Sex difference in Double Iron ultra-triathlon performance

Sex differences in ultramarathon performance in races with comparable numbers of males and females

There is a prominent sex-based difference in athletic performance such that males outperform females by 7%-14% in races from 100 m to marathon. In ultramarathons, the difference is often much smaller, leading to speculation that females are "built" for the sport. However, data are confounded by the low number of female participants; just 10%-30% in any given race. This study compared data from two ultramarathons where males and females competed in comparable numbers. There were 116 and 146 starters in the 50 mile and 100 mile races, respectively (52% female). Finish times were compared using t tests or Mann-Whitney U tests, a Chi-squared test of independence examined the relationship between sex and ranking, and multivariable linear regressions examined relationships between sex, age, and finish time. There were 96 finishers in the 50 mile race (46% female) and 91 finishers in the 100 mile race (45% female). The median finish time for 50 miles was 12.64 ± 2.11 h with no difference between sexes (1.2%, p = 0.441). However, the top-10 males finished the race ∼85 min faster than the top-10 females (13.8%, p = 0.045). The mean finish time for 100 miles was 31.58 ± 3.36 h with no difference between sexes (3.2%, p = 0.132) and no difference between the top-10 males and top-10 females (4.4%, p = 0.150). Linear and multivariable regression models using sex and age were unable to predict overall finish time in either race. In conclusion, the sex-based performance discrepancy shrinks to 1%-3% in ultramarathons when males and females compete in comparable numbers. Top-performing males still retain a considerable advantage over shorter distances.

Changes in pacing variation with increasing race duration in ultra-triathlon races

Despite the increasing scientific interest in the relationship between pacing and performance in endurance sports, little information is available about pacing and pacing variation in ultra-endurance events such as ultra-triathlons. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the trends of pacing, pacing variation, the influence of age, sex, and performance level in ultra-triathlons of different distances. We analysed 969 finishers (849 men, 120 women) in 46 ultra-triathlons longer than the original Ironman® distance (e.g., Double-, Triple-, Quintuple- and Deca Iron ultra-triathlons) held from 2004 to 2015. Pacing speed was calculated for every cycling and running lap. Pacing variation was calculated as the coefficient of variation (%) between the average speed of each lap. Performance level (i.e., fast, moderate, slow) was defined according to the 33.3 and 66.6 percentile of the overall race time. A multivariate analysis (two-way ANOVA) was applied for the overall race time as the dependent variable with 'sex' and 'age group' as independent factors. Another multivariate model with 'age' and 'sex' as covariates (two-way ANCOVA) was applied with pacing variation (cycling and running) as the dependent variable with 'race' and 'performance level' as independent factors. Different pacing patterns were observed by event and performance level. The general pacing strategy applied was a positive pacing. In Double and Triple Iron ultra-triathlon, faster athletes paced more evenly with less variation than moderate or slower athletes. The variation in pacing speed increased with the length of the race. There was no significant difference in pacing variation between faster, moderate, and slower athletes in Quintuple and Deca Iron ultra-triathlon. Women had a slower overall performance than men. The best overall times were achieved at the age of 30-39 years. Successful ultra-triathlon athletes adapted a positive pacing strategy in all race distances. The variation in pacing speed increased with the length of the race. In shorter ultra-triathlon distances (i.e., Double and Triple Iron ultra-triathlon), faster athletes paced more evenly with less variation than moderate or slower athletes. In longer ultra-triathlon distances (i.e., Quintuple and Deca Iron ultra-triathlon), there was no significant difference in pacing variation between faster, moderate, and slower athletes.

Participation and Performance Trends in the ITU Duathlon World Championship From 2003 to 2017

