Two Is Better than One: Successful World-Class Sprinters Compete in Two Disciplines

Abstract

We aimed to quantify the prevalence of track and field sprinters competing at a world-class level in more than one discipline, and we describe the career characteristics of single- and double-discipline athletes in terms of peak performance and the age of peak performance. The career performance of athletes ranked in the top 200 positions of the World Athletics database in the 100 m, 200 m, and 400 m were analyzed, i.e., 5514 career profiles (49.9% female). Using binomial proportion, we calculated how many competed in only one or more than one discipline. We also compared the peak performance and the age of peak performance of athletes who competed in one vs. more than one discipline. Independent of gender, about 50% of the athletes competing in the 100 m and 200 m also competed in the other discipline (i.e., 200 m and 100 m, respectively). Differently, only 20% of the athletes competing in the 400 m also competed in the 200 m. Sprinters competing in the 100–200 m and 200–400 m couples showed better peak performance than the sprinters competing in only one discipline. Many world-class sprinters compete in two disciplines, and the 100–200 m was the most prevalent couple. Our results also suggest that sprinters who compete in two disciplines may be advantaged compared to sprinters who compete in only one event.