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JOURNAL
OF
SPORTS SCIENCE &
MEDICINE
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Research
article
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TRACKING THE PERFORMANCE OF WORLD-RANKED SWIMMERS |
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Mário J. Costa1,3,4, Daniel A. Marinho2,4, Victor M. Reis3,4, António J. Silva3,4, Mário C. Marques2,4, José A. Bragada1,4 and Tiago M. Barbosa1,4  |
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1Department of Sport Sciences, Polytechnic Institute of Bragança, Bragança, Portugal; 2Department of Sport Sciences, University of Beira Interior, Covilhã, Portugal; 3Department of Sport Sciences, Exercise and Health, University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro, Vila Real, Portugal; 4Research Centre in Sports Science, Health and Human Development, Vila Real, Portugal |
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© Journal of Sports Science and Medicine (2010) 9, 411 - 417 |
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| ABSTRACT | |||
| Tracking the swimming performance is important to analyze its
progression and stability between competitions and help coaches to define
realistic goals and to select appropriate training methods. The aim of this
study was to track world-ranked male swimmer's performance during five consecutive
seasons (from 2003/2004 to 2007/2008) in Olympic freestyle events. An overall
of 477 swimmers and 2385 season best performances were analyzed. FINA's
male top-150 rankings for long course in the 2007-2008 season were consulted
in each event to identify the swimmers included. Best performances were
collected from ranking tables provided by the National Swimming Federations
or, when appropriate, through an internet database (www. swimranking.net).
Longitudinal assessment was performed based on two approaches: (i) mean
stability (descriptive statistics and ANOVA repeated measures, followed
by a Bonferroni post-hoc test) and; (ii) normative stability (Pearson Correlation
Coefficient and the Cohen's Kappa tracking index). Significant variations
in the mean swimming performance were observed in all events between all
seasons. Performance enhancement was approximately 0.6 to 1 % between seasons
leading up to the Olympics and approximately 3 to 4 % for the overall time-frame
analyzed. The performance stability based on overall time-frame was moderate
for all freestyle events, except in the 50-m (K = 0.39 ± 0.05) where it
was low. Self-correlations ranged between a moderate (0.30 < r
< 0.60) and a high (r > 0.60) stability. There was also a performance
enhancement during all five seasons analyzed. When more strict time frames
were used, the analysis of swimming performance stability revealed an increase
in the third season. So, coaches should have a long term view in what concerns
training design and periodization of world-ranked swimmers, setting the
third season of the Olympic Cycle as a determinant time frame, due to performance
stability until Olympic Games season.
Key words: Longitudinal assessment, freestyle, swimming, elite swimmers. |
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