Pacing in a broader sense: tactics in short track speed skating

Pacing has been studied in time trial sports extensively. However, research is limited in sports with a direct form of competition, such as short track speed skating, where the main goal is to be the first instead of the fastest. Intermediate positions (i.e the ranking of each athlete per lap) may provide a way to analyze pacing strategies in sports where direct opponents play a large role. Further, we want to examine if these strategies are affected by gender or distance (500,1000,1500m). We hypothesize high positive correlations of the intermediate position with the final position during the laps in the final stages of the race in all short track competitions. A positive correlation would indicate that a high intermediate position is related with a high final position, and thus skating in first intermediate position is favourable compared to lower intermediate positions. Method Short Track World Cup season 2012/13 lap times were used to access final and intermediate positions in 500m (N=1764, 415 races), 1000m (N=1564, 365 races), and 1500m (N=1201, 213 races) competitions. Spearman Rho correlations were used to assess relationships between intermediate and finishing positions. Correlations>0.70 were perceived as strong. Finally, the winning% of the first ranked in each lap (i.e. percentage of all first ranked in a certain lap who won their race) were determined. Results In the 500m (4.5 laps of 111,12m), strong correlations were found with the final position during all laps for women. The winning% were high for the first ranked in each intermediate lap (4 laps to go: r=0.72, with increasing correlations towards the finish line; 75% of current leaders won the race). For men this was the case in all laps except the first (3 laps to go: r=0.71 with increasing correlations towards the finish line; 58%). In the 1000m (9 laps) the last three laps for women (3 laps to go: r=0.71; 66%) and last two laps for men (2 laps to go: r=0.82; 71%) showed strong correlations with the final position. In the 1500m (13.5 laps), the last two laps for women (2 laps to go: r=0.80; 62%) and last three laps for men (3 laps to go: r=0.72; 64%) showed strong correlations with the final position. Conclusion The strong positive correlations of intermediate ranking and end placement at the final stages of the race during all events indicate that tactical positioning at the latter phase of the race is a strong determinant of the final position. During the 500m, tactical positing seemed already important in the beginning of the race. In all events, being first ranked in the final stages of the race was related with high (>58-92%) final winning.