ArticlePloS one2008
From Oxford to Hawaii ecophysiological barriers limit human progression in ten sport monuments.
Article in PloS one, 2008. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers.
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Who cites it
16 citing papers in PubMed.
- Sex- and nationality-based participation and performance trends in the Swissman Xtreme Triathlon (2019-2025).PloS one · 2026Article
- Effects of Malocclusion on Maximal Aerobic Capacity and Athletic Performance in Young Sub-Elite Athletes.Sports (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Olympic cycle periodicity in women's long and triple jumping performance between 1996 and 2019.PloS one · 2023Article
- Performance and Participation in the 'Vasaloppet' Cross-Country Skiing Race during a Century.Sports (Basel, Switzerland) · 2019Article
- A case for revisiting peer review: Implications for professional self-regulation and quality improvement.PloS one · 2018Article
- Population Muscle Strength Predicts Olympic Medal Tallies: Evidence from 20 Countries in the PURE Prospective Cohort Study.PloS one · 2017Article
- Are We Reaching the Limits ofFrontiers in physiology · 2017Review
- Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race: Performance, Pacing and Tactics Between 1890 and 2014.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2016Article
- Has Athletic Performance Reached its Peak?Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2015Review
- Trends in Triathlon Performance: Effects of Sex and Age.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2013Review
- Perceptions of five-year competitive categories: model of how relative age influences competitiveness in masters sport.Journal of sports science & medicine · 2013Article
- Environment and scheduling effects on sprint and middle distance running performances.PloS one · 2013Article
- Exponential growth combined with exponential decline explains lifetime performance evolution in individual and human species.Age (Dordrecht, Netherlands) · 2012Article
- Universality, limits and predictability of gold-medal performances at the olympic games.PloS one · 2012Article
- Athlete atypicity on the edge of human achievement: performances stagnate after the last peak, in 1988.PloS one · 2010Article
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Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
In order to understand the determinants and trends of human performance evolution, we analyzed ten outdoor events among the oldest and most popular in sports history. Best performances of the Oxford-Cambridge boat race (since 1836), the channel crossing in swimming (1875), the hour cycling record (1893), the Elfstedentocht speed skating race (1909), the cross country ski Vasaloppet (1922), the speed ski record (1930), the Streif down-hill in Kitzbühel (1947), the eastward and westward sailing transatlantic records (1960) and the triathlon Hawaii ironman (1978) all follow a similar evolutive pattern, best described through a piecewise exponential decaying model (r(2) = 0.95+/-0.07). The oldest events present highest progression curvature during their early phase. Performance asymptotic limits predicted from the model may be achieved in fourty years (2049+/-32 y). Prolonged progression may be anticipated in disciplines which further rely on technology such as sailing and cycling. Human progression in outdoor sports tends to asymptotic limits depending on physiological and environmental parameters and may temporarily benefit from further technological progresses.
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Registered trials
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