Eighty-seven triathletes who competed in the senior or junior elite categories at the 1997 Triathlon World Championships were measured on a battery of 30 anthropometric dimensions. Analyses sought to clarify what physical differences existed between these competitors at the highest level. Generally, the senior triathletes were older, faster, heavier and had broader shoulders than their junior counterparts. The junior females recorded a greater sum of 8 skinfolds, endomorphy rating and had less muscle mass than their senior triathlete counterparts. The senior males revealed significantly greater segmental lengths, girths and breadths than the junior males. However, most of these differences were removed when applying dimensional scaling to the raw scores. These results suggest that, while the junior males have not fully matured, they already have many of the proportional physical characteristics of the senior male triathletes. Hence, after full development, they could possess similar morphology. In contrast, the junior female triathletes are closer to the senior females in physical maturity, except for a greater sum of skinfolds and less muscle mass. A higher level of training may therefore alter these characteristics and possibly improve their performance.
© Copyright 1999 Proceedings from the Gatorade International Triathlon Science II Conference, Noosa, Australia, November 7-8, 1999: Maximising Olympic Distance Triathlon Performance: A multi-disciplinary perspective. Veröffentlicht von Central Queensland University/Triathlon Research Initiative. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.