Are the World Junior Championship Finalists for Middle- and Long-Distance Events Currently Competing at International Level?
in International Journal of Sports Physiology and PerformanceClick name to view affiliation
Purpose:
To analyze how many finalists of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) World Junior Championships (WJCs) in the middle- and long-distance track events had dropped out from high-level competitions.
Methods:
Starting from 2002, the 8 male and the 8 female finalists in the middle- and long-distance events of 6 editions of the WJC were followed until 2015 to evaluate how many missed the IAAF rankings for 2 consecutive years starting from the year after WJC participation. For those still competing at elite level, their careers were monitored.
Results:
In 2015, 61% of the 2002, 54.8% of the 2004, 48.3% of the 2006, 37.5% of the 2008, 26.2% of the 2010, and 29% of the 2012 WJC finalists were not present in the IAAF rankings. Of the 368 athletes considered, 75 (20.4%) were able to achieve the IAAF top 10 in 2.4 ± 2.2 y. There is evidence of relationships between dropout and gender (P = .040), WJC edition (P = .000), and nationality (P = .010) and between the possibility to achieve the IAAF top 10 and dropout (P = .000), continent (P = .001), relative age effect (P = .000), and quartile of birth (P = .050).
Conclusions:
Even if 23 of the finalists won a medal at the Olympic Games or at the World Championships, it is still not clear if participation at the WJC is a prerequisite to success at a senior level.
Pizzuto and Piacentini are with the Dept of Movement, Human and Health Sciences, University of Rome “Foro Italico,” Italy. Bonato, Vernillo, and La Torre are with the Dept of Biomedical Sciences for Health, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy.
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