Postlockdown Performance in French Swimming Championships.

PURPOSE: To measure the proportion of French swimmers that progressed, stagnated, or regressed during the 2020 national championship compared with previous ones. METHOD: Individual best performances were collected at the French national championships from 2000 to 2020. Yearly proportions of swimmers who improved, stagnated, or regressed in performances were compared with their previous performances. RESULTS: In 2020, the proportion of swimmers with performance regression has significantly increased (33% vs 17% in 2019). Women showed a higher proportion of performance regression (41%) than men (26%, P < .0001) in 2020. Only 39% of women and 53% of men experienced progression in 2020 (vs 60.8% [3.7%] and 66.7% [5.2%], respectively, in the previous years). Only the 2008 and 2009 championships showed a regression proportion that did not increase with age. The 2010 championship (the year of swimsuits ban) showed a higher proportion of regressing athletes than these previous years. Long-distance events showed higher proportion of performance regression (36.2% [0.5%]) for 400-, 800-, and 1500-m races than for short-distance ones (32.1% [3.2%]; 50-, 100-, and 200-m events). Breaststroke events showed higher regression (42.4%) than other styles (30.5% [2.1%]). Younger swimmers more often improved their performance than older ones (61.9% [8.5%] for swimmers less than 18 y of age vs 20.0% [10.8%] for those 25 y and older). CONCLUSION: A high proportion of swimmers experienced performance regression during the 2020 French national championships. A higher impact was observed among female, long-distance, and breaststroke swimmers. Eight weeks of lockdown without training may have led to poorer swimming performances.

The COVID-19 pandemic impact on the best performers in athletics and swimming among paralympic and non-disabled athletes.

BACKGROUND: The COVID 19 pandemic has greatly disrupted high performance sport and international competition. The aim of this study was to quantify the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the world's top 10 performances in Athletics and Swimming among non-disabled and Paralympic athletes. METHODS: The results of the 10-best world performers in 66 Olympic events since 1891 and 255 Paralympic events since 2010 were collected. To quantify the performance trend, the slopes of the 4 years moving average were calculated and analyzed by time period. The distribution of performances (in % of the world record) by year was analyzed to compare the 2020 values to the ten previous years. The stability rate (athletes joining and leaving each year) since 2010 and the number of annual competitions events were also measured. RESULTS: Over the study period, such declines in performance have only been observed during the two World Wars. In 2020, the level of performances has decreased significantly, corresponding to a 6 to 10 years setback. In 2020, the number of new athletes in the 10-best was significantly higher with a lower number of organized competitions. CONCLUSIONS: The impact on the performances of the best international non-disabled and Para athletes has been considerable.

The COVID-19 Pandemic Impact on Away and Home Victories in Soccer and Rugby Union.

Objective: To measure the impact of restrictions due to COVID on the proportion of matches won at home, away and draw in professional soccer and rugby union. Materials and Methods: Two samples of professional soccer and rugby union matches were collected from 2012-13 to 2020-21 seasons. For soccer, data involved first and second division matches of the England, Spain, Germany, Italy, France, Belgium, Scotland, Greece, Portugal, and Turkey championships. For rugby union, championships concerned are Premiership Rugby, Celtic League, Top 14, and Pro D2. The proportions of home, away wins and draw were calculated and compared. A chi-square test of independence between years and types of result was realized to identify an overall inhomogeneity. Results: The proportion of away matches won between the 2012-13 and 2020-21 seasons increased significantly from 28.5 ± 1.2% to 32.5 ± 1.5% in soccer and from 38.0 ± 3.6% to 42.8 ± 5.0% in rugby union. In Premiership Rugby championship, the victory percentage at home dropped from 55.8 ± 3.1% when tifosi were present to 45.8 ± 12.8% when they were not. Conclusion: The home advantage was drastically reduced in empty stadiums for several European soccer and rugby union professional championships. It vanished in the Premiership Rugby and Celtic League during the 2020-21 season.

Resting Heart Rate Measurement in Elite Athletes during COVID-19 Lockdown: The Impact of Decreased Physical Activity

The purpose was to observe the effects of a four-week lockdown on the resting heart rate (RHR) and well-being perception of elite swimmers. Twenty elite swimmers performed RHR measurements upon waking in supine and standing positions. Baseline values and those measured after four weeks of lockdown were compared. Swimmers completed a questionnaire on their training volume and state of well-being. During the lockdown, swimmers reported a weekly mean physical activity of 10.4 ± 3.6 h (an estimated reduction of 254% compared to their usual training volume). After four weeks of lockdown, RHR in the supine position increased by more than two beats per minute (58.8 ± 8.2 vs. 56.5 ± 7.4 bpm, p < 0.05). In the standing position, RHR increased by almost 15 beats per minute (103.3 ± 13.2 vs. 88.4 ± 9.4 bpm, p < 0.0001). Fifty percent of these athletes expressed a decrease in well-being. These results underline that the lockdown circumstances induced a large reduction in parasympathetic activity in elite athletes, which was associated with a decrease in training volume. This increase in RHR may reflect that a highatly strenuous environment and maintaining a high level of physical activity in this population could be favorable to preserve physical and psychological health.