Ventricular septal defect in a world class runner

We report the case of an elite male, East African endurance runner (18 years old) who ranked in the top 15 in the World Cross Country Championships (sub 21 year old category) despite having a ventricular septal defect (VSD; width: 0.22 cm) that was diagnosed 2 weeks after this event with echocardiographic evaluation. This athlete was a moderate altitude native ( approximately 3000 m). Cardiac dimensions were within normal limits and no significant pathological signs were observed. His Vo(2max) was relatively low given his performance level (67.9 ml kg(-1) min(-1)). Despite his limited training background (only 1 year), his running economy was, however, better than the values reported in our laboratory for Caucasian runners of the same age. Further cardiological follow up might confirm that the VSD causes no pathological effects or any performance detriment in future years.