Sustainable Sport Development: The Influence of Competitive-Grouping and Relative Age on the Performance of Young Triathletes

Abstract

Competitive-grouping by chronological age is a common organizational strategy in competition which may unintentionally promote relative age effects, for the benefit of older individuals within the same competitive-group, especially in young athletes. This work presents the aim of analyzing differences in young triathletes on their performance within each competitive group. A total of 1243 entries of both sexes, both children—13–14 years old—and cadets—15–17 years old—participated. Firstly, we identified the year in the competitive group and relative-age semester for all the triathletes who competed in a total of six seasons from 2013 to 2018. Secondly, the performance indicator was calculated in all the segments in a triathlon competition for all triathletes. The Kruskal-Wallis Test and U Mann Whitney Test was applied. It was observed that all cadet triathletes born in the first semester of the year (S1, born in January–June) were faster; for both boys and girls. Likewise, it was observed that older triathletes who competed within the same category were faster, but only in males and for both competitive groups: children (p < 0.0083), and cadet (p < 0.0033). In conclusion, families, coaches and sports political agencies need a greater knowledge and understanding of the effects of relative age and competitive grouping to understand the important role of age in the development of sports talent demonstrated in this study.