Differences in horizontal vs. uphill running performance in male and female Swiss world-class orienteers

In orienteering, athletes must choose the quickest route from point to point, considering if they want to run a longer flat distance rather than a shorter distance with an incline to reach the next point. Our aim was therefore, to determine an athlete's equivalence factor (EF, ratio between horizontal and uphill running performance) enabling coaches to provide individual route choice recommendations during orienteering competition. Ten male and 8 female orienteers performed 1 horizontal (MST(horizontal); 0% incline) and 1 uphill (MST(uphill); 22% incline) maximal running stage test to exhaustion on a treadmill in randomized order. The EFs were calculated based on maximal speeds achieved in both tests (MRV(horizontal/uphill)). In addition, VO2peak was measured. MRV(horizontal) was 20.4 ± 0.6 and 17.3 ± 0.8 km · h, and MRV(uphill) was 8.8 ± 0.7 and 7.2 ± 0.5 km · h (men and women). The EF was 6.3 ± 0.7 and ranged between 5.2 and 7.4. Relative VO2peak(uphill) was 69.2 ± 5.7 and 59.1 ± 3.7 m l · kg · min, whereas VO2peak(horizontal) was lower 66.4 ± 3.5 (p < 0.05) and 55.7 ± 3.1 ml · kg · min (p < 0.01) than in VO2peak(uphill). Relative VO2peak(uphill) correlated strongly with MRV(uphill) (men: r = 0.85, p < 0.01; women: r = 0.84, p < 0.01), whereas relative VO2peak(horizontal) showed no strong correlation with MRV(horizontal) (men: r = 0.51, p = 0.12; women: r = 0.41, p = 0.32). These data show that there are relevant differences in the relation between uphill and horizontal running capacity in these athletes. Tailoring the route selection to the athletes' advantage based on the relation between their uphill and horizontal running performance and individual EF may positively impact on overall performance in orienteering competition.