ABSTRACT

Nikolaidis, PT, Villiger, E, and Knechtle, B. Participation and performance trends in the ITU Duathlon World Championship from 2003 to 2017. J Strength Cond Res 35(4): 1127-1133, 2021-Participation and performance across years have been studied extensively in various endurance and ultra-endurance sports; however, less information exists with regards to duathlon (i.e., Run 1, Bike, and Run 2). The aim of this study was to examine performance and participation trends of duathletes competing either to short (10-km Run 1, 50-km Bike, and 5-km Run 2) or to long distance (10-km Run 1, 150-km Bike, and 30-km Run 2) in the Powerman World Championship "Powerman Zofingen." We analyzed 7,951 finishers (women, n = 1,236, age 36.7 ± 9.1 years; men, n = 6,715, 40.1 ± 10.1 years) competing in "Powerman Zofingen" from 2003 to 2017. Men were faster than women by 8.2% (171 ± 21 minutes vs. 186 ± 21 minutes, p < 0.001, η2 = 0.068) and 7.5% (502 ± 57 minutes vs. 543 ± 64 minutes, p < 0.001, η2 = 0.068) in the short and long distances, respectively. Women were younger than men by 4.6 years (35.0 ± 9.0 years vs. 39.6 ± 10.5 years, p < 0.001, η2 = 0.026) and 1.8 years (38.8 ± 8.7 years vs. 40.6 ± 9.5 years, p < 0.001, η2 = 0.005) in the short and long distances, respectively. An increase of women finishers across years in the long distance was observed (e.g., n = 19 in 2003 and n = 58 in 2017; p < 0.001), whereas no change was shown in short distance and men finishers. The men-to-women ratio (MWR) decreased across years in the long, but not in the short distance. No change of race time across years was observed. The sex difference in race time increased in long distance (p = 0.014), whereas it did not change in the short. Age increased across years in both sexes and distances (p < 0.001). The sex difference in age decreased in the long (p = 0.007), but not in the short distance. In summary, the number of women finishers increased and the MWR decreased in the long distance. The age of the finishers increased across years, and their performance remained unchanged. The increase of the sex difference in race time in the long distance might be attributed to the increased number of women finishers.

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

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

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Zusammenfassung. Wir berichten über einen 64-jährigen Marathonläufer mit bisher 990 erfolgreich gefinishten Marathons, der fälschlicherweise mit Diabetes mellitus Typ 2 diagnostiziert und therapiert wurde. Unter peroraler Therapie mit Metformin kam es zu keiner Reduktion der Blutzuckerwerte. Nach korrekter Diagnose und Therapie mit Insulin ist der Läufer wieder voll im Training, um bald seinen 1000. Marathon zu laufen. Für Sportler mit Diabetes mellitus Typ 1 ist es wichtig, den Blutzucker vor, während und nach Belastung zu messen und die Insulindosis individuell während eines Wettkampfs, wie etwa einem Marathon, zu reduzieren.

What predicts performance in ultra-triathlon races? - a comparison between Ironman distance triathlon and ultra-triathlon

Objective

This narrative review summarizes recent intentions to find potential predictor variables for ultra-triathlon race performance (ie, triathlon races longer than the Ironman distance covering 3.8 km swimming, 180 km cycling, and 42.195 km running). Results from studies on ultra-triathletes were compared to results on studies on Ironman triathletes.

Methods

A literature search was performed in PubMed using the terms “ultra”, “triathlon”, and “performance” for the aspects of “ultra-triathlon”, and “Ironman”, “triathlon”, and “performance” for the aspects of “Ironman triathlon”. All resulting papers were searched for related citations. Results for ultra-triathlons were compared to results for Ironman-distance triathlons to find potential differences.

Results

Athletes competing in Ironman and ultra-triathlon differed in anthropometric and training characteristics, where both Ironmen and ultra-triathletes profited from low body fat, but ultra-triathletes relied more on training volume, whereas speed during training was related to Ironman race time. The most important predictive variables for a fast race time in an ultra-triathlon from Double Iron (ie, 7.6 km swimming, 360 km cycling, and 84.4 km running) and longer were male sex, low body fat, age of 35–40 years, extensive previous experience, a fast time in cycling and running but not in swimming, and origins in Central Europe.

Conclusion

Any athlete intending to compete in an ultra-triathlon should be aware that low body fat and high training volumes are highly predictive for overall race time. Little is known about the physiological characteristics of these athletes and about female ultra-triathletes. Future studies need to investigate anthropometric and training characteristics of female ultra-triathletes and what motivates women to compete in these races. Future studies need to correlate physiological characteristics such as maximum oxygen uptake (VO_2max) with ultra-triathlon race performance in order to investigate whether these characteristics are also predictive for ultra-triathlon race performance.

Sex difference in top performers from Ironman to double deca iron ultra-triathlon

