http://www.diva-portal.org This is the published version of a paper published in Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport. Citation for the original published paper (version of record): Nooijen, C F., Muchaxo, R., Liljedahl, J., Bjerkefors, A., Janssen, T. et al. (2021) The relation between sprint power and road time trial performance in elite para- cyclists. Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, : S1440-2440(21)00110-9 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsams.2021.04.014 Access to the published version may require subscription. N.B. When citing this work, cite the original published paper. © 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of Sports Medicine Australia. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/4.0/). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jsams Please cite this article as: C.F.J. Nooijen, R. Muchaxo, J. Liljedahl, et al., The relation between sprint power and road time trial performance in elitepara-cyclists, Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, https:// doi.org/10.1016/j.jsams.2021.04.014 Permanent link to this version: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:gih:diva-6708 JSAMS-02514; No of Pages 6 Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport xxx (xxxx) xxx Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jsams Original research The relation between sprint power and road time trial performance in elite para-cyclists Carla F.J. Nooijen a,b, Rafael Muchaxo c,JohannaLiljedahla, Anna Bjerkefors a, Thomas Janssen c,d, Luc van der Woude e, Anton Arndt a, Sonja de Groot c,d,⁎ a Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences (GIH), Stockholm, Sweden b Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden c Faculty of Behavioural and Human Movement Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, the Netherlands d Rehabilitation Research Center Amsterdam, Reade Amsterdam, the Netherlands e University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Center for Human Movement Sciences, the Netherlands article info abstract Article history: Objectives: Whilst cycling performance has been studied extensively, very little is known about the performance Received 20 February 2020 of para-cyclists. This study assessed the relation between sprint power and road time trial performance in elite Received in revised form 23 April 2021 para-cyclists, and whether this relation differed based on impairment type and type of bike used. Accepted 26 April 2021 Design: Cross-sectional. Available online xxxx Methods: During international para-cycling events, 168 athletes (88 bicycles, 17 tricycles, 56 recumbent handbikes and 7 kneeling handbikes) performed 20-s sport-specific sprint tests (mean power output (POmean) Keywords: fi Cycling W), and their road time trial performance (average speed (km/h)) was taken from the of cial results. Multilevel Paralympics regression models to assess the relation of sprint with time trial performance were composed for i. leg-cyclists: Sprint bicycle and tricycle and ii. arm-cyclists: recumbent- and kneeling handbike, adjusted for identified confounders. Endurance Furthermore, impairment type (categorized as i) muscle power/range of motion, ii) limb deficiency/leg length Power difference, and iii) coordination) and bike type were tested as effect modifiers. Speed Results: POmean ranged from 303 ± 12 W for recumbent handcyclists to 482 ± 156 W for bicyclists. POmean was significantly related to time trial performance, for both leg-cyclists (β = 0.010, SE = 0.003, p < 0.01) and arm- cyclists (β = 0.029; SE = 0.005, p < 0.01), and impairment type and bike type were not found to be effect modifiers. Conclusions: Sprint power was related to road time trial performance in all para-cyclists, with no differences found in this relation based on impairment type nor bike type. For those competing on a bicycle, tricycle, recumbent- or kneeling handbike, sprint tests might therefore be useful to predict ormonitortimetrialperformance. © 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of Sports Medicine Australia. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Practical implications 1. Introduction − Sprint power showed a strong relation with road time trial speed in Cycling is a coordinated movement between limbs that requires the para-cyclists and this relation did not differ between athletes with appropriate timing of muscle activation in order to manage loads im- different impairments or between athletes competing on different posed on each joint, the transfer of energy between joints and imparting bike types. energy to the cranks for propulsion.1 Power production in cycling de- − A 20-s sprint test is an easy and standardized way for athletes and pends mainly on pedalling rate, muscle size, muscle fiber-type distribu- coaches to predict or monitor their time trial potential. tion, cycling position, and fatigue.2 Although the biomechanics and − The results of this study can assist in deciding which performance physiology of cycling have