.e. Half-Ironman and Ironman) in order to continuously compete in triathlon races at world class level. |
X Demographics
The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 5 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | 3 | 60% |
| Romania | 1 | 20% |
| Unknown | 1 | 20% |
Demographic breakdown
| Type | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Members of the public | 4 | 80% |
| Scientists | 1 | 20% |
Mendeley readers
The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 56 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | 2 | 4% |
| United States | 1 | 2% |
| Unknown | 53 | 95% |
Demographic breakdown
| Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Student > Master | 10 | 18% |
| Student > Bachelor | 10 | 18% |
| Student > Ph. D. Student | 7 | 13% |
| Researcher | 6 | 11% |
| Professor | 4 | 7% |
| Other | 12 | 21% |
| Unknown | 7 | 13% |
| Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Sports and Recreations | 25 | 45% |
| Medicine and Dentistry | 7 | 13% |
| Nursing and Health Professions | 5 | 9% |
| Social Sciences | 3 | 5% |
| Agricultural and Biological Sciences | 2 | 4% |
| Other | 4 | 7% |
| Unknown | 10 | 18% |
Attention Score in Context
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 16. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 17 August 2023.
All research outputs
#2,132,821
of 24,280,456 outputs
Outputs from SpringerPlus
#119
of 1,858 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#23,361
of 254,306 outputs
Outputs of similar age from SpringerPlus
#7
of 102 outputs
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