This study investigated changes in performance and sex difference in top performers for ultra-triathlon races held between 1978 and 2013 from Ironman (3.8 km swim, 180 km cycle, and 42 km run) to double deca iron ultra-triathlon distance (76 km swim, 3,600 km cycle, and 844 km run). The fastest men ever were faster than the fastest women ever for split and overall race times, with the exception of the swimming split in the quintuple iron ultra-triathlon (19 km swim, 900 km cycle, and 210.1 km run). Correlation analyses showed an increase in sex difference with increasing length of race distance for swimming (r²=0.67, P=0.023), running (r²=0.77, P=0.009), and overall race time (r²=0.77, P=0.0087), but not for cycling (r²=0.26, P=0.23). For the annual top performers, split and overall race times decreased across years nonlinearly in female and male Ironman triathletes. For longer distances, cycling split times decreased linearly in male triple iron ultra-triathletes, and running split times decreased linearly in male double iron ultra-triathletes but increased linearly in female triple and quintuple iron ultra-triathletes. Overall race times increased nonlinearly in female triple and male quintuple iron ultra-triathletes. The sex difference decreased nonlinearly in swimming, running, and overall race time in Ironman triathletes but increased linearly in cycling and running and nonlinearly in overall race time in triple iron ultra-triathletes. These findings suggest that women reduced the sex difference nonlinearly in shorter ultra-triathlon distances (ie, Ironman), but for longer distances than the Ironman, the sex difference increased or remained unchanged across years. It seems very unlikely that female top performers will ever outrun male top performers in ultratriathlons. The nonlinear change in speed and sex difference in Ironman triathlon suggests that female and male Ironman triathletes have reached their limits in performance.

Will women soon outperform men in open-water ultra-distance swimming in the 'Maratona del Golfo Capri-Napoli'?

This study investigated the change in sex differences across years in ultra-distance swimming performances at the 36-km 'Maratona del Golfo Capri-Napoli' race held from 1954 to 2013. Changes in swimming performance of 662 men and 228 women over the 59-year period were investigated using linear, non-linear and hierarchical regression analyses. Race times of the annual fastest swimmers decreased linearly for women from 731 min to 391 min (r (2)  = 0.60, p < 0.0001) and for men from 600 min to 373 min (r (2)  = 0.30, p < 0.0001). Race times of the annual top three swimmers decreased linearly between 1963 and 2013 for women from 736.8 ± 78.4 min to 396.6 ± 4.5 min (r (2)  = 0.58, p < 0.0001) and for men from 627.1 ± 34.5 min to 374.1 ± 0.3 min (r (2)  = 0.42, p < 0.0001). The sex difference in performance for the annual fastest decreased linearly from 39.2% (1955) to 4.7% (2013) (r (2)  = 0.33, p < 0.0001). For the annual three fastest competitors, the sex difference in performance decreased linearly from 38.2 ± 14.0% (1963) to 6.0 ± 1.0% (2013) (r (2)  = 0.43, p < 0.0001). In conclusion, ultra-distance swimmers improved their performance at the 'Maratona del Golfo Capri-Napoli' over the last ~60 years and the fastest women reduced the gap with the fastest men linearly from ~40% to ~5-6%. The linear change in both race times and sex differences may suggest that women will be able to achieve men's performance or even to outperform men in the near future in an open-water ultra-distance swimming event such as the 'Maratona del Golfo Capri-Napoli'.

Age, sex and (the) race: gender and geriatrics in the ultra-endurance age

Ultra-endurance challenges were once the stuff of legend isolated to the daring few who were driven to take on some of the greatest physical endurance challenges on the planet. With a growing fascination for major physical challenges during the nineteenth century, the end of the Victorian era witnessed probably the greatest ultra-endurance race of all time; Scott and Amundsen’s ill-fated race to the South Pole. Ultra-endurance races continued through the twentieth century; however, these events were isolated to the elite few. In the twenty-first century, mass participation ultra-endurance races have grown in popularity. Endurance races once believed to be at the limit of human durability, i.e. marathon running, are now viewed as middle-distance races with the accolade of true endurance going to those willing to travel significantly further in a single effort or over multiple days. The recent series of papers in Extreme Physiology & Medicine highlights the burgeoning research data from mass participation ultra-endurance events. In support of a true ‘mass participation’ ethos Knetchtle et al. reported age-related changes in Triple and Deca Iron-ultra-triathlon with an upper age of 69 years! Unlike their shorter siblings, the ultra-endurance races appear to present larger gender differences in the region of 20% to 30% across distance and modality. It would appear that these gender differences remain for multi-day events including the ‘Marathon des Sables’; however, this gap may be narrower in some events, particularly those that require less load bearing (i.e. swimming and cycling), as evidenced from the ‘Ultraman Hawaii’ and ‘Swiss Cycling Marathon’, and shorter (a term I used advisedly!) distances including the Ironman Triathlon where differences are similar to those of sprint and endurance distances i.e. c. 10%. The theme running through this series of papers is a continual rise in participation to the point where major events now require selection races to remain within reasonable limits. With the combination of distance and environment placing a significant physiological bordering on pathophysiological burden on the participants of such events, one question remains: Are we destined for another Scott vs. Amundsen? How long is too long?