In 2009, the International Triathlon Union created a new triathlon race format: The World Triathlon Series (WTS), for which only athletes with a top 100 world ranking are eligible. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to analyze the influence of the three disciplines on performance within all the WTS Olympic distance races within two Olympic cycles, and to determine whether their relative contribution changed over the years. Methods: For each of a total of 44 races, final race time and position as well as split times (and positions), and summed time (and position) at each point of the race were collected and included in the analysis. Athletes were divided into 4 groups according to their final race placing (G1: 1st–3rd place; G2: 4–8th place; G3: 8–16th place and G4: ≥17th place). Two-way multivariate ANOVAs were conducted to compare the main effects of years and rank groups. For females, there were significant differences in the swim and bike segment only between G4 and the other groups (p range from 0.001–0.029), whilst for the run segment each group differed significantly from each other (p < 0.001). For males, there were significant differences in swim only between G4 and the other groups (p range from 0.001–0.039), whilst for the running segment each group differed significantly from the others (p < 0.001). Although we found running to be the segment where there were significant differences between performance groups, it is apparently important for overall success that a good runner be positioned with the first cycling pack. However, bike splits were not different between either of the four male groups or between the first 3 groups of the females. At this very high level of performance, at least in the males, the bike leg seems to be a smooth transition towards running.
The triathlon Mixed-Team-Relay (MTR) is a new race format present for the first time at the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2021. The results of the ITU Triathlon Mixed Relay World Championship from 2014 to 2019 were collected to provide practical suggestions for forming a successful MTR, such as the importance of each leg and discipline on MTR and Super-Sprint performance. The total relay time (Trelay), the time of each team member (leg-from 1 to 4) (Tleg), and the time of each single discipline (swim, T1, cycle, T2, run) were collected from the official website. Inferential analysis was performed to assess prediction and differences between variables. Leg 3 was shown to be the most important to predict Trelay (0.41), which is also the slower. For both Trelay and Tleg, cycling resulted as the most important (>0.60) and longer (~52%) portion, followed by running and swimming. However, higher importance in swimming was found in successful teams compared to running. For a successful MTR, we suggest: (a) use short-distance specialized triathletes; (b) strengthen cycling and swimming; (c) position in legs 1 and 2 athletes capable of racing in a group; in legs 3 and 4 athletes capable of racing in a non-drafting situation.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.