The Significance of U23 Competitions in Wrestling Career
Vol.18,No.2(2024)
Background. Designing the training of athletes should be based on specific goals and objectives at each stage of the long-term development. Each age stage in the development of an elite athlete has its own significance. The U23 competitions are organized to facilitate a smoother and more effective transition of wrestlers from junior to senior levels. The aim of the study is to determine the significance of performances in the U23 competitions for the subsequent development process of wrestlers. Materials and Methods. The following research methods have been used in the paper: the analysis of the scientific and methodological literature, the analysis of the official results, and methods of mathematical statistics. We have studied the sports careers of participants in the 2017, 2018, and 2019 World Championships in freestyle, Greco-Roman, and women's wrestling. A total of 1277 wrestlers’ sporting biographies have been analyzed. Results. The majority of participants (73.7 %) in the U23 age category competitions previously competed at the junior level. Moreover, more than half of the athletes (58.4 %) had prior experience of participating in cadet competitions. It is worth noting that 63.7 % of all wrestlers participated in senior-level competitions, and 31.5 % of them achieved podium finishes. Among women, a higher percentage of athletes continue their careers (46.3 %) and achieve success (20.1 %) on the international stage after the U23 competitions. For male freestyle wrestlers, the figures are lower, with only 38.2 % continuing their careers. Conclusion. The analysis demonstrated that the U23 competitions, which serve as a continuation of the cadet and junior age groups, are part of the overall sequence of competitions in the development of wrestlers at the international level. However, the importance of the U23 competitions varies depending on the level of athletes, and they serve both as preparatory and main competitions within the athletes' training system.
Wrestling; pathway; U23; results; championships
Allen, S. V., & Hopkins, W. G. (2015). Age of peak competitive performance of elite athletes: a systematic review. Sports Medicine, 45(10), 1431-1441.
Allen, S. V., Vandenbogaerde, T. J., & Hopkins, W. G. (2014). Career performance trajectories of Olympic swimmers: Benchmarks for talent development. European journal of sport science, 14(7), 643-651.
Baker, J., Wattie, N., & Schorer, J. (2019). A proposed conceptualization of talent in sport: The first step in a long and winding road. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 43, 27-33.
Biac M., Hrvoje K. & Sprem D. (2014). Beginning age, wrestling experience and wrestling peak performance-trends in period 2002-2012. Kinesiology, 46 (S-1), 94-100.
Bjørndal, C. T., Luteberget, L. S., & Holm, S. (2018). The relationship between early and senior level participation in international women’s and men’s handball. Journal of Human Kinetics, 63(1), 73-84.
Błach, W., Korobeynikov, G., Vences, D. B. A., Warchoł, K., & Cynarski, W. J. (2021). Brief review of scientific events and publications–in the sphere of human and cultural problems, and martial arts discourse 2020. Ido Movement for Culture. Journal of Martial Arts Anthropology, 21(1), 56-66.
Boccia, G., Cardinale, M., & Brustio, P. R. (2020). World-class sprinters’ careers: early success does not guarantee success at adult age. International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance, 16(3), 367-374.
Bompa, T., & Haff, G. (2009). Periodization training: Theory and methodology (5th ed.), Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.
Bruce, L., Farrow, D. & Raynor, A. (2013). Performance mile-stones in the development of expertise: Are they critical? Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 25, 281–297. https://doi.org/10.1080/10413200.2012.725704
Database. United World Wrestling. Unitedworldwrestling.org. 2023 [cited 10 April 2023]. Available from: https://unitedworldwrestling.org/database
De Bosscher, V., & De Rycke, J. (2017). Talent development programmes: a retrospective analysis of the age and support services for talented athletes in 15 nations. European Sport Management Quarterly, 17(5), 590-609.
Franchini, E., Fukuda, D. H., & Lopes-Silva, J. P. (2020). Tracking 25 years of judo results from the World Championships and Olympic Games: Age and competitive achievement. Journal of Sports Sciences, 1-8.
Franck, A., & Stambulova, N. B. (2019). The junior to senior transition: A narrative analysis of the pathways of two Swedish athletes. Qualitative research in sport, exercise and health, 11(3), 284-298.
