Creating performance benchmarks for the future elites in speed skating.

Area of Science:

• Sports Science
• Performance Analysis
• Speed Skating

Background:

• Limited literature exists on sports performance benchmarks for identifying future elite athletes.
• Comparing performance across different eras in speed skating is challenging due to evolving standards.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a method for comparing speed skating performance across generations.
• To establish performance benchmarks for identifying future elite speed skaters.

Main Methods:

• Collected 1500m Season Best Times (SBT) from Dutch skaters (1993-2013).
• Corrected SBT for the prevailing World Record (WR) to create a relative SBT (rSBT).
• Defined performance groups based on rSBT and established age-specific elite benchmarks.

Main Results:

• Calendar year impacted SBT but not the relative SBT (rSBT), validating the correction method.
• Established performance benchmarks categorizing skaters into elite, sub-elite, and competitive groups.
• Elite benchmarks identified <20% of skaters as elite up to age 16 and <50% up to age 21.

Conclusions:

• Correcting for World Records allows for generational performance comparisons in speed skating.
• The developed benchmarks are effective for selecting and guiding elite speed skaters aged 13-26.
• This method provides a robust tool for talent identification in long-term athlete development.