Ski-flying: related catecholamine excretion compared with cross-country skiing

We examined the catecholamine excretion and its performance-diagnostic relevance in athletes of the German National Team during ski-flying and cross-country skiing. Five athletes were examined during the 1986 World Championship ski-flying competition and eight athletes during a 24-km cross-country qualification test. There is little doubt that the special competitive conditions have considerable influence on the usefulness of these data. We decided to publish the results anyway since the results may expand our knowledge about the performance-diagnostic relevance of catecholamine excretion under competitive conditions. During cross-country skiing, the average noradrenaline elimination (1166 pmol.min-1) was about 150% higher and the average adrenaline elimination (243 pmol.min-1) about 30% lower than during ski-flying. The noradrenaline-adrenaline ratio was about 4.8 in cross-country skiing and 1.3-1.5 in ski-flying. Catecholamine excretion does, as expected, therefore permit differentiation of the various strains on the organism. The impression with respect to performance-diagnostic relevance arises that successful athletes show a more stable and lower excretion of noradrenaline under competitive conditions. This can only be a preliminary statement; it should serve to stimulate discussion and further investigations of the problem.