Dr.Hab., Professor, Honoured figure of Physical Culture of the RF V.N. Potapov¹
Associate Professor D.O. Maleev^1
1Institute of Physical Education of Tyumen State University, Tyumen

Keywords: racing skiers, artificial hypoxic training, training process, competitive performance.

Background. It is the artificial (altitude simulation) hypoxic training tools that are being considered today among the most promising methods to improve efficacy of the training systems applied in elite sports [1, 2, 4-6, 8, 9]. Appreciating the contributions of many researchers to a variety of theoretical and practical provisions for the athletic training systems applied in elite skiing sport [3, 6, 10, 11], we should mention that many modern artificial hypoxic training protocols and methods have still been underused for the lack of sound theoretical grounds for their practical applications.

Objective of the study was to assess the benefits of the combined training method including special artificial hypoxic training component combined with the traditional training systems to improve the elite racing skiers' competitive success rates and competitive performance stability.

Methods and structure of the study. The study was performed at the Winter Sports Centre of Tyumen State University. Subject to the study were 20 elite skiers of 18-22 years of age (including Masters of Sport and Candidates for Master of Sport) in the pre-season cycle, the subjects being evenly split up into Study Group (SG) and Reference Group (RG) of 10 people each. The training systems in both of the groups were identical in terms of the training loads and intensities; proportions of conventional athletic training practices and methods in the spring-summer and summer-autumn meso-cycles; and in the training days and hours. The only difference of the SG and RG training systems was in the artificial hypoxic training protocols and methods applied in the SG training process only. The study data were analyzed to rate the competitive performance of the subjects in the winter regular period. The competitive success rates were based on the race times and places won by the subjects in the formal racing events of the season.

Study results and discussion. Our analysis of the individual competitive success rates of the subjects in the season showed progress of every subject as compared to the individual best results of the last season, albeit progress of the SG athletes (who applied the artificial hypoxic training protocols in the pre-season) was notably higher versus that of the RG. Both of the groups, for instance, were even in the numbers of events they competed in the municipal- and regional-level events of the 2013/2014 winter season, but the SG athletes won 22 prizes (I-II-III places) is different competitive events versus only 4 prizes (one second and three third places) won by the RG athletes in the same events. It should be noted that the SG athletes showed progress in the competitive success rates in every distance of the ski racing events, whilst the progress of the RG competitors was mostly limited by the short-distance events. Therefore, the competitive success rates in the above events were higher in the SG versus the RG, with the SG athletes showing more stable and constantly improving competitive success rates from one competition to another.

We believe that the above progress of the SG competitors is largely due the high special physical fitness levels attained mostly by the traditional athletic training system supported in the pre-season by the special artificial hypoxic training component. It was the highly popular ski racing events of the III Russian Winter University Games Finals that crowned the 2013/2014 winter season, and the Tyumen region in the events was represented by the Tyumen State University (TSU) team as the winner of the first and second qualification events for the University Games. It should be emphasized that the TSU team for the Games was composed totally from the SG racing skiers since nobody of the RG was found competitive enough with the SG as verified by the results of the qualification events.

Coming to the University Games Finals were 13 regional teams defending the colours of the following areas: Arkhangelsk, Kemerovo, Kirov, Kostroma, Tyumen, Smolensk and Chelyabinsk regions; the Krasnoyarsk Territory; Republic of Sakha-Yakutiya; Republic of Udmurtiya; and the cities of Moscow and Saint Petersburg. Each of the regions was represented by the university teams that made success in the second qualification events of the University Games plus the top-ranking university racing skiers' qualified for the individual competitions.

Our analysis of the TSU athletes’ individual success rates in the III University Games Finals provided additional evidence of the high individual special physical performance standards achieved by the athletes that secured their victories and high competitive performance stability in the national high-ranking events of the winter season under the study.

In the first-day 10km individual classical-style race, for instance, all the three top prizes were won by the Tyumen athletes, plus two of their teammates won the fifth and seventh places in the event. In the second-day 1.7km freestyle sprint finals, the best result was again achieved by a TSU athlete, with his teammates taking the 11, 12 and 13 places. The third-day 15 km freestyle races were again won by the Tyumen athletes who came first and third to the final. In the last day of the competitions, the TSU team confidently won the 4x10km relay race with the team time 1 and 2 minutes ahead of the second and third prize winners (the Kemerovo and Udmurtiya State University teams), respectively.

Therefore, the success of the TSU skiing team in the III Russian Winter University Games Finals in the ski racing events showed progress of the SG athletes in the top ranking events of the season where they were ranked as mostly winners or runner-ups, plus took the first place in the relay race and made the best team total score – 446 points ahead of the second best rival, the Kemerovo State University team.

One more proof of the efficacy of the SG training system applied in the elite racing skiers' training process for the next two years after this study was completed is the success of the TSU men’s skiing team in the IV Russian Winter University Games Finals in the ski racing events (March 2016, Saransk) where the team defended its title coming first in the team total score and in the 4х10km relay race 4 min 12 seconds ahead of the second best team of South Ural Research State University (Chelyabinsk).

Conclusion. The highest competitive success rates of the TSU racing skiers in the popular top-ranking winter competitions that were largely due to the combined pre-season training method including special artificial hypoxic training component combined with the traditional training systems may be interpreted as indicative of the high efficacy of the proposed system as verified by the competitive performance growth and its stability for the whole season. The study findings give us the grounds to recommend the proposed method for application in the traditional training systems by highly-skilled and elite racing skiers as it may be a valuable element of the modern athletic training technologies in skiing sport.

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Corresponding author: potap47@bk.ru

Abstract

The study was designed to explore the fundamental theoretical and practical problems of elite sports based on the elite racing skiers' training process efficiency improvement technology. Experiments under the study showed notable benefits of the combined training method including special hypoxic training tools prudently combined with the traditional training systems applied in the elite ski racing sport. The study reports theoretical substantiations for the benefits of the combined training method including hypoxic training tools combined with the traditional elite racing skiers' training systems. It demonstrates the practical advantages of the proposed hypoxic training system in the pre-season cycles of the elite racing skiers' training process in combination with the traditional training systems, and the relevant improvements in the competitive success rates and the athletic performance stability in winter competitive season.