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The Optimal Ambient Conditions for World Record and World Class Performances at the Berlin Marathon

The “Berlin Marathon” is the fastest marathon racecourse in the world and has witnessed 11 world records (WRs; eight in men and three in women). Weather conditions can have an important impact on race time and we therefore examined the influence of environmental conditions (i.e., temperature, sunshi...

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Autores principales: Scheer, Volker, Valero, David, Villiger, Elias, Alvero Cruz, José Ramón, Rosemann, Thomas, Knechtle, Beat
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8194270/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34122130
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2021.654860
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author Scheer, Volker
Valero, David
Villiger, Elias
Alvero Cruz, José Ramón
Rosemann, Thomas
Knechtle, Beat
author_facet Scheer, Volker
Valero, David
Villiger, Elias
Alvero Cruz, José Ramón
Rosemann, Thomas
Knechtle, Beat
author_sort Scheer, Volker
collection PubMed
description The “Berlin Marathon” is the fastest marathon racecourse in the world and has witnessed 11 world records (WRs; eight in men and three in women). Weather conditions can have an important impact on race time and we therefore examined the influence of environmental conditions (i.e., temperature, sunshine, precipitation, barometric pressure, and cloud cover) on WRs and elite (i.e., winner, top three and top 10 finishers) marathon performances of men and women at the “Berlin Marathon” between 1974 and 2019. Average world record marathon times in men were 2:03:52 ± 0:01:19 h:min:s and 2:25:05 ± 0:08:25 h:min:s in females (p < 0.05). Male competitions were held 44 times (mean winning time: 2:09:48 ± 0:09:15 h:min:s) and female competitions 41 times (mean winning time: 02:30:35 ± 0:19:09 h:min:s; p < 0.05). World record performances were set at mean temperatures of 18.61 ± 2.59°C for men and 13.07 ± 4.01°C for women (p > 0.05). The ideal environmental conditions for world record performances for men were temperatures of 18.61°C (p > 0.05), sunny, mostly dry days, with higher atmospheric pressure and little cloud cover (all p > 0.05). In women, ideal conditions for world records performances were temperatures of 13.07°C (p > 0.05), with low atmospheric pressure (p > 0.05), but significantly more rain (p < 0.05), and with no sunshine (p < 0.05) and cloud cover (p < 0.05). With elite performances, the ideal temperatures were of 17.36 ± 4.33°C for men and 17.93 ± 4.07°C for women (p > 0.05), with little to no rain, and moderate cloud cover and sunshine (p > 0.05). In summary, novel findings are, that environmental conditions in world records performances differ between men and women, with women obtaining world records in bad weather (with rain, cloud cover, and no sunshine) and men in good weather (sunny, mostly dry days, with little cloud cover). Larger sample sizes are needed to examine sex differences and environmental conditions on world record marathon performances.
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spelling pubmed-81942702021-06-12 The Optimal Ambient Conditions for World Record and World Class Performances at the Berlin Marathon Scheer, Volker Valero, David Villiger, Elias Alvero Cruz, José Ramón Rosemann, Thomas Knechtle, Beat Front Physiol Physiology The “Berlin Marathon” is the fastest marathon racecourse in the world and has witnessed 11 world records (WRs; eight in men and three in women). Weather conditions can have an important impact on race time and we therefore examined the influence of environmental conditions (i.e., temperature, sunshine, precipitation, barometric pressure, and cloud cover) on WRs and elite (i.e., winner, top three and top 10 finishers) marathon performances of men and women at the “Berlin Marathon” between 1974 and 2019. Average world record marathon times in men were 2:03:52 ± 0:01:19 h:min:s and 2:25:05 ± 0:08:25 h:min:s in females (p < 0.05). Male competitions were held 44 times (mean winning time: 2:09:48 ± 0:09:15 h:min:s) and female competitions 41 times (mean winning time: 02:30:35 ± 0:19:09 h:min:s; p < 0.05). World record performances were set at mean temperatures of 18.61 ± 2.59°C for men and 13.07 ± 4.01°C for women (p > 0.05). The ideal environmental conditions for world record performances for men were temperatures of 18.61°C (p > 0.05), sunny, mostly dry days, with higher atmospheric pressure and little cloud cover (all p > 0.05). In women, ideal conditions for world records performances were temperatures of 13.07°C (p > 0.05), with low atmospheric pressure (p > 0.05), but significantly more rain (p < 0.05), and with no sunshine (p < 0.05) and cloud cover (p < 0.05). With elite performances, the ideal temperatures were of 17.36 ± 4.33°C for men and 17.93 ± 4.07°C for women (p > 0.05), with little to no rain, and moderate cloud cover and sunshine (p > 0.05). In summary, novel findings are, that environmental conditions in world records performances differ between men and women, with women obtaining world records in bad weather (with rain, cloud cover, and no sunshine) and men in good weather (sunny, mostly dry days, with little cloud cover). Larger sample sizes are needed to examine sex differences and environmental conditions on world record marathon performances. Frontiers Media S.A. 2021-05-28 /pmc/articles/PMC8194270/ /pubmed/34122130 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2021.654860 Text en Copyright © 2021 Scheer, Valero, Villiger, Alvero Cruz, Rosemann and Knechtle. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Physiology
Scheer, Volker
Valero, David
Villiger, Elias
Alvero Cruz, José Ramón
Rosemann, Thomas
Knechtle, Beat
The Optimal Ambient Conditions for World Record and World Class Performances at the Berlin Marathon
title The Optimal Ambient Conditions for World Record and World Class Performances at the Berlin Marathon
title_full The Optimal Ambient Conditions for World Record and World Class Performances at the Berlin Marathon
title_fullStr The Optimal Ambient Conditions for World Record and World Class Performances at the Berlin Marathon
title_full_unstemmed The Optimal Ambient Conditions for World Record and World Class Performances at the Berlin Marathon
title_short The Optimal Ambient Conditions for World Record and World Class Performances at the Berlin Marathon
title_sort optimal ambient conditions for world record and world class performances at the berlin marathon
topic Physiology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8194270/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34122130
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2021.654860
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