Physical Fitness Evaluation of Paralympic Winter Sports Sitting Athletes

Objective: To provide normative values of physical fitness in Paralympic winter sports athletes competing in a sitting posture and to identify the components relevant for successful performance. Design: Cross-sectional study with sports. Setting: The Institute of Sports Medicine and Science of the Italian National Olympic Committee (Rome, Italy). Participants: Fifteen Alpine skiers (3 BP), 16 Nordic skiers (2 BP), 10 curlers (2 BP), and 34 ISH players (7 BP). Independent Variables: Curling, Alpine skiing, Nordic skiing, and ice sledge hockey (ISH). Main Outcome Measures: Physical fitness components. Oxygen uptake peak ((V) over dotO(2peak); L.min(-1) and mL.kg(-1.)min(-1)), mechanical work in a high-intensity exhaustion exercise (MW-HIE; kJ and kJ.kg(-1)), upper-body strength (N and N.kg(-1)), mean explosive power (MEP; W and W.kg(-1)) in a 10-second arm cranking ergometer Wingate test, and fat mass (FM) (% body mass) were primary outcome measures when assessed in the whole sport groups and secondary outcome measures when separating the BP from the others. Results: Based on 1-way analysis of variance and Tukey post hoc test (P < 0.05), (V) over dotO(2peak) and MW-HIE were highest in Nordic skiers (2.9 +/- 0.53 L.min(-1) and 18.3 +/- 3.98 kJ) and similar in ISH players and Alpine skiers (2.5 +/- 0.42 and 2.3 +/- 0.44 L.min(-1) and 17.4 +/- 2.62 and 16.8 +/- 7.41 kJ, respectively). Alpine skiers showed the highest absolute strength values (1210.1 +/- 220.92 N). Curlers had the highest FM (26.2% +/- 7.74%) and the lowest (V) over dotO(2peak) (1.8 +/- 0.35 L.min(-1)), MW-HIE (11.4 +/- 2.40 kJ), and MEP (251.1 +/- 67.16 W). Among the BP, Nordic skiers, ISH players, and Alpine skiers showed (V) over dotO(2peak), MW-HIE, and strength equal to 3.4 +/- 0.43, 2.9 +/- 0.38, and 2.8 +/- 0.18 L.min(-1) and 22.6 +/- 4.04, 19.4 +/- 2.84, and 18.4 +/- 7.86 kJ, respectively. Conclusions: Analyzing physical fitness data of athletes competing in the last 4 winter Paralympic Games, normative values are provided. The specific components that are highly developed in the BP are considered relevant for successful performance.