Anticipatory Cortisol Regulation During Competition in Elite Female Field Hockey Players

Research examining the cortisol awakening response (CAR) in elite female athletes during official competition remains limited, particularly under ecologically valid high-stakes conditions. This study investigated associations between pre-competitive Delta CAR, competitive outcome, anxiety-related variables, and cortisol fluctuations on an official competition day among elite female field hockey players. Fifty-two elite female field hockey players participated in this study during the Spanish Championship Cup. Salivary cortisol samples were collected at awakening (C0), 30 min after awakening (C1), 30 min before warm-up (C2), and 30 min after competition (C3). CAR was calculated as the difference between C1 and C0. Athletes also completed the Self-Assessment Manikin (SAM), Likert-style affective self-reports, and the Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2 Revised (CSAI-2). Significant within-subject cortisol fluctuations were observed across the competition day. Players who eventually lost their matches exhibited higher CAR values than those who eventually won (rank-biserial r = 0.58, p < 0.001). CAR was moderately associated with cognitive anxiety, somatic anxiety, perceived difficulty, and arousal-related variables. In addition, defeated players showed higher post-competition cortisol concentrations than winners. In an ecologically valid elite competition setting, CAR varied substantially between athletes, showed partial associations with anxiety-related and affective variables, and was associated with eventual competitive outcome. These findings suggest that CAR may reflect a context-sensitive anticipatory endocrine response associated with competitive demands rather than a deterministic biomarker of stress or performance.