Elite Junior Throwers Unlikely to Remain at the Top Level in the Senior Category

Purpose: This study investigated (1) the transition rate of elite world-class throwers, (2) the age of peak performance in either elite junior and/or elite senior athletes, and (3) if relative age effect (RAE) influences the chance of being considered elite in junior and/or senior category. Methods: The career performance trajectories of 5108 throwers (49.9% females) were extracted from the World Athletics database. The authors identified throwers who had reached the elite level (operationally defined as the World all-time top 50 ranked for each age category) in either junior and/or senior category and calculated the junior-to-senior transition rate. The age of peak performance and the RAE were also investigated. Results: The transition rate at 16 and 18 years of age was 6% and 12% in males and 16% and 24% in females, respectively. Furthermore, elite senior throwers reached their personal best later in life than elite junior throwers. The athletes of both genders considered elite in the junior category showed a large RAE. Interestingly, male athletes who reached the elite level in senior category also showed appreciable RAE. Conclusions: Only a few of the athletes who reach the top 50 in the world at 16 or 18 years of age manage to become elite senior athletes, underlining that success at the beginning of an athletic career does not predict success in the athlete’s senior career. Moreover, data suggest that being relatively older may confer a benefit across the whole career of male throwers.

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Are the World Junior Championship Finalists for Middle- and Long-Distance Events Currently Competing at International Level?

International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance ◽

10.1123/ijspp.2015-0717 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 12 (3) ◽

pp. 316-321 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Federico Pizzuto ◽

Matteo Bonato ◽

Gialunca Vernillo ◽

Antonio La Torre ◽

Maria Francesca Piacentini

Keyword(s):

Olympic Games ◽

International Association ◽

Age Effect ◽

Long Distance ◽

Relative Age ◽

Relative Age Effect ◽

The World ◽

Elite Level ◽

And Gender ◽

High Level

Purpose:To analyze how many finalists of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) World Junior Championships (WJCs) in the middle- and long-distance track events had dropped out from high-level competitions.Methods:Starting from 2002, the 8 male and the 8 female finalists in the middle- and long-distance events of 6 editions of the WJC were followed until 2015 to evaluate how many missed the IAAF rankings for 2 consecutive years starting from the year after WJC participation. For those still competing at elite level, their careers were monitored.Results:In 2015, 61% of the 2002, 54.8% of the 2004, 48.3% of the 2006, 37.5% of the 2008, 26.2% of the 2010, and 29% of the 2012 WJC finalists were not present in the IAAF rankings. Of the 368 athletes considered, 75 (20.4%) were able to achieve the IAAF top 10 in 2.4 ± 2.2 y. There is evidence of relationships between dropout and gender (P = .040), WJC edition (P = .000), and nationality (P = .010) and between the possibility to achieve the IAAF top 10 and dropout (P = .000), continent (P = .001), relative age effect (P = .000), and quartile of birth (P = .050).Conclusions:Even if 23 of the finalists won a medal at the Olympic Games or at the World Championships, it is still not clear if participation at the WJC is a prerequisite to success at a senior level.

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Peak Age and Performance Progression in World-Class Weightlifting and Powerlifting Athletes

International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance ◽

10.1123/ijspp.2019-0093 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 14 (10) ◽

pp. 1357-1363 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Paul A. Solberg ◽

Will G. Hopkins ◽

Gøran Paulsen ◽

Thomas A. Haugen

Keyword(s):

Individual Performance ◽

Peak Performance ◽

Performance Improvements ◽

Quadratic Curve ◽

Performance Trends ◽

World Class ◽

Age Of Peak Performance ◽

The Difference ◽

Performance Development ◽

And Performance

Purpose:To quantify age of peak performance and performance improvements in the years preceding peak age in elite weightlifting and powerlifting athletes using results from powerlifting World Championships in 2003–2017 and weightlifting World Championships and Olympic Games in 1998–2017.Methods:Individual performance trends were derived by fitting a quadratic curve separately to each athlete’s performance and age data. Effects were evaluated using magnitude-based inferences.Results:Peak age (mean [SD]) was 35 (7) y for powerlifters and 26 (3) y for weightlifters, a large most likely substantial difference of 9, ±1 y (mean, 90% confidence limit). Men showed possibly higher peak age than women in weightlifting (0.8, ±0.7 y; small) and a possibly lower peak age in powerlifting (1.3, ±1.8 y; trivial). Peak age of athletes who ever won a medal was very likely less than that of nonmedalists in weightlifting (1.3, ±0.6 y; small), while the difference in powerlifters was trivial but unclear. Five-year improvements prior to peak age were 12% (10%) for powerlifters and 9% (7%) for weightlifters, a small possibly substantial difference (2.9, ±2.1%). Women exhibited possibly greater improvements than men in powerlifting (2.7, ±3.8%; small) and very likely greater in weightlifting (3.5, ±1.6%; small). Medalists possibly improved less than nonmedalists among powerlifters (−1.7, ±2.3%; small), while the difference was likely trivial for weightlifters (2.3, ±1.8%).Conclusion:These novel insights on performance development will be useful for practitioners evaluating strategies for achieving success.

