PhD, professor A.G. Batalov
PhD, Associate professor M.E. Burdina
A.A. Feshchenko
Russian State University of Physical Culture, Sport, Youth and Tourism (GTSOLIFK), Moscow

Keywords: Olympic cycle, elite female cross-country skiers, competitive practices, performance in World Cup series, World Championships, Olympic Games, efficient competition systems, model characteristics.

Background. It is an active participation in competitive events that is commonly acknowledged to be a key component of the targeted athletic fitness achievement process. Special attention in the study was given to the competitive process management in the World Cup Series (WCS) prior to World Championships (WC) and Olympic Games (OG).

The WCS events prior to the WC and OG have always been ranked among the most important competitions of the highest potential effect on the integrated athletic fitness achievement process prior to the target competitions. Moreover, the WCS events give an excellent chance to acquire precious competitive experience in real contests with the top-ranking athletes qualified with the global cross-country skiing elite [1, 2]. 

Objective of the study was to develop model specifications of the most efficient competitive process management systems for elite women cross-country skiers prior to the Olympic Games and World Championships.

Methods and structure of the study. The study was designed to analyze competitive process designs of 20 elite female cross-country skiers who became champions and prize-winners of the 2011/13 WC and 2014 OG. Subject to processing and analysis under the study were 93 competition reports (covering 641 individual results) of the World Cup Series, World Championships and Olympic Games, including the numbers, intensity rates (“density”) and disciplines of the competitive events, and the individual success rates. Comparative analysis of the accomplishments of the WC/ OG champions and prize-winners versus their final all-round/ race/ sprint standings in the 2010/11, 2012/13 and 2013/14 World Cups was made.

Study results and discussion. The competitive process management systems of the WC/ OG champions and prize-winners – including their WCS competing strategies – prior to the main competitions were analyzed. The key specifications of these competitive systems may be summarized as follows:

1. The numbers of the WCS races the elite athletes participated in prior to the main WC/ OG competitions were relatively short – to prevent the athletes’ fitness resource being drained on the eve of the main events of the season (see Figure 1.).

Figure 1. The WCS races prior to the main WC/ OG competitions

2. The competitive process management systems of the WC/ OG champions and prize-winners were designed to join only 2-3 series of the WCS races to give the athletes every opportunity to recover in between the series and carry out the required training workloads for further progress of the individual athletic forms so as to reach the peaking forms by the periods of the target main competitions (see Figure 2 hereunder).

Figure 2. The Marit Bjorgen’s (NOR, 3 times world champion) record of competitions in the WCS prior to the 2013 WC

3. Purposes of the WC/ OG winners in the pre-season were always other than wins in the WCS all-round standings. Marit Bjorgen, for instance, a many times WC/ OG champion (3 golden and 1 silver medals of the 2011 WC; 3 golden and 1 silver medals of the 2013 WC; and 2 golden medals of the 2014 OG) had never won the World Cup for this period in neither of the three (all-round, race, sprint) standings.

4. The World Cup records of the Olympic cycle subject to the study include many cross-country ski sprint races: 9 of 22 races prior to the 2011 WC (41%); 7 of 20 races prior to the 2013 WC (35%); and 8 of 18 races prior to the 2014 OG (44.4%). The WC/ OG champions and prize-winners in the individual sprint events show the following WCS sprint participation growth trend: 42.7±1.4% prior to the 2011 WC; 48.6±13.3% prior to the 2013 WC and 73.6±22.9% prior to the 2014 OG (see Figure 3), the figures being indicative of the further specialization trend in the elite ski sprinters’ training/ competitive process.

Figure 3. Group average number of the individual sprints of the WCS with participation of the WC/ OG champions and prize-winners

5. Group average number of the races of the WCS (prior to the main championships) with participation of the 2011-13 WC and 2014 OG champions and prize-winners; and total numbers of the races in the annual cycles (WCS events plus the WC/ OG events in the individual disciplines) were obtained and analyzed, as follows:

• 16.7 ± 2.9 races (75.9%) in 2010-11 prior to the WC, or 25.3 ± 2.8 for the annual cycle;
• 10.8 ± 4.0 races (54%) in 2012-13 prior to the WC, or 19.1± 5.9 for the annual cycle;
• 9.9 ± 3.3 races (55%) in 2013-14 prior to the WC, or 17.4±4.6 for the annual cycle.

The World Cup women’s champions were found to compete in the highest number of events for the annual cycle, as follows:

• Y. Kovalchik competed in 30 races in the 2010-11 season (WC: 15 km skiathlon: 2 place; 10 km race (С): 2 place; 30 km race (F mst): 3 place);
• Y. Kovalchik competed in 29 races in the 2012-13 season (WC: 30 km race (С mst): 2 place); and
• T. Johaugh competed in 23 races in 2013-14 season (OG: 10 км (С): 3 place; 30 km race (F mst): 2 place).

Conclusion. The efficient competitive process management systems applied by the 2011/ 2013 WC and 2014 OG champions and prize-winners give good grounds for the individual target competitive process management systems applicable to elite female cross-country ski racers being designed and implemented in the periods prior to Olympic Games and World Championships.

References

1. Batalov A.G. Model'no-tselevoy sposob postroeniya sportivnoy podgotovki vysokokvalifitsirovannykh sportsmenov v zimnikh tsiklicheskikh vidakh sporta (Targeted model design method of elite athletes' training system in winter cyclic sports) / A.G. Batalov // Teoriya i praktika fizicheskoy kultury. – 2000. – № 11. – P. 28–33; 2001. – № 3. – S. 23.
2. Burdina M.E. Podkhody k modelirovaniyu individual'nykh tselevykh sistem sorevnovaniy v lyzhnykh gonkakh v periodyi podgotovki k zimnim Olimpiyskim igram (Individual target competition systems design methods in cross country skiing during training for Winter Olympics) / M.E. Burdina // Teoriya i praktika fizicheskoy kultury. – 2009. – № 7. – P. 30.