Understanding the contributions of race dynamics, power output, environment, skill, and subjective scoring to the variability of athletic performance should help identify and evaluate strategies for performance enhancement.

Rugby sevens is a sport that requires a multitude of well-developed physical fitness qualities. Understanding the degree to which different physical characteristics relate to match performance provides practitioners with useful information for training programme design. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess the relationship between physical characteristics and activities related to success in rugby sevens matches. Fitness test and match activity data were collected from 40 international and provincial rugby sevens players. Sprint speed over 10 m and 40 m had moderate to large (0.32-0.51) negative correlations (r) with line breaks, defenders beaten and tackle effectiveness. Repeated sprint ability and maximal aerobic capacity were moderately related to a measure of work rate (~0.38). Mixed-model analysis revealed a decrease of two between-player standard deviations in 10 m sprint time to be associated with an increase of 74% more line breaks per match. The results of this study suggest multiple physical characteristics are related to match performance in rugby sevens.

The Boston Marathon course is deemed ineligible for world record status due to its unidirectional nature and excessive negative elevation change, yet performance times across the World Marathon Majors (WMM) races have not been compared.PurposeTo compare finish times across WMM races for Boston, London, Berlin, Chicago and New York Marathons.MethodsRace times of the top 10 male and 10 female finishers were analyzed from 2005 to 2014 using the high-performance mixed linear model procedure in the Statistical Analysis System. Venue-to-venue comparisons, as well as comparisons between Boston and other WMM races, with and without factors of temperature, humidity and altitude change were examined.ResultsPerformance from 2005 to 2014 in the WMM races was found to improve at a rate of ~1% each 7 years. Despite its higher variability, comparison between Boston’s estimated mean finishing time and all other venues revealed moderate positive differences, indicating the Boston event to be typically slower than other venues.ConclusionsAcross the 10-year study period, performance times improved ~1% each 7 years for both genders for the WMM, with the Boston Marathon being slower on average than other WMM venues. Weather rather than course metrics appeared to impact performance times most.

Athletes' trajectories will help identify talented athletes and their weakest and strongest stages. The wider range of trajectories among women should be taken into account when setting talent identification criteria. Trajectories offer a small advantage over usual race placings for predicting men's performance. Further refinements, such as accounting for individual responses to race conditions, may improve utility of performance trajectories.