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Career Performance Trajectories of Professional Australian Football Players

International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance ◽

10.1123/ijspp.2019-0799 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 15 (10) ◽

pp. 1363-1368

Author(s):

Courtney Sullivan ◽

Thomas Kempton ◽

Patrick Ward ◽

Aaron J. Coutts

Keyword(s):

Peak Performance ◽

Football Players ◽

Career Trajectory ◽

Career Trajectories ◽

Australian Football League ◽

Peak Match ◽

Australian Football ◽

Specific Career ◽

Age Of Peak Performance ◽

Career Performance

Purpose: To develop position-specific career performance trajectories and determine the age of peak performance of professional Australian Football players. Methods: Match performance data (Australian Football League [AFL] Player Rank) were collected for Australian Football players drafted via the AFL National Draft between 1999 and 2015 (N = 207). Players were subdivided into playing positions: forwards (n = 60; age 23 [3] y), defenders (n = 71; age 24 [4] y), midfielders (n = 58; age 24 [4] y), and ruckmen (n = 18; age 24 [3] y). Linear mixed models were fitted to the data to estimate individual career trajectories. Results: Forwards, midfielders, and defenders experienced peak match performance earlier than ruckmen (24–25 vs 27 y). Midfielders demonstrated the greatest between-subjects variability (intercept 0.580, age 0.0286) in comparison with ruckmen, who demonstrated the least variability (intercept 0.112, age 0.005) in AFL Player Rank throughout their careers. Age had the greatest influence on the career trajectory of midfielders (β [SE] = 0.226 [0.025], T = 9.10, P < .01) and the least effect on ruckmen (β [SE] = 0.114 [0.049], T = 2.30, P = .02). Conclusions: Professional Australian Football players peak in match performance between 24 and 27 years of age with age, having the greatest influence on the match performance of midfielders and the least on ruckmen.

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Relative age effect and age of peak performance: an analysis of women's football players in the Olympic games (1996-2016)

Motriz Revista de Educação Física ◽

10.1590/s1980-65742021006921 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 27 ◽

Author(s):

Júlia Barreira ◽

Bruno Bueno ◽

João Guilherme Cren Chiminazzo

Keyword(s):

Olympic Games ◽

Age Effect ◽

Peak Performance ◽

Football Players ◽

Relative Age ◽

Relative Age Effect ◽

Age Of Peak Performance ◽

Women's Football ◽

The Olympic Games

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Older or Wiser? Age and Experience Trends in 20 Years of Olympic and World Swimming Championships Open Water 10-km Races

Journal of Functional Morphology and Kinesiology ◽

10.3390/jfmk6040089 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 6 (4) ◽

pp. 89

Author(s):

Luis Rodríguez-Adalia ◽

Santiago Veiga ◽

Jesús Santos Santos del Cerro ◽

José M. González-Ravé

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Olympic Games ◽

Open Water ◽

Previous Experience ◽

Peak Performance ◽

The World ◽

Tactical Decision ◽

Age Of Peak Performance ◽

Quadratic Models

The aims of the present research were to estimate the age of peak performance (APP) and to examine the role of previous experience at the world-level open water race performances. Finishing positions and age of swimmers (639 females and 738 males) in the 10-km events of World Championship (WCH) and Olympic Games (OG) from 2000 to 2019 were obtained from the official results websites. Years of previous experience were computed using the number of previous participations in WCH or OG. APP was estimated using quadratic models of the 10th percentile top race positions and resulted in 28.94 years old for males (R2 = 0.551) and 27.40 years old for females (R2 = 0.613). Regression analysis revealed an improvement of 1.36 or 8.19 finishing positions for each additional year of age or experience, respectively (R2 = 0.157). However, significant differences (p < 0.001) between age and experience showed that the swimmer’s age became less relevant for performance as years of experience increased. These results, in terms of age, are in line with other mass-start disciplines of similar duration (≈2 h) and, in terms of experience, confirm the importance of previous participation in improving tactical decision making during open water races.

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Natural Resources and their Units

Anthropological Journal of European Cultures ◽

10.3167/ajec.2020.290105 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 29 (1) ◽

pp. 63-79

Author(s):

Frida Hastrup

Keyword(s):

Natural Resources ◽

Complex Terrain ◽

Western Norway ◽

Fruit Cultivation ◽

The World ◽

World Class ◽

A Site

Dating back to medieval times, fruit cultivation in Hardanger in western Norway is rooted in what is portrayed as a perfect microclimate naturally yielding the best apples in the world. However, the viability of the comparatively minute Norwegian fruit trade is continuously threatened by competition from outside, spurring all kinds of initiatives and policies to make it sustainable. The Norwegian fruit landscape, in other words, is both the natural and perfect home of world-class fruit and a site for continuous, often state-driven interventions to make it so; indeed, the perfection of the place accentuates the need to do what it takes to make it thrive. The necessary means to accomplish such viability, however, make up a complex terrain, as the resourcefulness of the Norwegian fruit landscape is ‘measured’ according to very different units.

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