ArticleBMC research notes2024
Variation vs. specialization: the dose-time-effect of technical and physiological variety in the development of elite swimmers.
Article in BMC research notes, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed.
- Sport-Specific Testing and Training Methods in Youth.Sports (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Effects of personalized time-trial goal setting on swimming performance and psychological profiles in competitive swimmers.Frontiers in sports and active living · 2026Article
- Focus on One Swimming Stroke or Compete in Multiple: How Much Specialization Is Needed to Become a World-Class Female Swimmer?Journal of functional morphology and kinesiology · 2025Article
- Relative Age Effects and Place of Early Development Constrain Male Youth Italian Swimmers' Developmental Experiences.Sports (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Specializing When It Counts: Comparing the Dose-Time Effect of Distance Variety between Swimming and Track Running.Sports (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Quantity of within-sport distance variety - what can pool swimmers and track runners learn from each other?Frontiers in sports and active living · 2024Article
- Exploring the structural validity and reliability of the swimming competence assessment scale in college students.Frontiers in public health · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveIt is heavily discussed whether larger variety or specialization benefit elite performance at peak age. Therefore, this study aimed to determine technical (number of different swimming strokes) and physiological (number of different race distances) variety required to become an international-class swimmer (> 750 swimming points) based on 1'522'803 race results.
resultsCorrelation analyses showed lower technical variety in higher ranked swimmers (P < 0.001), yet with small effects (0.11-0.30). However, Poisson distribution revealed dose-time-effects and specified number of swimming strokes required during each age group. Specifically, freestyle swimmers showed highest chances when starting to compete in three to four swimming strokes but reduced their variety to three swimming strokes at the ages of 12/13yrs with another transition to two swimming strokes at the ages of 19/21yrs (female/male swimmers, respectively). Although both sexes showed similar specialization pattern throughout their career, earlier specialization was generally evident in female compared to male swimmers. At peak performance age, freestyle was most frequently combined with butterfly. Swimmers who either kept competing in all five swimming strokes or focused on only one at the beginning of their careers showed lowest probability of becoming an international-class swimmer. Physiological variety increased during junior age but declined again to three race distances towards elite age.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.