Analysis of marathon performances of disabled athletes

Abstract

Abstract. The aim of this study was to examine the participation and performance trends in wheelchair marathon for wheelchair (WC) and hand cycle (HC) athletes. Age and time performance data for all athletes in the WC and HC categories who completed the "New York City Marathon" from 1999 to 2010 were analyzed. During this period, there were 698 total finishers (132 women and 566 men) for WC athletes and 776 total finishers (141 women and 635 men) for HC athletes. Women accounted for ∼20% of the total field for both categories. For both men and women, the age of the winner and the mean age of all finishers were significantly (P < 0.01) younger for WC compared with HC athletes. For men, the race times were significantly (P < 0.01) shorter for the HC winner and overall finishers compared with WC counterpart. Since 2003, the sex difference in time performances for WC athletes stabilized at ∼25%, while the sex difference for HC athletes was more variable (15-45%). Future studies need to investigate the reasons why HC marathoners are older than WC marathoners and why the sex differences in marathon performance are much greater for disabled athletes than for able-bodied athletes.Key words: Endurance, sex difference, disabled athlete, spinal cord injury Résumé. Analyse des performances sur marathon des athlètes handisports.Le but de cetteétudeétait d'analyser la participation et les performances sur marathon des athlètes handisports en fauteuils roulants classiques (WC) et en fauteuils avec pédalage des bras ou Handbike (HC). L'âge et les performances chronométriques de tous les athlètes ayant participé au marathon de New-York, dans les catégories WC et HC, ontété analysés entre 1999 et 2010. Durant cette période, un total de 698 athlètes WC (132 femmes et 566 hommes) et 776 athlètes HC (141 femmes et 635 hommes) ont terminé la course. Les femmes représentaient ∼20 % du total des arrivants dans les deux catégories. Les athlètes en catégorie WCétait significativement (P < 0,01) plus jeunes en comparaison des athlètes HC, aussi bien chez les femmes que chez les hommes. Chez les hommes, les performances chronométriquesétaient meilleures (P < 0,01) pour les athlètes HC que pour les athlètes WC. Depuis 2003, la différence de performance entre les hommes et les femmes s'est stabilisée aux alentours de 25 % pour les athlètes WC, alors qu'elleétait plus variables (15-45 %) pour les athlètes HC. Desétudes ultérieures devront expliquer pourquoi sur marathon les athlètes HC sont plusâgés que les athlètes WC, et pourquoi la différence de performance au marathon entre les hommes et les femmes est plus grande dans les catégories handisports que pour les athlètes valides.

Age-Related Changes in Para and Wheelchair Racing Athlete’s Performances

“…The best WCA performances from 800 m to the marathon were, respectively, 10 to 57% over the able-bodied world record. These increases demonstrate that WCA in endurance events are comparable to hand cycling events where technological and strategic contributions are different compared to able-bodied athletes (Lepers et al, 2014). Indeed, WCA are able to coast for recovery or energy conservation (Cooper and De Luigi, 2014), whereas able bodied runners must keep expending precious energy even during downhill sections.…”

“…In some events, WCA age-related performance curves did not show a discernible peak performance. Power of the upper arms, muscle strength of the elbow extensors, muscle endurance of brachial triceps (Mitchell et al, 2012) and push angle (Lepers et al, 2014) may contribute to this observation. Such an element certainly increases the inter-individual variability for the age at peak performance.…”

The COVID-19 pandemic impact on the best performers in athletics and swimming among paralympic and non-disabled athletes

“…Exceptional performances are limited by physiological and genetic conditions, economic and environmental contexts and a participant population mostly consisting of athletes with optimized traits 13 . For Paralympic athletes, according to some disciplines, events and classifications, performance has increased slightly or not significantly over the past few years in Track & Field 19,20 and Para swimming 21 . An overall trend for improved Paralympic sprint performances in athletes with lower-limb amputations since 1992 to 2012 was observed with a consequent role played by runningspecific prostheses 22 .…”

Physiological responses during a 25-km time trial in elite wheelchair racing athletes

“…Wheelchair racing (WCR) is one of the most popular AS options and has been part of the Paralympic movement since 1964 [2,3]. The participation rates of long-distance WCR have increased substantially over the past two decades (i.e., half-marathon, marathon), and are now almost identical to participation rates observed in able-bodied (AB) runners relative to their respective general populations [4]. Consequently, there has been increasing interest in optimizing WCR performance.…”