Purpose: Purpose of this study was to analyse differences in postural stability between athletes with ID competing in Alpine and Cross country (XC) skiingto assess the effect of special sportstraining on postural stability in persons with ID. Methods: Athletes with IDwere divided into four groups by their discipline: Alpine skiers(n=9), XC skiers2.5to 10 km (n=10), XC skiers500 to 1000 m (n=18) and XC skiers50 and 100 m (n=10). All participants were asked to stand barefootedon the ZebrisFDM platform (Medical GmbH, Germany) with their eyes open and closed.To compare differences between groups one-way ANOVAwith Tukey HSD test was used. To compare the difference between the eyes open and closed, t-testwas used. Results: Statisticalanalysis showed no significant differences between AlpineandXC skiersin analysed variables.The analysis of COP velocity showed superior postural stability in XC skiers 2.5 to 10 km compared to XC skiers 500 and 1000m.In XC skiers500 and 1000 m, XC skiers2.5to 10 kmandAlpine skiersa significant increase in COP velocity was observed when having the eyes closed. In XC skiers50 and 100 m, no statistically significant differences between the eyes open and closed conditionswere observed. Conclusions: Despite different sportstraining no difference between Alpine and XC skiers in postural stability was observed. When comparing XC skiers, better postural stability was observed in skiers running longer distances, suggesting that this sportstraining enhancesbalance skills needed in everyday life.
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