TABLE 1.

General linear model for achieving Top-20 FINA points in 200 m IM. A positive β value indicates a likely improvement in performance whereas a negative value indicates a reduction in performance.

	GLOBAL
	Estimate(β)	Std.Error	t value	p-value	R2	r-value
(Intercept)	88.983	25.52	3.48	< 0.001
Age	-1.48	0.46	-3.16	0.002		0.32
Sprint Distance	0.09	0.03	2.74	0.006		0.39
Middle Distance	0.02	0.04	0.40	0.699	0.701	0.49
Long Distance	-0.04	0.02	-1.70	0.089		0.31
400 IM	0.32	0.04	7.87	< 0.001		0.70
200 IM	0.54	0.04	12.44	< 0.001		0.80
	FEMALES
(Intercept)	114.398	14.84	7.70	< 0.001
Age	-1.55	0.26	-5.86	< 0.001		0.29
Sprint Distance	0.09	0.01	5.62	< 0.001	0.681	0.36
400 IM	0.25	0.01	12.45	< 0.001		0.72
200 IM	0.57	0.02	22.66	< 0.001		0.79
	MALES
(Intercept)	95.279	14.96	6.36	< 0.001
Age	-1.64	0.32	-5.05	< 0.001		0.34
Sprint Distance	0.12	0.01	6.87	< 0.001	0.730	0.43
400 IM	0.19	0.02	9.12	< 0.001		0.68
200 IM	0.62	0.02	22.01	< 0.001		0.80

Note: SD: Sprint Distance (50–100 m); MD: Middle distance (200–400); LD: Long distance (800–1500 m); 200 IM: The relation between the FINA points achieved in the two years preceding the Top-20 performance in 200m-IM and the FINA points in the specific year which swimmers achieved a TOP-20 position in 200-mIM; 400IM: The relation between the FINA points achieved in 400-mIM and the FINA points in 200-mIM.