INTRODUCTION: Ski Mountaineering requires both pronounced physiological capacity when skiing uphill and remarkable downhill skiing technique (Bortolan, 2022). Even if for XC-skiing several studies have demonstrated that male world-class skiers are among the endurance athletes with the highest VO2max (Losnegard, 2019), less is known about ski mountaineers and the difference between performance levels of athletes. METHODS: Twenty-five ski-mountaineers (age 26.2 ± 7.5 years) were divided into two groups (world-class, WC and national, N) according to their performance level and performed an anthropometric assessment and a laboratory ski-mountaineering graded exercise test (GXT) to evaluate VO2max, gross efficiency (GE), ventilatory thresholds (VTs), as well as the power output associated with these indices. RESULTS: No differences in age, weight, height, and BMI, while a lower percentage of body fat (p=0.03) was found in the WC group. GXT revealed differences between the two groups regarding maximum power output (WC: 4.84±0.2 N: 4.32±0.23 W/kg, p<0.001), VO2max (WC: 75.1±5.3 N: 66.2±5.2 mLO2/min/kg, p<0.001). At VT2 we found differences in power output (WC: 4.1±0.2 N: 3.6±0.2 W/kg, p<0.001), and the associated VO2 (WC: 66.6±4.3 N: 58.4±4.5 mLO2/min/kg, p<0.001). Also, at VT1 we found differences in power output (WC: 3.5±0.1 N: 3.0±0.2 W/kg, p<0.001), and the associated VO2 (WC: 56.5±3.6 N: 48.5±2.4 mLO2/min/kg, p<0.001). All these differences are large or very large. Mean and maximum GE results were similar between the groups as well as maximal blood lactate concentration. DISCUSSION/CONCLUSION: We know that to push the performance of ski mountaineering athletes further, the development of performance-related factors like power output at maximum and ventilatory threshold 2 seems crucial (Lasshofer, 2021), but here we also found a large difference between the two categories at threshold 1 and this should be considered from coaches and athletes. In the future, we should start to differentiate athletes accordin to their SKIMO specialization (sprint vs distance) to define these differences better. REFERENCES: Bortolan, L. et al., 2022. Front Physiol Losnegard, T., 2019. Eur J Appl Physiol Lasshofer, M. et al., 2021. J Sport Sci and Med
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