Comparative Analysis of Female Elite Biathletes’ Sports Results in World Cup Competitions before the World Championship and during the World Championship in the Season of 2010–2011

Abstract

Research background and hypothesis. Modern training trend for biathletes is the increasing intensity of the
training process in competition activities. Competition activities of elite biathletes while preparing for the main
competition of the season have received little attention by researchers. Research hypotheses: The number of starts
and sports results in the competitions before the main competition of the season for elite biathletes are related to
sports results in the main competition of the season.
Research  aim  was  to  analyse  the  interaction  of  biathletes’  sports  results  and  the  number  of  starts,  and  to
establish the relation of this interaction between the results achieved in World Cup competitions and World Biathlon
Championship.
Research methods. The data have been retrieved from the documents of the International Biathlon Union (IBU):
protocols of the World Biathlon Championship of 2011 and World Biathlon Cup competition. We analysed the sports
results of female biathletes who took the 1 st –10 th  places in the World Biathlon Championship in individual events.
Research results. World elite biathletes participated in E.ON and IBU category competitions 16.2 ± 3.74 times
before the World Biathlon Championship. The number of starts correlates with the places taken by biathletes in the
general account of the World Biathlon Cup before the world championship (r = –0.83). In the individual races in the
World Championship, all medals were won by eight skiers, and five of them were among the first ten skiers in the
general standing of World Cup competitions before the world championship.
Discussion and conclusion. The preparation of elite biathletes for the most important competition of the season  –
World Biathlon Championship is grounded on the repeated participation in the World Biathlon Cup competitions.
Biathletes, taking the 1 st –10 th  places in the general account of the World Biathlon Cup, are real applicants for medals
in the World Biathlon Championship.

Keywords: number of starts, taken places, correlation, sprint, pursuit, mass start, individual start.