Challenges of talent development in alpine ski racing: a narrative review

Abstract

Alpine ski racing is one of the most popular sports in many countries; nevertheless, selection disadvantages and severe injuries result in high dropout rates. In this review we summarize existing knowledge about the specific challenges associated with selection bias and injuries, and their effects on talent development in ski racing.The relative age effect (RAE) appears in all age categories of national Austrian and international alpine ski racing. Relatively younger athletes seem to only have a chance for selection if they are early maturing. Talent selection processes should consider both the biological maturity status as well as the relative age; additionally, a competition system based on a rotating cut-off date might contribute to a reduction of RAE. Youth and adolescent ski racers report lower injury rates compared to World Cup athletes. The knee was the most affected body part in relation to traumatic injuries. The most frequently reported overuse injuries were knee pain (youth) and low back pain (adolescent level). Athlete-related modifiable risk factors were core strength, neuromuscular control, leg extension strength and limb asymmetries. Based on these findings, prevention measures should be expanded to contribute to long-term injury prevention. In future research more multi-disciplinary, longitudinal studies should be performed.

Relationship of Changes in Physical Fitness and Anthropometric Characteristics over One Season, Biological Maturity Status and Injury Risk in Elite Youth Ski Racers: A Prospective Study

“…Studies performed with ski racers younger than 15 years of age found the following significant injury risk factors. Athletes with weaker core flexion strength and weaker neuromuscular control were at a higher injury risk in general (10)(11)(12)(13)(14) year old athletes) [6] or had a higher risk of sustaining an ACL rupture (15)(16)(17)(18)(19) year old athletes) [8]. A decreased neuromuscular control of the knee was found to predict the risk of sustaining an ACL injury in female athletes [9].…”

“…Nevertheless, when considering the multifactorial nature of injury causes in a changing outdoor environment, which decreases the chance of identifying statistically significant risk factors, as underlined by Spörri et al [2], some risk factors could already be revealed, but a lot of work still has to be done, as for example identifying other athlete-related, equipment-related, or course-setting-related risk factors, elaborating possible prevention measures etc. [11]. Among these, modifiable risk factors such as changes in physical fitness parameters are of special interest for coaches.…”

Valores de referencia de test motores en esquiadores alpinos españoles de 11 a 14 años

“…Estos estudios confirman que esta capacidad motora no se ve afectada significativamente por la maduración en niños y la existencia de diferencias altamente significativas a los 11 años, dentro del intervalo comprendido entre los 12 y 14 años, en niñas. El motivo de estas diferencias entre niños y niñas podría estar relacionado con la diferente maduración biológica existente en estas edades y con el efecto de la edad relativa en los test motores y en el rendimiento en esquí alpino (Gorski et al, 2014;Müller et al, 2015a;Steidl-Müller et al, 2017, 2019.…”

“…Journal of Physical Education and Human Movement, 1(2) 16-36. ISSN: 2659-5699 DOI: 10.24310/JPEHMjpehm.v1i2.6394 relativa en esquiadores adultos (Bosco, 1994(Bosco, , 1997Ruiz de Almirón et al, 2002;Raschner et al, 2008Raschner et al, , 2013Müller et al, 2015b;Steidl-Müller et al, 2017, 2019. Esto demostró que esta capacidad requiere niveles de fuerza explosiva y reactiva elevados durante los cambios de dirección en el esquí durante la bajada.…”

“…Algunos países establecen valores de referencia a partir de las marcas obtenidas en la realización de diferentes baterías de test en esquiadores. Entre estos destacamos las baterías de test Alpine Medal Test realizada con esquiadores americanos (USSA, 2005;Stielow, 2010), Swiss Ski Power Test realizada con esquiadores suizos (Gorski, Rosser, Hoppeler & Vogt, 2014), los valores de referencia con esquiadores austriacos (Müller, Hildebrandt & Raschner, 2015;Müller, Müller, Kornexl & Raschner, 2015;Steidl-Müller, Hildebrandt, Müller, Fink & Raschner, 2017;Steidl-Müller, Hildebrandt, Raschner & Müller, 2019) y las realizadas con esquiadores noruegos con la batería Ironman Test (NSF, 2014). En cambio, no se conocen baterías de test ni valores de referencia en deportistas de categoría infantil.…”