The aspect of nationality in participation and performance at the ‘Powerman Duathlon World Championship’ – The ‘Powerman Zofingen’ from 2002 to 2011

Abstract

We investigated participation and performance trends in duathletes in the ‘Powerman Duathlon World Championship’ in Zofingen, Switzerland, from 2002 to 2011, regarding the nationality of the finishers. Sex and nationality at the time of the competition and overall race times of both women and men finishers at the ‘Powerman Zofingen’ (10 km run, 150 km cycle, 30 km run) were analysed from 2002 to 2011 using linear regression analysis. In total, 272 women and 1,964 men finished the race. Participation increased across years in women (r²=0.73, P<0.01), but not in men (r²=0.15, P>0.05). Most of the athletes originated from Switzerland, followed by participants from Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, the United States of America, Spain, Great Britain, the Netherlands and Denmark. Across the years, both German men (r²=0.55, P=0.01) and German women (r²=0.66, P<0.01) increased their participation. The top five athletes overall showed no changes in performance for both women and men where Swiss athletes achieved the fastest race times. Athletes from the five countries with the highest participation showed no changes in overall race time. To summarize, (i) European athletes from Switzerland and Germany dominated participation in the ‘Powerman World Championship’ where Swiss duathletes were the fastest and (ii) duathletes at world-class level showed no changes in performance in the last ten years. Future studies should investigate the participation and performance trends in other long distance duathlons of the ‘Powerman World Series’.