Pacing behaviour of middle-long distance running & race-walking athletes at the IAAF U18 and U20 World Championship finals.

ABSTRACTThe current study analysed the pacing behaviour of athletes competing in the middle-long track event finals of the IAAF Under 18 and Under 20 World Championships between 2015 and 2018. Official finishing times, 1000-m split times and positioning data of 116 female and 153 male athletes, competing in the middle-long distance running (3000 m, 5000 m and 10,000 m) and race walking (5000 m and 10,000 m) events, were gathered. Repeated measures analysis of variance, with 1000-m speed as within-subjects factor and final ranking (medallist, Top 8 or Top 12, rest of the field) as between-subjects factor, was performed to compare the pacing behaviour between athletes. Positioning of the athletes was analysed by Kendall tau-b (Tb) correlation between the intermediate position and final position. Overall, medallists increased their speed throughout a race, with the exception of the 5000 m running event, in which a parabolic pacing behaviour was exhibited. The 1000-m segment in which a significant (P > 0.05) difference in speed was exhibited between differently ranked athletes coincided with a strong (Tb > 0.7) correlation between intermediate and final positioning. These combined results point towards a separation between the athletes during the race, as the Top 8 or Top 12 and the rest of the field are unable to match the speed of the medallists. The distance, discipline, sex, age category and behaviour of competitors all influence the pacing behaviour of young track athletes during international level competition, emphasising the importance and complexity of developing adequate pacing behaviour in track athletes. HighlightsThe distribution of effort over an exercise task (i.e. pacing) is an important factor in endurance exercise competition. The pacing behaviour of athletes is determined by many aspects, such as the biomechanical characteristics of the task, the exercise environment and the age of the athleteSport specific competition data from youth athlete sports events can provide insight into the pacing behaviour of developing athletes. These insights could assist in the optimalisation of the development of pacing behaviour of young athletes in the future.The current study analysed the 1000-m split times and positioning data of athletes competing in the running (3000 m, 5000 m and 10,000) and racewalking (5000 m and 10,000m) finals of the U18 and U20 IAAF world-championship.The difference in final ranking impacted the pacing behaviour of the athletes, with the medallists increasing their speed throughout the race and the other athletes separating from the medallists either early (rest of field) or later in the race (Top 8 or Top 12 athletes).