Context:Although the popularity of open-water swimming (OWS) events has significantly increased in the last decades, specific studies regarding performance of elite or age-group athletes in these events are scarce.Purpose:To analyze the existing literature on OWS.Methods:Relevant literature was located via computer-generated citations. During August 2016, online computer searches on PubMed and Scopus databases were conducted to locate published research.Results:The number of participants in ultraendurance swimming events has substantially increased in the last 10 y. In elite athletes there is a higher overall competitive level of women than of men. The body composition of female athletes (different percentage and distribution of fat tissue) shows several advantages (more buoyancy and less drag) in aquatic conditions that determine the small difference between males and females. The main physiological characteristics of open-water swimmers (OW swimmers) are the ability to swim at high percentage of (80–90%) for many hours. Furthermore, to sustain high velocity for many hours, endurance swimmers need a high propelling efficiency and a low energy cost.Conclusion:Open-water races may be characterized by extreme environmental conditions (water temperature, tides, currents, and waves) that have an overall impact on performance, influencing tactics and pacing. Future studies are needed to study OWS in both training and competition.

Resistance training (RT) is considered the most important method to improve the athlete’s strength and rate of force development (RFD). In the last decade, the importance of monitoring velocity during RT has drastically grown, because of an increased availability of linear position transducers (LPT) and inertial measurement units (IMU). The purpose of this review is to analyze the existing literature on testing techniques and performance strategies used to enhance strength and power performance of elite athletes, by monitoring the velocity of resistance training. The authors focus in particular on the level of effort of resistance training defined by velocity; how the loss of velocity correlates with the degree of fatigue and how it can be used to enhance the performance of competitive athletes; the use of LPT as part of the daily routine of the strength and conditioning programs in competitive sport. It is therefore critical for the sports scientists to have a correct understanding of the basic concepts of the velocity-based training and their application to elite sports. The ultimate goal is to give some indications on the velocity-based resistance training integration in the programs of different sports in the high performance environment.

In 2009, the International Triathlon Union created a new triathlon race format: The World Triathlon Series (WTS), for which only athletes with a top 100 world ranking are eligible. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to analyze the influence of the three disciplines on performance within all the WTS Olympic distance races within two Olympic cycles, and to determine whether their relative contribution changed over the years. Methods: For each of a total of 44 races, final race time and position as well as split times (and positions), and summed time (and position) at each point of the race were collected and included in the analysis. Athletes were divided into 4 groups according to their final race placing (G1: 1st–3rd place; G2: 4–8th place; G3: 8–16th place and G4: ≥17th place). Two-way multivariate ANOVAs were conducted to compare the main effects of years and rank groups. For females, there were significant differences in the swim and bike segment only between G4 and the other groups (p range from 0.001–0.029), whilst for the run segment each group differed significantly from each other (p < 0.001). For males, there were significant differences in swim only between G4 and the other groups (p range from 0.001–0.039), whilst for the running segment each group differed significantly from the others (p < 0.001). Although we found running to be the segment where there were significant differences between performance groups, it is apparently important for overall success that a good runner be positioned with the first cycling pack. However, bike splits were not different between either of the four male groups or between the first 3 groups of the females. At this very high level of performance, at least in the males, the bike leg seems to be a smooth transition towards running.

TeamGym is a popular form of gymnastics, including tumbling (Tu), trampette (Tr) and floor exercises (F) characterized by intensive practice placing high levels of stress on athletes. The aim of the study was to investigate athletes’ stress-related changes during TeamGym training and competition, considering hormonal and enzymatic responses (i.e., salivary cortisol and alpha-amylase). Ten (5 males and 5 females) TeamGym athletes (age: 22–28 y) were tested twice at the same time before training and competition; furthermore, for excluding circadian effect on hormonal and enzymatic responses, they were tested at the same time during a rest day. Alpha-amylase and cortisol were measured 15 min before the beginning of exercise, after each gymnastic equipment performance, and after thirty minutes from the end of the performance. Factorial ANOVA with repeated measures was used to verify differences between training and competition (p < 0.05). Competition elicited higher values of alpha-amylase than training (p ranging from 0.001 to 0.019) and rest (p ranging from 0.001 to 0.019). Cortisol showed no exercise induced increase, and its concentrations were higher prior to training compared to competition. TeamGym responses confirm other sports findings in stating that competition elicits higher stress response than training and suggest that salivary alpha-amylase is a more sensitive marker than cortisol to psychophysiological stress also in gymnastics intermittent performance.

Background: It has been shown that the fastest open-water swimmers (OW-swimmers) increase significantly the speed in the last split of the open-water events. The aim of the present work was to determine if the fastest OW-swimmers have a higher speed in the middle- and long-distance pool swimming events, and to develop a multivariate model that can predict the medalist group in the 10-km competition. Methods: A total of 484 athletes (252-males and 232-females) were included in the analysis. Swimmers were divided into four groups based on their finishing position in the competition. For each swimmer, the absolute best performance (PB) of 200, 400, 800 and 1500-meter in long course, the seasonal best performance (SPB) obtained before the open-water events and critical velocity (CV) were analyzed. Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was used to detect significant differences between groups and discriminant analysis was used to predict a grouping variable. Results: All the variables analyzed were significantly different between groups (p < 0.001). The first discriminant function correctly classified 50% of the overall female and male swimmers. Conclusion: Fastest OW-swimmers have a higher speed in middle- and long-distance pool swimming events. Further studies should include different anthropometric and physiological variables to increase the accuracy of classification.

Purpose: Different aspects of pacing in endurance events have been investigated, however, there are very limited information on pacing strategies during open‐water swimming. The aim was to describe and compare the pacing profile used by male and female open‐water swimmers (OW‐swimmers) during the 5‐, 10‐ and 25 km races in the main international competitions. Methods: A total of 438 performances were analysed for 5 km, 579 for 10 km and 189 for 25 km, from 2012 to 2017. Swimmers were divided into four groups based on finishing time. G1 whose finishing times were within 0.5% of the winner's time, G2 between 0.51% and 1% slower than winner's time; G3 between 1.1% and 2% slower than winner's time; G4 over 2% of winner's time. Kolmogorov–Smirnov test was used to verify the normal distribution of data and repeated measures ANOVA was performed. Results: G1 adopted a negative pacing and significantly increased the speed in the last split compared with the other groups during the 5‐, 10‐ and 25‐km races in both males and females (p < .001). During the 5‐ and 10‐km race, the last split speed of G1 was significantly faster compared to the other groups in both males and females (p < .05). Conclusions: OW‐swimmers that used a conservative approach remaining in G1 until the finish of the race, increase the possibility to win a medal in the main international competitions.