ArticleAge (Dordrecht, Netherlands)2016
Performance trends in master freestyle swimmers aged 25-89 years at the FINA World Championships from 1986 to 2014.
Article in Age (Dordrecht, Netherlands), 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 23 papers.
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Who cites it
23 citing papers in PubMed, 40 citations in OpenAlex.
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- Freestyle master's swimming: Nationality, sex, and performance trends in World Aquatics competitions (1986-2024).PloS one · 2025Article
- The development of the performance sex gap in track-and-field events across the lifespan.Frontiers in sports and active living · 2025Article
- Performance Sex Differences in CrossFitSports (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- Gender and Age Patterns in NSGA Swim Competitions.Journal of aging research · 2022Article
- Exploration of Internal and External Factors of Swimmers' Performance Based on Biofluid Mechanics and Computer Simulation.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Article
- Monitoring Master Swimmers' Performance and Active Drag Evolution along a Training Mesocycle.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Article
- An Analysis of Participation and Performance of 2067 100-km Ultra-Marathons Worldwide.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Article
- Antioxidants in Sport Sarcopenia.Nutrients · 2020Review
- Pacing in World-Class Age Group Swimmers in 100 and 200 m Freestyle, Backstroke, Breaststroke, and Butterfly.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2020Article
- Sex Differences in Swimming Disciplines-Can Women Outperform Men in Swimming?International journal of environmental research and public health · 2020Review
- Can the Performance Gap between Women and Men be Reduced in Ultra-Cycling?International journal of environmental research and public health · 2020Article
- Tower Running-Participation, Performance Trends, and Sex Difference.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2020Article
- Pacing in World-Class Age Group Swimmers in 200 and 400 m Individual Medley.Frontiers in physiology · 2020Article
- Constituent Year Effect in Masters Sports: An Empirical View on the Historical Development in US Masters Swimming.Journal of sports science & medicine · 2019Article
- Women Reduce the Performance Difference to Men with Increasing Age in Ultra-Marathon Running.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2019Article
- Changes in Jumping and Throwing Performances in Age-Group Athletes Competing in the European Masters Athletics Championships between 1978 and 2017.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2019Article
- The relationship of wearing a wetsuit in long-distance open-water swimming with sex, age, calendar year, performance, and nationality - crossing the "Strait of Gibraltar".Open access journal of sports medicine · 2018Article
- World Single Age Records in Running From 5 km to Marathon.Frontiers in psychology · 2018Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Performance trends in elite freestyle swimmers are well known, but not for master freestyle swimmers. We investigated trends in participation, performance, and sex difference in performance of 65,584 freestyle master swimmers from 25-29 to 85-89 years competing in FINA World Masters Championships between 1986 and 2014. The men-to-women ratio was calculated for each age group, and the trend across age groups was analyzed using single linear regression analysis. Trends in performance changes were investigated using a mixed-effects regression model with sex, distance, and calendar year as fixed variables. Participation increased in women and men in older age groups (i.e., 40 years and older). Women and men improved race times across years in all age groups and distances. For age groups 25-29 to 75-79 years, women were slower than men, but not for age groups 80-84 to 85-89 years. In 50, 100, and 200 m, women reduced the sex difference from 1986 to 2014 in age groups 30-34 to 75-79 years. In 400 m, women reduced the gap to men across time in age groups 40-44, 45-49, and 55-59 years. In 800 m, sex difference became reduced across time in age groups 55-59 and 70-74 years. In summary, participation increased from 1986 to 2014 in women and men in older age groups, women and men improved across time performance in all distances, and women were not slower compared to men in age groups 80-84 to 85-89 years. We expect a continuous trend in increasing participation and improved performance in master freestyle swimmers.
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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.