When do female sprinters peak

Throwers displayed the greatest performance improvements over the 5 y prior to peak age mean [SD]: 7. Similarly, top 10 athletes showed greater improvements than top athletes in all events 1. Interestingly, as women's peak performance age increased, they became similar to men's peak ages in many events. In the last years, ages at which peak athletic performance is observed have increased in women but not in men. This would seem in line with the long-standing notion in baseball that players tend to hit their peak anywhere from ages 27 to For swimmers, the news is more sobering, as the mean peak age is The question of when an athlete hits their peak has been much debated for many years because there are examples of elite and amateur competitors enjoying the most successful periods of their careers at each end of the spectrum and everywhere in between.

Knowing when that might be can be useful in developing long-term training strategies. There are, however, various sources of well-researched data available that points to common points in life when best results are generally achieved. A review carried out in New Zealand that was published back in , for example, explored a huge amount of estimates about the age at which elite athletes peak, and asserted ages for a number of different disciplines in swimming and athletics.

For sprints, jumps, and throws, men and women hit their peak around 25 years of age while triathletes peak at The longest endurance events profiled an older age though, with marathoners peaking at 30 and 29 for men and women respectively while Ironman athletes hit their prime even older at 32 and In terms of strength, it is generally accepted that muscle mass naturally declines over the age of 40, and the evidence seems to suggest 25 is when athletes are at their strongest.