Tower Running—Participation, Performance Trends, and Sex Difference

Stark, D C; Gangi, Stefania Di; Sousa, Caio Victor; Nikolaidis, Pantelis Theodoros; Knechtle, Beat

doi:10.3390/ijerph17061902

Cited by 4 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 22 publications

(28 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The results agree with other studies in sports of both swimming and other disciplines such as running (Cheuvront S.N. et al 2005, Helgerud J. et al 1990, Stark, D. et al 2020 and cycling (Baumgartner S. et al 2020, Lepers R. et al 2019. Performance in speed-related sports depends mainly on the physiological factors including the athlete's heart performance, lung capacity, muscle mass, body fat, as well as performance economy.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Analysis of sex and age differences in performance of young Canadian freestyle swimmers

Sun¹

2021

jhse

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This study is intended to determine sex and age differences in young Canadian freestyle swimmers aged from ≤10 to 18, for all 6 distances from 50m to 1500m in both short and long course indoor pools. The data set used in the studies is publicly available and categorized into sex/age/course/distance groups during seasons from 2008 to 2019. The sex differences in swimming speed were determined using independent Ztests (two-sided, unequal SD). The age differences in swimming speed over all ages were analysed using classic one-way ANOVA with subsequent pairwise Tukey-HSD post-hoc tests and Welch's ANOVA followed by pairwise Games-Howell post-hoc tests. They were then determined using paired two-sample t-tests (twosided). Young male swimmers outperformed young female swimmers in most groups. Groups with similar performances or no significant differences were in younger age groups (10-year and 11-year). Sex differences increased as age increased, ranging from −0.96% to 13.54%. Sex differences in shorter distances and short course were smaller than in longer distances and long course for ≤12 years and became greater than in longer distances at ≥13 years. Age speed differences decreased as age increased until 17-18-years old, ranging from 12.79% to −0.37%. The performance of female swimmers became stable earlier than that of male swimmers. The age-to-age speed differences of male swimmers were greater than those of female swimmers. These gaps increased from 10-11-year to 13-14-year groups and decreased after that. Age differences in shorter distances and short course were greater than in longer distances and long course. Further studies are required to confirm and extend this research to swimmers at other age groups, in other strokes, and from other countries.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Analysis of sex and age differences in performance of young Canadian freestyle swimmers

Sun¹

2021

jhse

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Age was also of importance in other endurance athletes such as ultra-marathon runners [127,128]. In recent studies investigating ultra-marathoners [128] and athletes competing in tower running [129], women were able to close the gap to men [128] or to even outperform men [130]. In 50-and 100-mile ultra-marathoners, the sex difference in running performance decreased with increasing age and was smaller in the longer (100 miles) compared to the shorter (50 miles) distance [128].…”

Section: Potential Explanations For the Female Dominance In Long-distmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This finding may be explained by the lower participation of women in longer ultra-marathon races. Also, in tower running (stair climbing), women were able to beat men in specific situations, e.g., in smaller buildings with less than 600 stairs for younger (30-59 years) and older (>69 years) age groups, in buildings with 1600-220 stairs for older ages (>69 years) and in buildings with more than 2200 stairs for younger (<20 years) and older (60-69 years) age groups [130]. With increasing age, experience may improve and race tactics may become better.…”

Section: Potential Explanations For the Female Dominance In Long-distmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sex Differences in Swimming Disciplines—Can Women Outperform Men in Swimming?

