ReviewOpen access journal of sports medicine2015
What predicts performance in ultra-triathlon races? - a comparison between Ironman distance triathlon and ultra-triathlon.
Review in Open access journal of sports medicine, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers.
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.
The trial behind it
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
14 citing papers in PubMed.
- 24-Hour Ultra-Marathon Running: A Narrative Review of Performance Factors and Physiological Impacts.Sports medicine - open · 2026Review
- Women in the triathlon-the differences between female and male triathletes: a narrative review.Frontiers in sports and active living · 2025Review
- Beneficial Physiological and Metabolic Effects with Acute Intake of New Zealand Blackcurrant Extract during 4 h of Indoor Cycling in a Male Ironman Athlete: A Case Study.Journal of functional morphology and kinesiology · 2024Article
- Ultra-Cycling- Past, Present, Future: A Narrative Review.Sports medicine - open · 2024Review
- Case Report: Differences in self-selected pacing in 20, 40, and 60 ironman-distance triathlons: a case study.Frontiers in sports and active living · 2024Article
- Impacts of different triathlon races on systemic cytokine profile and metabolic parameters in healthy individuals: a systematic review.BMC sports science, medicine & rehabilitation · 2023Article
- Changes in pacing variation with increasing race duration in ultra-triathlon races.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Physiological Features of Olympic-Distance Amateur Triathletes, as Well as Their Associations with Performance in Women and Men: A Cross-Sectional Study.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- A Machine Learning Approach to Finding the Fastest Race Course for Professional Athletes Competing in IronmanInternational journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Article
- The beginning of success: Performance trends and cut-off values for junior and the U23 triathlon categories.Journal of exercise science and fitness · 2022Article
- Article
- Self-Selected Pacing During a World Record Attempt in 40 Ironman-Distance Triathlons in 40 Days.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2020Article
- Core Temperature Response During the Marathon Portion of the Ironman World Championship (Kona-Hawaii).Frontiers in physiology · 2019Article
- Bioelectrical Impedance Vector Analysis (BIVA) and Body Mass Changes in an Ultra-Endurance Triathlon Event.Journal of sports science & medicine · 2018Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveThis narrative review summarizes recent intentions to find potential predictor variables for ultra-triathlon race performance (ie, triathlon races longer than the Ironman distance covering 3.8 km swimming, 180 km cycling, and 42.195 km running). Results from studies on ultra-triathletes were compared to results on studies on Ironman triathletes.
methodsA literature search was performed in PubMed using the terms "ultra", "triathlon", and "performance" for the aspects of "ultra-triathlon", and "Ironman", "triathlon", and "performance" for the aspects of "Ironman triathlon". All resulting papers were searched for related citations. Results for ultra-triathlons were compared to results for Ironman-distance triathlons to find potential differences.
resultsAthletes competing in Ironman and ultra-triathlon differed in anthropometric and training characteristics, where both Ironmen and ultra-triathletes profited from low body fat, but ultra-triathletes relied more on training volume, whereas speed during training was related to Ironman race time. The most important predictive variables for a fast race time in an ultra-triathlon from Double Iron (ie, 7.6 km swimming, 360 km cycling, and 84.4 km running) and longer were male sex, low body fat, age of 35-40 years, extensive previous experience, a fast time in cycling and running but not in swimming, and origins in Central Europe.
conclusionAny athlete intending to compete in an ultra-triathlon should be aware that low body fat and high training volumes are highly predictive for overall race time. Little is known about the physiological characteristics of these athletes and about female ultra-triathletes. Future studies need to investigate anthropometric and training characteristics of female ultra-triathletes and what motivates women to compete in these races. Future studies need to correlate physiological characteristics such as maximum oxygen uptake (VO2max) with ultra-triathlon race performance in order to investigate whether these characteristics are also predictive for ultra-triathlon race performance.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.