An analysis of the variables with the greatest impact on sprint performance in athletes

Objectives. — To identify sprint performance determinants in young athletes in the field in bothsexes.Equipment and methods. — Two hundred and fourteen track and field athletes, ages between۱۳ and ۱۵ years old, were divided into validation group (VG) (n = ۱۶۳) and cross-validation group(CVG) (n = ۵۱). The participants were submitted to biological maturity evaluation, anthropom-etry, vertical jump, ۶۰-m sprint, and running anaerobic sprint test (RAST).Results. — The multiple regression analysis selected the variables leg length, vertical jump,RAST total time (RASTtt) and fatigue index for both groups, determined ۹۵.۵% and ۷۶.۹%of sprint performance on boys and girls, respectively. To confirm our results, we performeda cross-validation on the linear regression, which showed that the measured and predictedsprint performances in CVG were not significantly different (P > ۰.۰۵). In addition, the studydemonstrated that biological maturity is associated with all variables of the model (P < ۰.۰۵).

Keywords:

Running , Track and field , Anaerobic , Metabolism , Training.