Table 4.
Trajectory groups for middle distance swimmers by demographic characteristics, swim specialty and time-variant covariates.
| Trajectory groups for Middle Distance swimmers |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Long group | Stable group | Balanced group | Unstable group | P | |
| Qualitative covariates: sample size (%) | |||||
| Total | 66 (100) | 36 (100) | 47 (100) | 35 (100) | |
| Gender female | 25 (38) | 18 (50) | 20 (43) | 18 (51) | 0.50 |
| Male | 41 (62) | 18 (50) | 27 (57) | 17 (49) | |
| Specialty freestyle | 11 (46) | 16 (44) | 24 (51) | 15 (43) | 0.10 |
| Breaststroke | 2 (3) | 4 (11) | 2 (4) | 1 (3) | |
| Butterfly | 3 (5) | 6 (17) | 5 (11) | 8 (23) | |
| Backstroke | 3 (5) | 6 (17) | 7 (15) | 8 (23) | |
| 4 strokes | 16 (24) | 6 (17) | 9 (19) | 6 (17) | |
| Quarter 2nd | 35 (53) | 10 (28) | 23 (49) | 18 (51) | 0.08 |
| 3rd | 31 (47) | 26 (72) | 24 (51) | 17 (49) | |
| Season from entry in the study 1 | 0 (0) | 5 (14) | 5 (11) | 2 (6) | 0.02 |
| 2 | 8 (12) | 6 (17) | 8 (17) | 12 (34) | |
| 3 | 10 (15) | 3 (8) | 5 (11) | 5 (14) | |
| ≥4 | 48 (73) | 22 (61) | 29 (62) | 16 (46) | |
| Season in quadrennial Post-Olympic | 20 (30) | 8 (22) | 10 (21) | 8 (23) | 0.01 |
| World Championship | 16 (24) | 7 (19) | 13 (28) | 12 (34) | |
| Pre-Olympic | 19 (29) | 14 (39) | 6 (13) | 13 (37) | |
| Olympic | 11 (17) | 7 (19) | 18 (38) | 2 (6) | |
| Quadrennial September 1992–September 1996 | 5 (8) | 5 (14) | 7 (15) | 7 (20) | 0.20 |
| September 1996–September 2000 | 7 (11) | 6 (17) | 7 (15) | 11 (31) | |
| September 2000–September 2004 | 27 (41) | 11 (31) | 12 (26) | 9 (26) | |
| September 2004–September 2008 | 18 (27) | 11 (31) | 12 (26) | 5 (14) | |
| September 2008–September 2012 | 9 (14) | 3 (8) | 9 (19) | 3 (9) | |
| Quantitative covariate: Mean ± SD | |||||
| Age at the performance date in y | 20.8 ± 3.1 | 19.9 ± 3.0 | 21.0 ± 3.4 | 19.8 ± 3.1 | 0.20 |
Values are sample sizes (row percentages) for categorical covariates and mean ± SD for quantitative covariates. P-values correspond to chi-squared or Fisher exact test (if chi-squared conditions not fulfilled) for categorical covariates, ANOVA or Kruskal–Wallis rank sum test (if ANOVA conditions not fulfilled) for quantitative covariates.