Effects of Time Point of Pre-Competitions Peaking on Performance in Major-Competitions

ABSTRACT

Objectives: To study the effects of the time points of pre-competition peaking (TPCP, the time point when an athlete’s peaking shows up before a major-competition) on the athletes’ performances in the major-competition (M-Performance). Design: Mixed design. Methods: We used cluster analysis to classify 892 elite track and field athletes who participated in the 2017 and 2019 IAAF World Championships in Athletics, based on their TPCP and other related factors. Furthermore, we used a fixed-effects model and a mixed-effects model to analyze the relationship between the TPCP and M-Performance. Results: The TPCP of elite track and field athletes were divided into four categories: late, slightly late, slightly early, and early. In speed/power events, athletes in the slightly late category had better M-Performance. In endurance events, athletes in the slightly early category had better M-Performance. In speed/power events, delaying the TPCP did not improve the athletes’ M-Performance. In endurance events, advancing the TPCP effectively improved the athletes’ M-Performance. Conclusions: To improve M-Performance, athletes in speed/power events should be peaking 2–8 weeks before a major-competition, and athletes in endurance events should be peaking 8–14 weeks before a major-competition. Future research should aim to identify individual factors affecting TPCP, such as the time for the body’s adaptation to training and the residual training effect.

KEYWORDS:

• Appearance time point
• peaking
• performance

Acknowledgments

We thank LetPub (www.letpub.com) for its linguistic assistance during the preparation of this manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the [Science and Technology Assistance Program for Tokyo Olympic Preparation of the State General Administration of Sport of China] under Grant [number 2019TJ02]. The project that facilitated data acquisition and the use of analytical software supported this study.