IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v17y2020i7p2543-d342736.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Role of Nationality in Ultra-Endurance Sports: The Paradigm of Cross-Country Skiing and Long-Distance Running

Author

Listed:
  • Beat Knechtle

    (Medbase St. Gallen Am Vadianplatz, 9001 St. Gallen, Switzerland
    Institute of Primary Care, University of Zurich, 8091 Zurich, Switzerland)

  • Thomas Rosemann

    (Institute of Primary Care, University of Zurich, 8091 Zurich, Switzerland)

  • Pantelis Theo Nikolaidis

    (Exercise Physiology Laboratory, 18450 Nikaia, Greece
    School of Health and Caring Sciences, University of West Attica, 12243 Athens, Greece)

Abstract

Although the variation of performance by nationality in endurance sports such as marathon has been well studied, little information exists so far on the role of nationality on performance in ultra-endurance sports. The aim of the present study was to review the role of nationality on cross-country skiing and ultra-endurance running. Scopus and PubMed were searched using the syntax “nationality AND (ultra-endurance OR ultra-marathon OR cross-country skiing) in 1/4/2020. This search identified 17 articles, whose references were further examined for relevant literature. It was observed that Russian athletes dominated ultra-endurance running and cross-country skiing races. It was shown that these races were in other countries, where it was assumed that only the best Russians competed. Potential explanations could be misuse of performance enhancing substances, historical, climate-geographical and psychophysiological (e.g., combination of genetic and social factors). In summary, recent studies found a dominance of Russian athletes in specific races (i.e., ‘Comrades Marathon’, ‘Vasaloppet’, and ‘Engadin Ski Marathon’) and disciplines (i.e., ultra-marathon running, cross-country skiing) over a period of several decades. Future studies are need to investigate other events and other sport disciplines to confirm this Russian dominance.

Suggested Citation

  • Beat Knechtle & Thomas Rosemann & Pantelis Theo Nikolaidis, 2020. "The Role of Nationality in Ultra-Endurance Sports: The Paradigm of Cross-Country Skiing and Long-Distance Running," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(7), pages 1-9, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:7:p:2543-:d:342736
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/7/2543/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/7/2543/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Riordan, Jim, 1987. "Sports medicine in the Soviet Union and German Democratic Republic," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 25(1), pages 19-26, January.
    2. Beat Knechtle & Volker Scheer & Pantelis Theodoros Nikolaidis & Caio Victor Sousa, 2020. "Participation and Performance Trends in the Oldest 100-km Ultramarathon in the World," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(5), pages 1-12, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Aldo Seffrin & Claudio A. B. Lira & Rodrigo L. Vancini & Douglas A. T. Santos & Cathia Moser & Elias Villiger & Thomas Rosemann & Beat Knechtle & Lee Hill & Marilia S. Andrade, 2021. "Italians Are the Fastest 3000 m Open-Water Master Swimmers in the World," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(14), pages 1-9, July.
    2. Mabliny Thuany & David Valero & Elias Villiger & Pedro Forte & Katja Weiss & Pantelis T. Nikolaidis & Marília Santos Andrade & Ivan Cuk & Caio Victor Sousa & Beat Knechtle, 2023. "A Machine Learning Approach to Finding the Fastest Race Course for Professional Athletes Competing in Ironman ® 70.3 Races between 2004 and 2020," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(4), pages 1-12, February.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Beat Knechtle & Margarida Gomes & Volker Scheer & Robert Gajda & Pantelis Theodoros Nikolaidis & Lee Hill & Thomas Rosemann & Caio Victor Sousa, 2021. "From Athens to Sparta—37 Years of Spartathlon," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(9), pages 1-9, May.
    2. Georgios Kavetsos, 2012. "National Pride: War Minus the Shooting," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 106(1), pages 173-185, March.
    3. Pantelis T. Nikolaidis & Beat Knechtle, 2021. "Is It Time for Sports and Health in the Era of Covid-19 Pandemic?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(2), pages 1-3, January.
    4. Angelika Stöhr & Pantelis Theodoros Nikolaidis & Elias Villiger & Caio Victor Sousa & Volker Scheer & Lee Hill & Beat Knechtle, 2021. "An Analysis of Participation and Performance of 2067 100-km Ultra-Marathons Worldwide," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(2), pages 1-12, January.
    5. Aldo Seffrin & Beat Knechtle & Rodrigo Luiz Vancini & Douglas de Assis Teles Santos & Claudio Andre Barbosa de Lira & Lee Hill & Thomas Rosemann & Marilia Santos Andrade, 2021. "Origin of the Fastest 5 km, 10 km and 25 km Open-Water Swimmers—An Analysis from 20 Years and 9819 Swimmers," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(21), pages 1-11, October.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:7:p:2543-:d:342736. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.