Purpose: Roller skiing is the primary sport-specific training and testing mode during pre-competition periods for cross-country skiers, biathletes, and Nordic combined athletes. The present study aimed to compare the kinematics between uphill roller skiing and on-snow skiing using the V2 sub-technique. Methods: In a cross-over design, nine well-trained male skiers performed short trials (< 40 s) at constant inclination (8.0°), speed (3.0 m‧s⁻¹), and controlled rolling/gliding friction on asphalt (in the fall), on the treadmill (in the fall and winter), and during on-snow skiing (in the winter). Kinematic data were collected using a validated inertial measurement unit system. Results: Repeated-measures ANOVAs revealed no differences between treadmill and asphalt roller skiing. Further, including on-snow skiing showed moderate to good reliability (ICC ≥ 0.63, p ≤ 0.001) for ground-contact temporal variables. However, on-snow skiing moderately increased hip range of motion around the longitudinal axis (22.2 ± 7.7° vs. 14.1 ± 4.7°), lateral hip displacement (44.1 ± 7.1 cm vs. 37.2 ± 6.6 cm) and pole push times (422 ± 41 ms vs. 386 ± 31 ms), and on-snow skiing was characterized by altered hip rotational patterns compared to roller skiing. Conclusion: V2 roller ski skating simulates on-snow ski skating to a large extent, but the mechanical properties of the skis and/or surface hardness systematically alter skiers’ hip movements and pole push times. This implies a potential for equipment optimization to increase training specificity during pre-competition periods and highlights a need for future studies to examine the kinematic effects of snow hardness on all sub-techniques.

Objectives: The main purpose of the present study was to investigate the acute effects of myofascial tissue rolling on endurance performance and recovery using a novel designed mechanical self-induced multi-bar roller-massager. Methods: a randomized crossover, repeated measure design was used. Eight national levelled, junior and neo-senior, speed skaters underwent a 10 min myofascial quadriceps rolling pre- and fifteen minutes post- a stepwise incremental cycling-test to exhaustion followed by a Wingate performance-test. The myofascial quadriceps rolling was used in one out of two laboratory testing-days. Time to exhaustion, peak oxygen uptake (VO_2peak), blood lactate concentration during 30 min of recovery, and peak- and mean- power during the consecutive Wingate test were recorded. Results: Myofascial quadriceps rolling using roller-massager resulted in higher blood lactate concentration at exhaustion and a larger blood lactate clearance after 10 min to post exhaustion test (both p < 0.05), a tendency for a positive effect on Wingate peak-power (p = 0.084; d = 0.71), whereas no marked differences were observed on VO_2peak, time to exhaustion and Wingate mean-power. Conclusion: Despite indications for potential benefits of the quadriceps myofascial tissue release using the mechanical self-induced multi-bar roller-massager on blood lactate concentration and Wingate peak-power, the myofascial tissue release gave no marked performance improvements nor indications of negative effects. Future studies could examine the long-term effects of myofascial tissue release on performance and recovery. Furthermore, integrating a measure of the participants’ subjective experience pre- and post the myofascial tissue release would be of great interest.

Purpose : The increasing professionalization of women’s football has heightened the importance of appropriate load management. However, little is known about current athlete monitoring practices and stakeholder perceptions in women’s football. Therefore, this study aimed to examine monitoring practices and perceptions among (1) players and (2) coaching and performance staff to identify key facilitators and barriers to effective load management. Methods : All clubs from the Norwegian women’s Premier League were invited to complete a role-specific online survey on data collection, data analysis, implementation, and evaluation of current monitoring practice. Eight clubs participated, eliciting data from 6 head coaches, 8 practitioners, and 113 players. Results : Five clubs (62.5%) reported systematic monitoring; all 5 included subjective measures, and 4 collected external loads, while 1 club measured counter movement jump test. Perceived individualization of training load (7-point Likert scale) yielded median scores of 5 and 6 for monitoring players and staff, respectively, compared with 4 and 2 for nonmonitoring players and staff. The most frequently reported challenges were “players not responding” for data collection, “time constraints” for data analysis, and “lack of equipment” and “tactical considerations” for decision on load adjustment. Conclusion : In this cohort, athlete monitoring was widely accepted but implemented heterogeneously and constrained by available resources. The findings generate the hypothesis that monitoring may increase perceived individualization of training, with good communication and visible use of data as potential facilitators. Future research should test this hypothesis in confirmatory studies and clarify the practical value of objective readiness measures for training-load decisions.