\u201cIf you only look at the top 8 in the world, you only have a small group about which you can say something.\u201d To make her research population large enough, she used the data from the Swimrankings database of the past twenty years. That included more than 2,6 miljoen observations. She analyzed this dataset together with Koning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Relative times<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because a swimming time of twenty years ago is different from a swimming time of today, all absolute times were made relative. Post: \u201cThe sport keeps getting better and faster over time. You can see that in the breaking of worlds records.\u201d The world record for women improved from 54,48 to 51,71 seconds, and for men from 48,42 to 47,04 seconds. \u201cTo be able to compare better, you can correct times fort he evolution of the sport. That makes it fairer.\u201d\u00a0 In this research, Post used the method that sports scientist Inge Stoter and her colleagues developed for speed skating. Each swim time is divided by the current world record for the corresponding season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Seasonal best times<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some data were excluded from Post\u2019s study. For example, data from the period in which swimmers were allowed to swim in a \u2018fast swimsuit\u2019. This concerned the period from January 1, 2008 to January 1, 2010.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because the research focused on the development of top swimmers at a you age, Post and Koning applied the following inclusion criteria to the swimmers: men between 12 and 26 years of age and women between 12 and 24 years of age, and; both women and men had participated in swimming competitions for (minimally) five seasons; and a seasonal best time had to be available for both juniors and seniors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n From highly competitive to elite swimming<\/p>\n\n\n\n Next, Post divided the swimmers into four carefully conceived groups: top elite,<\/em>, zwemmers die het niveau hadden om tot de wereld top acht te behoren, elite<\/em>, swimmers who the performance level corresponding to number 9 through 50 of the world, sub-elite,<\/em>swimmers who ranked among the top eigth nationally high competitive<\/em> swimmers who ranked between number 9 through 50 at a national level. The criterion here was that if a given swimmer had swum at any point in his or her career the time corresponding to a particular category, he or she fell into the highest achieved category.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Differences per group<\/p>\n\n\n\n Post examined the performance development of each group and represented the results in a graph. \u201cThe graph shows, among other aspects, that the development in times of the highly competitive, sub-elite and elite swimmers is more likely to stagnate than that of top-elite swimmers. Those top-elite swimmers also keep on improving at a later age. You can also see that the top-elite swimmers already swim faster at a younger age.\u201d But a fast time at a young age does not necessarily mean that someone will reach the top.\u201dAmong the men, there are elite swimmers who were faster than the fastest top-elite swimmer at the age of 14, but did not make it to the top themselves.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAlso, some top-elite swimmers were already at a very high level at the age of 14, while other top-elite swimmers only started to swim faster at a later age. But in the end they all made it to the top. The higher the level, the more variation was found in the individual routes to the top.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are differences between men and women. For example, for men the difference between the top elite and the other performance groups is not as clearly present at a younger age as for women. \u201cCompared to women, men reach the top level at a later stage.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Benchmark<\/p>\n\n\n\n The research is not predictive in nature, emphasizes Post. \u201cIt provides a global pattern towards the absolute top\u201d. However, the results may be used as a benchmark, she says: \u201cIf you are for instance already 21 years of age when you reach the sub-elite level for the first time, then chances are slim that you will still reach the absolute top. At least that has not happened in the past 20 years.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The research also shows that time does not say everything. \u201cIn general, you see that swimmers who made it at a young age were indeed faster than their peers. But within that group of fast swimmers there were also those who ultimately did not reach the top.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Growth spurt<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe big differences between men and women imply that we have to adjust our expectations as to when you should be at a certain level as a woman and as a man . Women have to be good at an earlier age to be able to compete than men. This may have to do with the growth spurt, which takes place earlier in women than in men. Those are interesting possibilities to look at in a follow-up study.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n What is next?<\/p>\n\n\n\n As the next step in her PhD research, Post investigates why top swimmers are getting faster from year to year. For this she looks at the development within a season: \u201cDid those who have reached the top develop differently who have not made it to the top?\u201d Also in this study Post focuses on time: \u201cWhat do you see happening in terms of swim times within a season?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Following the study of seasonal trends in performance, Post will also start analyzing the data that she collected herself, among which data on length, hand with, jumping power, technical skills in the water, mental skills and training intensity. Read more about this study in this article. artikel<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/islt.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Afbeelding1.png\")
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