Applied Testing and Performance Monitoring in Adolescent Competitive Swimmers: Sex-Specific Correlates of 400 m Front Crawl Performance

Abstract

Performance monitoring in competitive swimming requires practical and interpretable assessments suitable for routine training environments. This study examined whether a multidimensional battery combining training history, anthropometric characteristics, dry-land neuromuscular assessments and physiological responses could explain 400 m front crawl performance in adolescent competitive swimmers. Twenty-eight swimmers (14 males and 14 females) completed anthropometric and body composition assessments, bilateral handgrip strength, countermovement jump and muscular resistance testing. They subsequently performed a maximal 400 m front crawl test in a 25 m pool, from which performance time, peak oxygen uptake, peak heart rate and peak blood lactate concentration were determined. Sex-specific associations were examined and exploratory multiple regression models were fitted. Males were faster and showed greater bilateral handgrip strength, muscular resistance, jump height and peak oxygen uptake than females. In males, the reduced model explained 73.1% of the variance in performance time, with accumulated training practice emerging as the only significant independent correlate. In females, the reduced model explained 76.5% of the variance, with right handgrip strength emerging as the only significant independent correlate. These findings support multidimensional and sex-specific approaches to monitoring 400 m front crawl performance, although the regression results should be interpreted as exploratory because of the small sex-specific samples.