Author(s): GARCÍA-GONZÁLEZ, P., GONZÁLEZ-JURADO, J.A., Institution: EUROPEAN COLLEGE OF SPORT SCIENCE, Country: SPAIN, Abstract-ID: 501

INTRODUCTION:
World Championships are attractive to the scientific community and have been investigated in a wide range of sports. The World Triathlon Series (WTS) is the top championship for triathlon in Olympic distance (OD). Sex differences in triathlon performance have been found to depend on discipline and distance, as previous studies have shown (Lepers, 2019). Lepers & Stapley (2010) have asserted that the sex performance gap is narrower in the Olympic distance when compared to other larger distances. The influence of COVID-pandemic on triathlon is not yet clear. The aim of the present study is to provide a comprehensive analysis of the effect of COVID-19 pandemic on performance in the WTS focusing on male and female categories.
METHODS:
The dataset for this study was obtained from the ITU World Triathlon Series (WTS) website (http://wts.triathlon.org/). Individual discipline times and overall times from 2018 and 2022 were collected for analysis, excluding 2020 due to the COVID-19 outbreak. The total number included athletes in this study was 1,628 subjects (874 males and 754 females). The mean age of subjects overall was 27.00 for males and 27.59 for females. The Students t-test for independent samples comparing sex was used for normal variables, whereas the Mann-Whitney U-test was used for non-normal variables.
RESULTS:
The analysis displayed several significant changes in performance after the COVID-19 pandemic. For men, all the variables changed with a p value lower than 0.001. All variables except for swimming and first transition performance showed better performance values. For women, all variables significantly changed after the COVID-19 pandemic. Swimming, cycling and final performance improved (p values 0.033; ˂0.001; ˂0.001 respectively) whereas the running performance decreased (p value 0.003). When examining the relative changes between sexes, four out of six studied variables showed significant differences, being the cycling and the final performance the most significant (p values ˂0.001). Additionally, the two other variables (swimming and first transition performance), showed a smaller difference (p values ˂0.05).
CONCLUSION:
These results suggest that triathletes from both sexes participating in the Olympic Distance of the WTS were able to not only maintain but also improve their final performance level despite the COVID-19 pandemic, except for the swimming performance. The reason may be because access to swimming pools during the lockdown may have been more complicated than cycling or running training. These findings also highlight the importance of considering specific variables, distances, and sex when assessing the impact of the pandemic on multi-sport performance.

Lepers, R. (2019). Sex difference in triathlon performance. Frontiers in Physiology, 10(JUL), 1–7.
Lepers, R., & Stapley, P. J. (2010). Differences in gender and performance in off-road triathlon. Journal of Sports Sciences, 28(14), 1555–1562.