Career Performance trajectories in Italian track and field athletes: from adolescence to peak performance

Aims: The idea that early sport success, because of either early sport specialization or early physical maturation, can be detrimental for long-term sport performance in still under debate (Moesch et al. 2011, Tønnessen et al. 2015). The aim of this study was to quantify performance developments in track and field running, jumping, and throwing disciplines as a function of age, disciplines and gender. Methods: In this retrospective study, we collected performance data of the last 20 years (1994 – 2014) from the Italian track and field federation rankings. We evaluated performance and rankings from the age of 14 to date (or to career termination) in the following disciplines: 100 m, long jump, high jump, shot put, discus throw, 100/110 hurdles. The absolute and relative annual performance developments, the ranking development, the ages of best performance, performance plateau around the peak, and career termination, were calculated. Results: In the currently available preliminary results, males showed higher annual performance development than females in all disciplines. In general, men achieved peak performance later than women. Conclusions: This is the first study calculating absolute and relative annual performance developments in running, jumping, and throwing events of competitive athletes from late adolescence to career termination. The relation between early career performance and adult peak performance will provide important information to track and field coaches.