PERFORMANCE-INFLUENCING FACTORS IN HOMOGENEOUS GROUPS OF TOP ATHLETES- A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY

Sport scientists have identified many factors as prerequisites for a g ood athletic performance in various sports. It is not clear whether th ese factors also influence the best performers in the homogeneous grou ps of top athletes selected for national teams. In this study, this is sue is addressed with members of the Dutch National Junior Speed Skati ng Team. A total of 237 different technical, physiological, anthropome trical, and psychological parameters were collected, including many th at correlated with performance in previous studies. High speed film an alyses during the National Championships provided the technique parame ters. A 30-s sprint test and a 150-s supramaximal test on a cycle ergo meter underlie the physiological data, and questionnaires were used to measure personality traits and emotional feelings. Only trunk positio n and the direction of push-off (push-off angle phi) correlated consis tently with skating performance in this group (r = 0.61-0.73 and r = - 0.65 to -0.70, respectively). The small number of meaningful correlati ons means that sport scientists will have to develop more reliable met hods, models, and theories to contribute significantly to knowledge us eful to top athletes and their coaches.