Evolution of Mental Fatigue With Consecutive Match Progression in Elite Fencing

On-field daily monitoring has investigated the acute and cumulative nature of mental fatigue (MF) across various sport training/competitions. However, the evolution of MF under congested 1-day match schedules and its relationship with competitive performance, particularly in elite fencing, remains underexplored.

A longitudinal study monitored 31 (7 epee, 13 foil, 11 saber; 15 female) elite fencers' subjective MF in the morning (MVAS0) and immediately after each match (MVASi, measurement point i coded as match order) throughout the national competition day until elimination. Weighted least-squares regression with sample-size-based weighting was applied to capture the evolution trend throughout the day. A linear mixed-effects model explored the potential influence of performance statistics (total hits; hits difference) per match and the progression (i) on dynamic changes in MF (MVASi vs MVASi-1).

The competition day of 31 fencers, totaling 153 matches, was analyzed. A downward, quadratic model showed that MF accumulated with a decelerating trend as the competition progressed (theoretical increase rate between matches reduced from +22.0% to +0.5%). In each match, only hits difference (estimate = -0.581, P < .001) negatively affected MF accumulation.

The present findings regarding intraday MF evolution in elite fencing suggest that practitioners should explore the benefit of proactive countermeasures and recovery strategies from the early rounds of a competition day. Applying real-time monitoring and MF-targeted interventions along with other motivational, emotional adjustments is critical to mitigate MF buildup and maintain performance capacity, particularly when a fencer is successively receiving hits.