ArticleOpen access journal of sports medicine2014
Sex difference in top performers from Ironman to double deca iron ultra-triathlon.
Article in Open access journal of sports medicine, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Performance, physiology, and determinants of success in IRONMAN® 70.3: A systematic review.PloS one · 2026Pooled it
- Women in the triathlon-the differences between female and male triathletes: a narrative review.Frontiers in sports and active living · 2025Review
- Ultra-Cycling- Past, Present, Future: A Narrative Review.Sports medicine - open · 2024Review
- Changes in pacing variation with increasing race duration in ultra-triathlon races.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- The Performance, Physiology and Morphology of Female and Male Olympic-Distance Triathletes.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- The beginning of success: Performance trends and cut-off values for junior and the U23 triathlon categories.Journal of exercise science and fitness · 2022Article
- Celebrating 40 Years of Ironman: How the Champions Perform.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2019Article
- Cycling as the Best Sub-8-Hour Performance Predictor in Full Distance Triathlon.Sports (Basel, Switzerland) · 2019Article
- Superior Intrinsic Mitochondrial Respiration in Women Than in Men.Frontiers in physiology · 2018Article
- Blood biomarkers in male and female participants after an Ironman-distance triathlon.PloS one · 2017Article
- What predicts performance in ultra-triathlon races? - a comparison between Ironman distance triathlon and ultra-triathlon.Open access journal of sports medicine · 2015Review
- Women cross the 'Catalina Channel' faster than men.SpringerPlus · 2015Article
- The aspect of experience in ultra-triathlon races.SpringerPlus · 2015Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
This study investigated changes in performance and sex difference in top performers for ultra-triathlon races held between 1978 and 2013 from Ironman (3.8 km swim, 180 km cycle, and 42 km run) to double deca iron ultra-triathlon distance (76 km swim, 3,600 km cycle, and 844 km run). The fastest men ever were faster than the fastest women ever for split and overall race times, with the exception of the swimming split in the quintuple iron ultra-triathlon (19 km swim, 900 km cycle, and 210.1 km run). Correlation analyses showed an increase in sex difference with increasing length of race distance for swimming (r (2)=0.67, P=0.023), running (r (2)=0.77, P=0.009), and overall race time (r (2)=0.77, P=0.0087), but not for cycling (r (2)=0.26, P=0.23). For the annual top performers, split and overall race times decreased across years nonlinearly in female and male Ironman triathletes. For longer distances, cycling split times decreased linearly in male triple iron ultra-triathletes, and running split times decreased linearly in male double iron ultra-triathletes but increased linearly in female triple and quintuple iron ultra-triathletes. Overall race times increased nonlinearly in female triple and male quintuple iron ultra-triathletes. The sex difference decreased nonlinearly in swimming, running, and overall race time in Ironman triathletes but increased linearly in cycling and running and nonlinearly in overall race time in triple iron ultra-triathletes. These findings suggest that women reduced the sex difference nonlinearly in shorter ultra-triathlon distances (ie, Ironman), but for longer distances than the Ironman, the sex difference increased or remained unchanged across years. It seems very unlikely that female top performers will ever outrun male top performers in ultratriathlons. The nonlinear change in speed and sex difference in Ironman triathlon suggests that female and male Ironman triathletes have reached their limits in performance.
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