Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Performance trends in Paralympic athletes in sprint, middle-distance and endurance events

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Sport Sciences for Health Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In recent decades the participation in Paralympic sports has grown exponentially, with an increasing number of countries and athletes attending to these events. However, despite the tremendous growth, only a few studies involving the performance of Paralympic athletes have been published to date. We aimed to investigate and compare the performance trends of men and women in category T54 from sprint, middle-distance and endurance events in Paralympic international events held from 2009 to 2018. Data were extracted from the publicly available IPC database (https://www.paralympic.org/). The male and female athletes in the Paralympic category T54 of the sprints, middle distance and endurance made up the sample. Final analysis included a total of 2097 men and 940 women (n = 3037). The comparison between men and women showed statistical differences in performance with men being faster in all sprint and middle-distance events (p < 0.05). For the endurance events, men are faster in 5000 m, half marathon and marathon (p < 0.05), but there is no statistical difference between men and women in the 10,000 m event (p > 0.05). Linear regression showed differences between men and women in the performance trends from 2009 to 2018 in the sprint, middle-distance and endurance events (p < 0.05). In conclusion, men are faster than women in sprint, middle-distance and endurance Paralympic athletics events. In spite of performance has not improved over the last decade, the performance is distinctly correlated with age in the sprint and middle-distance events (younger and faster) and endurance events (older and faster).

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Paralympic Games (2019) https://www.paralympic.org/paralympic-games

  2. Mann DL, Ravensbergen HJSM (2018) International Paralympic Committee (IPC) and International Blind Sports Federation (IBSA) joint position stand on the sport-specific classification of athletes with vision impairment. Sports Med 48(9):2011–2023

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Legg D, Fay T, Wolff E, Hums M (2015) The International Olympic Committee-International Paralympic Committee relationship: past present, and future. J Sport Soc Issues 39(5):371–395

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Tweedy SM, Vanlandewijck YC (2011) International Paralympic Committee position stand—background and scientific principles of classification in Paralympic sport. Br J Sports Med 45(4):259–269. https://doi.org/10.1136/bjsm.2009.065060

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Pereira L, Winckler C, Abad CC, Kobal R, Kitamura K, Verissimo A, Nakamura FY, Loturco I (2016) Power and speed differences between Brazilian Paralympic sprinters with visual impairment and their guides. Adapt Phys Activ Q 33(4):311–323. https://doi.org/10.1123/APAQ.2015-0006

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Grobler L, Ferreira S, Terblanche E (2015) Paralympic sprint performance between 1992 and 2012. Int J Sports Physiol Perform 10(8):1052–1054. https://doi.org/10.1123/ijspp.2014-0560

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Brubaker C, McLaurin C (1982) Ergonomics of wheelchair propulsion. In: Wheelchair III. Rehabilitation Engineering Society of North America, pp 22–41

  8. Masse LC, Lamontagne M, O'Riain MD (1992) Biomechanical analysis of wheelchair propulsion for various seating positions. J Rehabil Res Dev 29(3):12–28

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Cooper RA (1990) Wheelchair racing sports science: a review. J Rehabil Res Dev 27(3):295–312

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Cohen J (2013) Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences. Routledge, London

    Book  Google Scholar 

  11. Barbosa LP, Sousa CV, Sales MM, Olher RDR, Aguiar SS, Santos PA, Tiozzo E, Simoes HG, Nikolaidis PT, Knechtle B (2019) Celebrating 40 years of ironman: how the champions perform. Int J Environ Res Public Health. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16061019

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  12. Nikolaidis PT, Rosemann T, Knechtle B (2018) Sex differences in the age of peak marathon race time. Chin J Physiol 61(2):85–91. https://doi.org/10.4077/CJP.2018.BAG535

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Nikolaidis P, Zingg M, Knechtle B (2017) Performance trends in age-group runners from 100 m to marathon—The World Championships from 1975 to 2015. Scand J Med Sci Sports 27:1588–1596

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Liu D, Sartor MA, Nader GA, Gutmann L, Treutelaar MK, Pistilli EE, Iglayreger HB, Burant CF, Hoffman EP, Gordon PM (2010) Skeletal muscle gene expression in response to resistance exercise: sex specific regulation. BMC Genom 11:659. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2164-11-659

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Maher AC, Fu MH, Isfort RJ, Varbanov AR, Qu XA, Tarnopolsky MA (2009) Sex differences in global mRNA content of human skeletal muscle. PLoS ONE 4(7):e6335. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0006335

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  16. Roepstorff C, Thiele M, Hillig T, Pilegaard H, Richter EA, Wojtaszewski JF, Kiens B (2006) Higher skeletal muscle alpha2AMPK activation and lower energy charge and fat oxidation in men than in women during submaximal exercise. J Physiol 574(Pt 1):125–138. https://doi.org/10.1113/jphysiol.2006.108720

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  17. Porter MM, Stuart S, Boij M, Lexell J (2002) Capillary supply of the tibialis anterior muscle in young, healthy, and moderately active men and women. J Appl Physiol 92(4):1451–1457. https://doi.org/10.1152/japplphysiol.00744.2001

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Hunter SK (2014) Sex differences in human fatigability: mechanisms and insight to physiological responses. Acta Physiol (Oxf) 210(4):768–789. https://doi.org/10.1111/apha.12234

