Do Handcycling Time-Trial Velocities Achieved by Para-Cycling Athletes Vary Across Handcycling Classes?

• Rafael E.A. Muchaxo ^[1] ; Sonja de Groot ^[2] ; Lucas H.V. van der Woude ^[2] ; Thomas W.J. Janssen ^[1] ; Carla Nooijen ^[3]
  1. [1] VU University Amsterdam

     VU University Amsterdam

     Países Bajos

     
  2. [2] University of Groningen

     University of Groningen

     Países Bajos

     
  3. [3] Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences

     Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences

     Suecia

     

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• Localización: Adapted physical activity quaterly, ISSN 0736-5829, Vol. 37, Nº. 4, 2020, págs. 461-480
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • The classification system for handcycling groups athletes into five hierarchical classes, based on how much their impairment affects performance. Athletes in class H5, with the least impairments, compete in a kneeling position, while athletes in classes H1 to H4 compete in a recumbent position. This study investigated the average time-trial velocity of athletes in different classes. A total of 1,807 results from 353 athletes who competed at 20 international competitions (2014–2018) were analyzed. Multilevel regression was performed to analyze differences in average velocities between adjacent pairs of classes, while correcting for gender, age, and event distance. The average velocity of adjacent classes was significantly different (p < .01), with higher classes being faster, except for H4 and H5. However, the effect size of the differences between H3 and H4 was smaller (d = 0.12). Hence, results indicated a need for research in evaluating and developing evidence-based classification in handcycling, yielding a class structure with meaningful performance differences between adjacent classes.