ArticlePloS one2019
Sex differences in youth elite swimming.
Article in PloS one, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 24 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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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
24 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Sex differences in human skeletal muscle fiber types and the influence of age, physical activity, and muscle group: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Physiological reports · 2025Pooled it
- Sex hormones and menopause hormone therapy predict muscle strength across the lifespan.Journal of applied physiology (Bethesda, Md. : 1985) · 2026Article
- Physiological Basis of Sex Differences in Human Performance and Exercise-Associated Pathology.Clinical endocrinology · 2026Review
- The ontogeny of sex differences in exercise performance.Journal of the Endocrine Society · 2026Article
- The effect of velocity-based strength training on lower limb maximal strength, power, and muscle thickness: a comparative study of sex-specific adaptations.Frontiers in physiology · 2026Article
- Associations of body morphology and body composition with swimming performance in male and female youth swimmers: an exploratory cross-sectional study.Frontiers in physiology · 2026Article
- Testosterone and androgen receptors in females: what is possible with resistance training?The Journal of physiology · 2025Article
- Peripubertal lung growth pattern in Japanese school children.Physiological reports · 2025Article
- The development of the performance sex gap in track-and-field events across the lifespan.Frontiers in sports and active living · 2025Article
- Sex-based differences in swimming performance in 10-years-old-and-under athletes in short course national competition.European journal of sport science · 2025Article
- Sex-based differences in shot put, javelin throw, and long jump in 8-and-under and 9-10-year-old athletes.European journal of sport science · 2025Article
- Determinants of pre-adolescent girls' sport performance in three-year swimming training.Frontiers in sports and active living · 2025Article
- The Effects of a 6-Week Swimming Intervention on Gross Motor Development in Primary School Children.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Physiological Responses and Fatigue during a Repeated Shuttle-Sprint Running Test in Adolescent Schoolchildren: A Comparison between Sexes and Fatigue Calculation Methods.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Case Studies in Physiology: Male to female transgender swimmer in college athletics.Journal of applied physiology (Bethesda, Md. : 1985) · 2023Article
- Sex differences and athletic performance. Where do trans individuals fit into sports and athletics based on current research?Frontiers in sports and active living · 2023Review
- The kinematic profile of ventral swimming start: sex diversity.Frontiers in physiology · 2023Article
- How Do Master Weightlifters Train? A Transnational Study of Weightlifting Training Practices and Concurrent Training.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Relationships between Sex and Adaptation to Physical Exercise in Young Athletes: A Pilot Study.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- Sex-based limits to running speed in the human, horse and dog: The role of sexual dimorphisms.FASEB journal : official publication of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology · 2021Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe timing and magnitude of sex differences in athletic performance during early human development, prior to adulthood, is unknown.
objectiveTo compare swimming velocity of boys and girls for all Olympic-length freestyle swimming events to determine the age of divergence in swimming performance.
methodsWe collected the all-time top 100 U.S. freestyle swimming performance times of boys and girls age 5 to 18 years for the 50m to 1500m events.
resultsSwimming performance improved with increasing age for boys and girls (p<0.001) until reaching a plateau, which initiated at a younger age for girls (15 years) than boys (17 years; sex×age; p<0.001). Prior to age 10, the top 5 swimming records for girls were 3% faster than the top boys (p<0.001). For the 10th-50th places, however, there were no sex-related differences in swimming performance prior to age 10 (p = 0.227). For both the top 5 and 10th-50th places, the sex difference in performance increased from age 10 (top 5, 2.5%; 10th-50th places, 1.0%) until age 17 (top 5, 7.6%; 10th-50th places, 8.0%). For all places, the sex difference in performance at age 18 was larger for sprint events (9.6%; 50-200m) than endurance events (7.1%; 400-1500m; p<0.001). Additionally, the sex-related difference in performance increased across age and US ranking from 2.4% for 1st place to 4.3% for 100th place (p<0.001), indicating less depth of performance in girls than boys. However, annual participation was ~20% higher in girls than boys for all ages (p<0.001).
conclusionThe top 5 girls demonstrated faster swimming velocities and the 10th-50th place girls demonstrated similar swimming velocities than boys (until ~10 years). After age 10, however, boys demonstrated increasingly faster swimming velocities than girls until 17 years. Collectively, these data suggest girls are faster, or at least not slower, than boys prior to the performance-enhancing effects of puberty.
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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.