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  19. Zinner C, Schafer Olstad D, Sperlich B (2018) Mesocycles with different training intensity distribution in recreational runners. Med Sci Sports Exerc 50(8):1641–1648. https://doi.org/10.1249/MSS.0000000000001599

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  20. Nikolaidis PT, Knechtle B (2018) Performance trends in individual medley events during FINA World Master Championships from 1986 to 2014. J Sports Med Phys Fit 58(5):690–698. https://doi.org/10.23736/S0022-4707.17.06992-4

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Weiss M, Newman A, Whitmore C, Weiss S (2016) One hundred and fifty years of sprint and distance running—past trends and future prospects. Eur J Sport Sci 16(4):393–401. https://doi.org/10.1080/17461391.2015.1042526

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  22. Lepers R, Stapley PJ, Knechtle B (2012) Gender differences in wheelchair marathon performance—Oita International Wheelchair Marathon from 1983 to 2011. Open Access J Sports Med 3:169–174. https://doi.org/10.2147/OAJSM.S37819

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  23. Peter L, Rust CA, Knechtle B, Rosemann T, Lepers R (2014) Sex differences in 24-hour ultra-marathon performance—a retrospective data analysis from 1977 to 2012. Clinics (Sao Paulo) 69(1):38–46. https://doi.org/10.6061/clinics/2014(01)06

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Cooper RA, De Luigi AJ (2014) Adaptive sports technology and biomechanics: wheelchairs. PM R 6(8 Suppl):S31–39. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pmrj.2014.05.020

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  25. Allen SV, Hopkins WG (2015) Age of peak competitive performance of elite athletes: a systematic review. Sports Med 45(10):1431–1441. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-015-0354-3

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  26. Ardakanizade M (2018) The effects of mid- and long-term endurance exercise on heart angiogenesis and oxidative stress. Iran J Basic Med Sci 21(8):800–805. https://doi.org/10.22038/IJBMS.2018.27211.6814

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  27. Serpiello FR, McKenna MJ, Bishop DJ, Aughey RJ, Caldow MK, Cameron-Smith D, Stepto NK (2012) Repeated sprints alter signaling related to mitochondrial biogenesis in humans. Med Sci Sports Exerc 44(5):827–834. https://doi.org/10.1249/MSS.0b013e318240067e

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  28. MacInnis MJ, Zacharewicz E, Martin BJ, Haikalis ME, Skelly LE, Tarnopolsky MA, Murphy RM, Gibala MJ (2017) Superior mitochondrial adaptations in human skeletal muscle after interval compared to continuous single-leg cycling matched for total work. J Physiol 595(9):2955–2968. https://doi.org/10.1113/JP272570

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  29. Faulkner JA, Larkin LM, Claflin DR, Brooks SV (2007) Age-related changes in the structure and function of skeletal muscles. Clin Exp Pharmacol Physiol 34(11):1091–1096. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1440-1681.2007.04752.x

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  30. Knechtle B, Kach I, Rosemann T, Nikolaidis PT (2019) The effect of sex, age and performance level on pacing of Ironman triathletes. Res Sports Med 27(1):99–111. https://doi.org/10.1080/15438627.2018.1546703

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  31. Skorski S, Abbiss CR (2017) The manipulation of pace within endurance sport. Front Physiol 8:102. https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2017.00102

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Author notes

  1. Tamyack Alves de Macedo and Samuel da Silva Aguiar have contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate Program in Physical Education, Catholic University of Brasília, EPTC QS 7 LT 1, Bloco G, Sala G116. Taguatinga, Brasília, DF, 72.022-900, Brazil

    Tamyack Alves de Macedo, Samuel da Silva Aguiar, Caio Victor Sousa, Lucas Pinheiro Barbosa, Lysleine Alves Deus, Patrick Anderson Santos, Larissa Alves Maciel & Herbert Gustavo Simões

  2. Department of Physical Education, University Center UDF, Brasília, DF, Brazil

    Samuel da Silva Aguiar

  3. Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami, Miami, FL, USA

    Caio Victor Sousa

  4. Exercise Physiology Laboratory, Nikaia, Greece

    Pantelis Theodoros Nikolaidis

  5. School of Health and Caring Sciences, University of West Attica, Athens, Greece

    Pantelis Theodoros Nikolaidis

  6. Institute of Primary Care, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

    Beat Knechtle

  7. Medbase St. Gallen Am Vadianplatz, St. Gallen, Switzerland

    Beat Knechtle

Authors
  1. Tamyack Alves de Macedo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Samuel da Silva Aguiar
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Caio Victor Sousa
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Lucas Pinheiro Barbosa
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Lysleine Alves Deus
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Patrick Anderson Santos
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Larissa Alves Maciel
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Pantelis Theodoros Nikolaidis
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  9. Beat Knechtle
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  10. Herbert Gustavo Simões
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Samuel da Silva Aguiar or Herbert Gustavo Simões.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

All procedures used in the study were approved by the Institutional Review Board of Kanton St. Gallen, Switzerland (KSG 01-06-2010), with a waiver of the requirement for informed consent of the participants given the fact that the study involved the analysis of publicly available data.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

de Macedo, T.A., Aguiar, S.d., Sousa, C.V. et al. Performance trends in Paralympic athletes in sprint, middle-distance and endurance events. Sport Sci Health 16, 485–490 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11332-020-00630-w

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11332-020-00630-w

Keywords

Search

Navigation