Elite performance in 1500m speed skating

The road to elite performance is long and different for the few individuals who make it. To enable evidence-informed guidance of junior speed skaters, the present thesis studies the road to elite 1500m performance and aims to unravel underlying performance characteristics by cross-sectional and longitudinal studies 

The present thesis describes ecologically valid measurements and methods leading to a standardized performance variable, age-related performance goals, age-related pacing profiles and profiles of changes in technique of the previous elites. Based upon this, practical guidelines are presented to enable evidence-informed guidance of the future elites in 1500m speed skating. While doing so, the present study showed the importance of longitudinal analyses in studying junior athletes as they keep on developing and are not yet equal to senior athletes. Future research should continue with this longitudinal research in order to better understand performance of junior athletes and in return enable more evidence-informed guidance of the future elites in speed skating as well as in other sports.