been extensively studied, relatively little is measures to include in para-cycling classification research. known about cycling in persons with physical impairments,2 especially in persons with more severe impairments as illustrated in a recent liter- ature review on handcycling physiology.3 Abbreviations: CO, coordination impairments: hypertonia, athetosis and ataxia; IQR, Para-cycling, i.e., cycling for individuals with impairments, is a Para- Interquartile range; Kg, kilogram; Km/h, kilometres/h; LL, limb deficiency and leg length lympic sport.4 Dependent on the athletes' impairment, individuals use difference; MR, muscle power impairments and range of motion impairments; N.E., Not their legs or their arms to propel a bike, where cycling using legs is an eligible to compete; PO, power output; UCI, Union Cycliste Internationale; W, Watt. ⁎ Corresponding author. asynchronous movement and cycling using arms typically synchronous. E-mail address: [email protected] (S. de Groot). Competitions are organised on four different bike types: bicycle, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsams.2021.04.014 1440-2440/© 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of Sports Medicine Australia. This is an open access article under the CC BY license(http://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by/4.0/). Please cite this article as: C.F.J. Nooijen, R. Muchaxo, J. Liljedahl, et al., The relation between sprint power and road time trial performance in elite para-cyclists, Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsams.2021.04.014 C.F.J. Nooijen, R. Muchaxo, J. Liljedahl et al. Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport xxx (xxxx) xxx tricycle, recumbent handbike and kneeling handbike. Using these tricyclists and from the board of the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam different bikes, athletes compete in different classes according to for the handcyclists (2018-093; 2019-052). All participants provided the degree of functional limitation. Classification in para-sports written informed consent. should provide the structure to ensure that winning is not deter- mined by the impairment but by the same factors that account for Time trial performance success in able-bodied sports (skill, talent and training effort).5 For those racing on a bicycle there are five classes, for tricycling two clas- Publicly available official individual time trial results of the event ses, for recumbent handbike four classes and for kneeling handbike at which the athlete also performed the sprint test were used to cal- one class.4 Different impairments are mixed within classes. Eligible culate average race speed in km/h.7 Race distances ranged from 10.4 impairments for para-cycling are: limb deficiency (congenital or ac- to 31.2 km, based on the event, class and sex. As individual time trial quired amputation), muscle strength impairments, impaired passive performance might be influenced by unexpected circumstances such range of motion, leg length difference, and coordination impair- as technical failures or injuries, outliers were identified. Following ments including hypertonia, ataxia and athetosis. In the tricycle dis- Tukey's method,16 outliers were definedas1.5timestheinterquar- cipline, only athletes with coordination impairments are eligible to tile range (IQR) below the first or above the third quartile of the compete.Thegroupofpara-cyclistsisthusheterogonouswithre- speed of the class the athletes were participating in, respectively. gard to arm or leg propulsion, asynchronous vs synchronous propul- For those outliers, the other race results were controlled to assess sion, type of bike, and impairment type. whether the result was an exceptional outlier. If it was an excep- In classification research, the aim is to unravel the relation between tional outlier or no other race results were available, data of this ath- impairment and sports performance.6 It is easy to access race results to lete were excluded. use as a performance measure for para-cycling.7 However, for road events these are dependent on weather conditions, environment and Sprint power the specific course characteristics at each event, interaction with other competitors, and therefore a more standardized performance measure The test protocol started with a warm-up period of 5 min, might be desirable. A sprint test on a cycling ergometer is a short and followed by an isokinetic 20-s sprint test performed on the athlete's simple standardized test for cycling performance, and previous studies own bike mounted on a cycle ergometer (Cyclus2, RBM Electronics, indicate that sprint power is strongly related with aerobic capacity in Leipzig, Germany).17 Athletes were responsible for their own bike persons with disabilities.8–10 However, in elite para-cyclists it is un- and its condition. The tests were performed indoors. The majority known how the results of a sprint test relate to endurance performance of the athletes performed the test 0–4 days before the race, alterna- in an individual time trial.