Performance Analysis in Saber

Abstract

Fencing is a sport practiced by both men and women, which uses 3 weapons: foil, épée, and saber. In general, there are few scientific studies available in international literature; they are limited to the performance analysis of fencing bouts, yet there is nothing about saber. There are 2 kinds of competitions in the World Cup for both men and women: the "FIE GP" and "A." The aim of this study was to carry out a saber performance analysis to gain useful indicators for the definition of a performance model. In addition, it is expected to verify if it could be influenced by the type of competition and if there are differences between men and women. Sixty bouts: 33 FIE GP and 27 "A" competitions (35 men's and 25 women's saber bouts) were analyzed. The results indicated that most actions are offensive (55% for men and 49% for women); the central area of the piste is mostly used (72% for men and 67% for women); the effective fighting time is 13.6% for men and 17.1% for women, and the ratio between the action and break times is 1:6.5 for men and 1:5.1 for women. A lunge is carried out every 23.9 seconds by men and every 20 seconds by women, and a direction change is carried out every 65.3 seconds by men and every 59.7 seconds by women. The data confirm the differences between the saber and the other 2 weapons. There is no significant difference between the data of the 2 different kinds of competitions.

Análisis de las relaciones diacrónicas en los comportamientos de éxito y fracaso de campeones del mundo de esgrima utilizando tres técnicas complementarias

“…The scientific literature on fencing is scarce (Aquili et al, 2013;Roi, & Bianchedi, 2008;Turner et al, 2013), and despite the importance of decision-making in this sport, very few studies have focused on tactical behaviors (Iglesias, Gasset, González-Prado, & Anguera, 2010;Tarragó et al, 2015).…”

Physical Characteristics Underpinning Repetitive Lunging in Fencing

“…Given the repetitive demand to effectively execute lunging and changes in direction within each bout, the ability to sustain these at maximal capacity, referred to as repeat lunge ability (RLA), should be considered fundamental to performance. The need for fencers to demonstrate RLA is clear when noting that the lunge is the most common form of attack (Aquili & Tancredi, 2013), usually delivered after several changes in direction (and feints) (Roi & Bianchedi, 2008), used to evade and disguise the hit. For example, during each bout, a fencer may cover between 250-1000 m, attack 140 times and change direction nearly 400 times in women's epee and around 170 times in men's epee and foil (Roi & Bianchedi, 2008).…”

“…In sabre, there are on average 21 lunges, 7 changes in direction and 14 attacks per bout (Aquili & Tancredi, 2013). The work to rest ratios vary between swords, but it is clear that as the competition progresses and fencers reach the elimination bouts, the intensity and anaerobic nature of fights increase, with lactate values rising from around 4 mmol/L in the preliminary bouts, to being consistently above this (and as high as 15.3 mmol/L) during the elimination bouts (Cerizza & Roi, 1994).…”

Staying Out of Range: Increasing Attacking Distance in Fencing

“…Given the frequency with which lunging and step-lunges are used, 4,5,6 determinants of range in these attacks will be examined. Similar to Chen and Liu, 2 estimated and actual attacking distances will be compared to assess their judgment of reachability, but this will be done in elite and national ranked junior (u20) fencers.…”