Swimming World Championships: Association between Success at the Junior and Senior Level for British Swimmers

• Main Authors: Inmaculada Yustres, Jesús Santos del Cerro, Stelios Psycharakis, Fernando González-Mohíno, José María González-Ravé
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2021-01-01
• Series: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
• Subjects: swimming; talent; early specialization
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/3/1237

The present study examines the association between the success at junior and senior level for British swimmers in World Championships (WCs). It also explores the relationships between swimming performance and the swimmers’ gender, swim stroke, distance, status (finalist, semifinalist and heats) and swimming category. Data were collected for swimmers participating in junior and/or senior World Championships (29,000 entries: 5585 swimmers) from 2006–2017. The final filtered database included only swimmers from the United Kingdom (836 entries: 141 swimmers). A descriptive analysis was made to characterize the swimmers who reached elite status in the senior category. A lineal regression model was run by gender to predict the influence of category, swim stroke, and distance in the results reached in the senior category. The results showed that the ratio of conversion from junior to senior was quite low. Females who participated in both junior and senior WCs were likely to reach top positions in the senior category. Overall, few British swimmers participated in a junior category before the senior level, but female swimmers participating in both junior and senior WCs were likely to reach top positions in the senior category.