Early excellence and future performance advantage
- PMID: 38917179
- PMCID: PMC11198806
- DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0306134
Early excellence and future performance advantage
Abstract
Objectives: The objective of this study was to examine the impact of athletes achieving excellence at different ages (excellent age) on their subsequent performance development. The aim was to deepen understanding of the interplay among talent, training, and athletes' performance development. Additionally, the study aimed to provide insights for athletics coaches to better identify talent and devise more effective personalized long-term training plans.
Design: This was a cross-sectional study.
Method: A hierarchical linear model was employed to analyze the correlation between excellent age and subsequent performance development in a cohort of 775 elite track and field athletes. This analysis was expanded upon by the application of a general linear regression model, which was used to explore the relationship between excellent age and peak age, peak performance, as well as the growth in performance during adulthood.
Results: As athletes reached excellence at later ages, their peak performance exhibited a U-shaped pattern(p <0.001), initially decreasing and then rising. Simultaneously, their peak age became increasingly advanced(p <0.001), with a progressively larger performance improvement during adulthood(p <0.001). In various disciplines, excellent age is negatively correlated with peak performance for speed athletes(p = 0.025), exhibiting a U-shaped pattern for endurance athletes(p = 0.024), and showing no significant correlation for fast-power athletes(p = 0.916).
Conclusions: Athletes who achieve excellence either early or later often show more remarkable future developments. However, there are significant distinctions in the age at which these athletes reach their peak performance and the pace of improvement leading up to it. Those who excel early may possess greater innate athletic talent, whereas those who excel later may exhibit superior training adaptability. Consequently, an athlete's early performance can predict his/her future performance trajectory, offering support for individualized long-term training plans. In summary, the age at which athletes achieve excellence may bring different advantages to their future athletic performance and development. This implies that we should harness these differences to uncover each athlete's maximum potential.
Copyright: © 2024 Wang et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Conflict of interest statement
The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
Figures
![Fig 1](https://cdn.statically.io/img/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/instance/11198806/bin/pone.0306134.g001.gif)
![Fig 2](https://cdn.statically.io/img/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/instance/11198806/bin/pone.0306134.g002.gif)
Similar articles
-
[The assessment of biological maturation for talent selection - which method can be used?].Sportverletz Sportschaden. 2015 Mar;29(1):56-63. doi: 10.1055/s-0034-1399043. Epub 2015 Feb 24. Sportverletz Sportschaden. 2015. PMID: 25710395 German.
-
Prediction of elite athletes' performance by analysis of peak-performance age and age-related performance progression.Eur J Sport Sci. 2022 Feb;22(2):146-159. doi: 10.1080/17461391.2020.1867240. Epub 2021 Jan 24. Eur J Sport Sci. 2022. PMID: 33393438
-
Peak Age and Performance Progression in World-Class Track-and-Field Athletes.Int J Sports Physiol Perform. 2018 Oct 1;13(9):1122-1129. doi: 10.1123/ijspp.2017-0682. Epub 2018 Oct 18. Int J Sports Physiol Perform. 2018. PMID: 29543080
-
Age of Peak Competitive Performance of Elite Athletes: A Systematic Review.Sports Med. 2015 Oct;45(10):1431-41. doi: 10.1007/s40279-015-0354-3. Sports Med. 2015. PMID: 26088954 Review.
-
Short-term Periodization Models: Effects on Strength and Speed-strength Performance.Sports Med. 2015 Oct;45(10):1373-86. doi: 10.1007/s40279-015-0355-2. Sports Med. 2015. PMID: 26133514 Review.
References
-
- Simonton DK. Scientific talent, training, and performance: Intellect, personality, and genetic endowment. Review of general psychology. 2008; 12(1):28–46.
MeSH terms
Grants and funding
LinkOut - more resources
Full Text Sources
Research Materials