Differences in pacing behaviour between global championship medal performances and world records in men’s and women’s middle- and long-distance running track events

Figures & data

Figure 1. Mean and standard deviation of the average race speed during men’s (a) and women’s 800 m (b) and men’s (c) and women’s 1,500 m (d) World Record (WR) and medal performances, *p ≤ 0.05, **p ≤ 0.005, and ***p ≤ 0.001. Differences in lap speed between groups (medallist vs. WR) were noted with & ***p ≤ 0.001; & *p ≤ 0.05.

Figure 2. Mean and standard deviation of the average race speed of three 1,000-m splits of men’s (a) and women’s (b) 3,000 m steeplechase WR and medal performances. ***p ≤0.001. Differences in lap speed between the groups (medal vs. WR) were noted with & **p ≤0.01; & ***p ≤0.001.

Figure 3. Mean and standard deviation of the average race speed of 1,000 m laps of men’s (a) and women’s 5,000 m (b) and men’s (c) and women’s 10,000 m (d) WR and medal performances. *p ≤0.05, **p ≤0.01, ***p ≤0.001; range of laps were noted with a bidirectional arrow; differences in lap speed between the groups (medal vs. WR) were noted with & **p ≤0.01, ***p ≤0.001. Number in superscript indicate the difference with the corresponding lap number.

Table 1. Pacing profiles for global championship medallist and world record performances in track middle- and long-distance running events in men and women.

Race type	Medalist performances		World Records
Event/Sex	Men	Women	Men	Women
800 m	Positive	Positive	Positive	Positive
1,500 m	Negative	Negative	U-shaped	U-shaped
3,000 m steeplechase	Positive	Even	Even	Even
5,000 m	Constant pace with endspurt	Negative	U-shaped	Even
10,000 m	Constant pace with endspurt	Negative	U-shaped	Even