Knechtle

Dalamitros

Barbosa

et al. 2020

IJERPH

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In recent years, the interest of female dominance in long-distance swimming has grown where several newspaper articles have been published speculating about female performance and dominance—especially in open-water ultra-distance swimming. The aim of this narrative review is to review the scientific literature regarding the difference between the sexes for all swimming strokes (i.e., butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, freestyle and individual medley), different distances (i.e., from sprint to ultra-distances), extreme conditions (i.e., cold water), different ages and swimming integrated in multi-sports disciplines, such as triathlon, in various age groups and over calendar years. The influence of various physiological, psychological, anthropometrical and biomechanical aspects to potentially explain the female dominance was also discussed. The data bases Scopus and PUBMED were searched by April 2020 for the terms ’sex–difference–swimming’. Long-distance open-water swimmers and pool swimmers of different ages and performance levels were mainly investigated. In open-water long-distance swimming events of the ’Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming’ with the ’Catalina Channel Swim’, the ’English Channel Swim’ and the ’Manhattan Island Marathon Swim’, women were about 0.06 km/h faster than men. In master swimmers (i.e., age groups 25–29 to 90–94 years) competing in the FINA (Fédération Internationale de Natation) World Championships in pool swimming in freestyle, backstroke, butterfly, breaststroke, individual medley and in 3000-m open-water swimming, women master swimmers appeared able to achieve similar performances as men in the oldest age groups (i.e., older than 75–80 years). In boys and girls aged 5–18 years—and listed in the all-time top 100 U.S. freestyle swimming performances from 50 m to 1500 m—the five fastest girls were faster than the five fastest boys until the age of ~10 years. After the age of 10 years, and until the age of 17 years, however, boys were increasingly faster than girls. Therefore, women tended to decrease the existing sex differences in specific age groups (i.e., younger than 10 years and older than 75–80 years) and swimming strokes in pool-swimming or even to overperform men in long-distance open-water swimming (distance of ~30 km), especially under extreme weather conditions (water colder than ~20 °C). Two main variables may explain why women can swim faster than men in open-water swimming events: (i) the long distance of around 30 km, (ii) and water colder than ~20 °C. Future studies may investigate more detailed (e.g., anthropometry) the very young (<10 years) and very old (>75–80 years) age groups in swimming

show abstract

“…In ultra-marathon running, women have reduced the performance gap with advancing age [ 7 ]. Tower running is another discipline where women can outperform men but only in specific situations [ 8 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sex Difference in Female and Male Ice Swimmers for Different Strokes and Water Categories Over Short and Middle Distances: A Descriptive Study

Oppermann¹,

Knechtle

Seffrin

et al. 2022

Sports Med - Open

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background Winter swimming developed from a national tradition into a health-improving sport with international competitions. The difference in performance between women and men was thoroughly examined in various sporting disciplines; however, there is little data on winter swimming events. Therefore, this study aims to compare the sex differences in female and male winter swimmers for a distinct stroke over distances of 25 m and 200 m in ice water, freezing water and cold water in the multiple stages of the Winter Swimming World Cup, hosted by the International Winter Swimming Association (IWSA) since 2016. Methods All data included in this study were obtained from the official results of the Winter Swimming World Cup, published on the “International Winter Swimming Association” (IWSA) website. The Mann–Whitney U test was used to compare race time between sexes in different swimming strokes and categories of water. In contrast, the Kruskal–Wallis H test was used to compare differences between swimming strokes or water categories for the same sex. Results For 25 m and 200 m events of the “IWSA World Cup,” male athletes were faster than female athletes, regardless of stroke and water temperature category. However, the effect size of the difference between the sexes was greater in 25 m than in 200 m for all strokes and water temperatures. Swimming speed for the same-sex differed between the swimming stroke in relation to the water temperature category. Head-up breaststroke was found to be the slowest stroke (p < 0.05). Conclusion In water temperatures between − 2° and + 9 °C, men were faster than women in all stages of the “IWSA World Cup,” regardless of the swimming stroke, but the effect size of the difference between the sexes was greater in shorter than in longer events.

show abstract

Tower Running—Participation, Performance Trends, and Sex Difference

Cited by 4 publications

References 22 publications

Analysis of sex and age differences in performance of young Canadian freestyle swimmers

Analysis of sex and age differences in performance of young Canadian freestyle swimmers

Sex Differences in Swimming Disciplines—Can Women Outperform Men in Swimming?

Sex Difference in Female and Male Ice Swimmers for Different Strokes and Water Categories Over Short and Middle Distances: A Descriptive Study

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About