Beat Knechtle

East-European runners were the fastest in 6-day ultramarathons

Ultramarathon running is increasingly popular, where the time-limited races offer formats from 6 hours to 10 days. To date, the origin of the best 6-day ultramarathoners and where the fastest races are held are yet to be determined. The aim of the present study was to investigate where these runners originate from, and where the fastest races are held. A total of 8,889 race records (6,737 from men and 2,162 from women) from 3,226 unique age group runners (2,413 men and 813 women) from 54 countries from age groups 18 to 75 years and participating in 141 races held in 25 different countries between 1874 and 2022 were analysed. A machine learning model based on the XGBoost Regression algorithm was built to predict running speed based on the athlete’s age, sex, country of origin, and where the race occurs. Model explainability tools were then used to investigate how each independent variable would influence the predicted running speed. Most athletes (62.5%) were from the USA, France, South Africa, Australia, Germany, and the UK. Almost 60% of the 6-day races took place in the USA and France. Athletes from Lithuania, Slovenia, and Namibia were the fastest. Ukraine holds the fastest 6-day races, ahead of Austria and Australia. The model rated the country where the race takes place as the most important predictor. Men were ~0.4 km/h faster than women except for the 75 years age group. The fastest runners were in the 35–39 years age group. East-European runners from Lithuania and Slovenia were the fastest in 6-day ultramarathons, where most of the races took place in the USA and France. The fastest 6-day races were in Ukraine, where the races were held as track races.

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Pacing in New York City Marathon: a tracking approach

Most studies investigated the pacing strategy in marathon running races considering intervals of 5 km (i.e., ~3.1 miles). However, a pacing analysis considering shorter intervals (e.g. 1 mile) might provide more insights to understand marathon pacing strategy. The present study analyzed the tracking of pacing in marathon runners considering one-mile intervals from the 4th to the 26th race mile. The data comprised male and female finishers competing in the ‘New York City Marathon’ from 2011 to 2019. Available information included the overall ranking position, average running speed, and ranking position by age, race time, year of competition, running pace, and split times per mile from the 4th (first point of measurement) to the 26th mile (race finish). Male runners were split into three groups based on their final classification (1st–3rd position; 4th–10th position; higher than 10th position). The Kruskal–Wallis test was used to compare running speed among ranking position groups. Tracking was tested through autocorrelations. The confidence interval was fixed at 95%. For males, 14%, 13%, and 5% of the performance in the last mile was explained by running pace in mile 4, for the three groups, respectively. For women, about 60% of the pace variance in mile 24 was explained by the pace in mile 4. Autocorrelation results showed strong stability in running pace along the race (0.90, 0.91, and 0.76 for 1st–3rd position, 4th–10th position, and >10th position, respectively). Among finishers of the ‘New York City Marathon’ competing from 2011 to 2019, the performance in the last mile was correlated with the performance in the first mile studied (4th mile), regardless of ranking position. Marathon organizers could employ data-driven strategies to monitor and support runners throughout the race.

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Freestyle master’s swimming: Nationality, sex, and performance trends in World Aquatics competitions (1986–2024)

In sports science, freestyle swimming has been thoroughly studied for particular performance-related factors. Nonetheless, it is unknown what countries the top freestyle swimmers are from, especially not for age group swimmers. In addition, the existing research on the performance of master freestyle swimmers has yet to confirm that male swimmers achieve faster times than their female counterparts across all age groups and distances. The current study looked into the nationalities and sexes of the top freestyle swimmers in each age group in World Aquatics competitions for the 50m, 100m, 200m, 400m, and 800m events from 1986 to 2024. The data (derived from (www.worldaquatics.com/masters/archives/masters-archives) were presented using mean, standard deviation, maximum and minimum values, and/or confidence intervals. The year of competition, age, age group, stroke, distance, and first and last names of each swimmer were noted. The nations were then divided into six groups: one group comprising all other countries and the top five nations with the greatest number of appearances in the top 10 fastest freestyle swimming times by distance each year. In freestyle swimming, most swimmers (30.6%) competed in the 50m event (n = 25,094, 10,909 female and 14,185 male), followed by the 100m event (25.6%, n = 20,961, 8,796 female and 12,165 male), the 200m event (17.4%, n = 14,309, 6,729 female and 7,580 male), the 400m event (13.4%, n = 10,956, 5,363 female and 5,593 male), and the 800m event (12.6%, n = 10,317, 5,179 female and 5,138 male). The results from the generalized linear models indicate that sex, age group, and the interaction between sex and age group all had significant effects on the 50m, 100m, 200m, 400m, and 800m races. Specifically, for the 50m races, the effect of sex was significant (x2 (1) = 3451.941, p < 0.001), as was the effect of age group (χ2 (13) = 19,295.169, p < 0.001), and the interaction between sex and age group (χ 2 (13) = 654.671, p < 0.001). The USA demonstrates quantitative dominance by contributing the greatest number of top 10 performers. Additionally, the study highlights significant sex-based performance differences, with males generally outperforming females in all age categories. This study comprehensively analyzes the performance trends observed in freestyle master swimming for nearly four decades.

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