Validation of simple tests of biathlon shooting ability

The aim of this study was to validate three simple tests of biathlon shooting abilities. Twelve expert biathletes performed visual reaction time tests adapted for the rifle in the standing (RT-S) and prone positions (RT-P), and a tremometer test adapted for the rifle in the standing position (TT-S). Six consecutive days' measurements showed an acceptable reproducibility for these tests (coefficient of variation = 1.2% for RT-S, 1.1% for RT-P and 6.5% for TT-S). A significant difference was observed between TT-S at rest and after roller skiing 2.1 km at 90 % of maximal heart rate. This finding demonstrates the sensitivity of TT-S to discriminate the effects of fatigue on postural control. Among 24 biathletes of regional to expert level, significant correlations were observed between resting RT-P and prone shooting performance after roller skiing (r2 = 0.23; p = 0.01) and between resting TT-S and shooting performance in the standing position after roller skiing (r2 = 0.68; p = 0.0001), demonstrating the specificity of these tests. From these results, we conclude that TT-S is a valid field test of biathlon shooting performance.