Gulbin, J., Weissensteiner, J., Oldenziel, K., & Gagné, F. (2013). Patterns of performance development in elite athletes. European journal of sport science, 13(6), 605-614.
Güllich. A., & Cobley, S. (2017). On the efficacy of talent identification and talent development programmes. In Routledge handbook of talent identification and development in sport (pp. 80-98). Routledge.
Haugen, T. A., Solberg, P. A., Foster, C., Morán-Navarro, R., Breitschädel, F., & Hopkins, W. G. (2018). Peak age and performance progression in world-class track-and-field athletes. International journal of sports physiology and performance, 13(9), 1122-1129.
Huxley, D. J., O’Connor, D., & Larkin, P. (2017). The pathway to the top: Key factors and influences in the development of Australian Olympic and World Championship Track and Field athletes. International Journal of Sports Science & Coaching, 12(2), 264-275.
Karninčić H., Baić M., & Sprem D. (2017). Optimal Age to Begin with Greco-Roman Wrestling and Reach Peak Performance Trends in Cases of World-Class Medal Winners of Various Weight Groups. Paper presented at the Conference Applicable Research in Wrestling. Novi Sad. Srbija.
Kearney, P. E., & Hayes, P. R. (2018). Excelling at youth level in competitive track and field athletics is not a prerequisite for later success. Journal of sports sciences, 36(21), 2502-2509.
Korobeinikova, L., Korobeynikov, G., Cynarski, W. J., Borysova, O., Kovalchuk, V., Matveev, S., ... & Novak, V. (2020). Tactical styles of fighting and functional asymmetry of the brain among elite wrestlers. Ido Movement for Culture. Journal of Martial Arts Anthropology, 20(4), 24-30.
Latyshev M., Shandrygos V., Tropin Y., Polianychko O., Deineko A., Lakhtadyr O., Mozoliuk O. (2021). Age distribution of wrestlers participating in the world championships. Acta Kinesiologica, 15 (1), 138-143. https://doi.org/10.51371/issn.1840-2976.2021.15.1.17
Latyshev, M., Latyshev, S., Korobeynikov, G. Kvasnytsya, O., Shandrygos, V., & Dutchak, Y. (2020). The analysis of the results of the Olympic free-style wrestling champions. Journal of Human Sport and Exercise, 15 (2), 400-410. https://doi.org/10.14198/jhse.2020.152.14
Latyshev, М., Tropin, Y., Podrigalo, L., Boychenko, N. (2022). Analysis of the Relative Age Effect in Elite Wrestlers. Ido movement for culture. Journal of Martial Arts Anthropology, 22 (3), 28-32 https://doi.org/10.51371/issn.1840-2976.2021.15.1.17
Li, P., De Bosscher, V., Pion, J., Weissensteiner, J. R., & Vertonghen, J. (2018). Is international junior success a reliable predictor for international senior success in elite combat sports?. European journal of sport science, 18(4), 550-559.
Morley, D., Turner, G., Roberts, A. H., Lidums, M., Melvin, I., Nicholson, M., & Donaldson, A. (2022). What do coaches want to know about identifying, developing, supporting and progressing athletes through a national performance pathway?. Sports Coaching Review, 1-24. https://doi.org/10.1080/21640629.2022.214240
Romanenko, V., Piatysotska, S., Tropin, Yu., Rydzik, Ł., Holokha, V., & Boychenko, N. (2022). Study of the reaction of the choice of combat athletes using computer technology. Slobozhanskyi Herald of Science and Sport, 26(4), 97-103. https://doi.org/10.15391/snsv.2022-4.001
Taylor, J., & Collins, D. (2022). Navigating the winds of change on the smooth sea-the interaction of feedback and emotional disruption on the talent pathway. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 34(4), 886-912.
U23 World Championships Announced. Flowrestling. 2023 [cited 10 April 2023]. Available from: https://www.flowrestling.org/articles/5061973-u23-world-championships-announced-for-november-in-poland
Wunderlich, F., & Memmert, D. (2020). Forecasting the outcomes of sports events: A review. European Journal of Sport Science, 1-33.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Copyright © 2024 Mykola Latyshev, Inna Holovach, Olena Polianychko, Yrui Tropin, Dmytro Shtanagei, Olena Lakhtadyr