Increased Variability of Lap Speeds Differentiate Medallists and Non-Medallists in Middle Distance Running and Swimming Events.

Purpose: Previous literature has presented pacing data of groups of competition finalists. The aim of this study was to analyse the pacing patterns displayed by medallists and non-medallists in international competitive 400-m swimming and 1500-m running finals.
Methods: Split times were collected from 48 swimming finalists (four 100-m laps) and 60 running finalists (4 laps) in international competitions between 2004 and 2012. Using a cross sectional design, lap speeds were normalised to whole race speed and compared to identify variations of pace between groups of medallists and non-medallists. Lap speed variations relative to the gold medallist were compared for the whole field.
Results: In 400-m swimming the medallist group demonstrated greater variation in speed than the non-medallist group, being relatively faster in the final lap (p<0.001; moderate effect) and slower in laps one (p=0.03; moderate effect) and two (p>0.001; moderate effect). There were also greater variations of pace in the 1500-m running medallist group compared to the non-medallist group with a relatively faster final lap (p=0.03; moderate effect) and slower second lap (p=0.01; small effect). Swimming gold medallists were relatively faster than all other finalists in lap 4 (p=0.04) and running gold medallists were relatively faster than the 5th to 12th placed athletes in the final lap (p=0.02).
Conclusions: Athletes that win medals in 1500-m running and 400-m swimming competitions show different pacing patterns from non-medallists. End spurt speed increases are greater with medallists, who demonstrate a slower relative speed in the early part of races but a faster speed during the final part of races compared to non-medallists.