Mid Sweden University

The aim of this study was to correlate the anaerobic speed reserve and the maximal speed reserve with the distance capacity above the critical speed ( D '), derived from four different mathematical models, in a group of endurance runners. Twenty-two runners performed an incremental treadmill test to exhaustion, an all-out 40-m sprint and three time trials (800, 1,500 and 3,000 m) on an outdoor running track to determine an anaerobic speed reserve, a maximal speed reserve and D '. D ' was determined using linear distance-time ( D ' linear d - t ), linear velocity-time ( D ' linear 1/ t ), 2-parameter hyperbolic ( D ' 2-hyp) and 3-parameter hyperbolic ( D ' 3-hyp) models. A high correlation was observed between the anaerobic speed reserve and D ' linear 1/ t ( r =0.77; p <0.001), while moderate correlations were observed between the anaerobic speed reserve and D ' linear d - t ( r =0.69; p <0.001) and D ' 2-hyp ( r =0.63; p <0.003). The anaerobic speed reserve was not significantly correlated with D ' 3-hyp. High correlations were detected between the maximal speed reserve and D ' linear 1/ t , D ' linear d - t and D ' 2-hyp ( r =0.74 to 0.76; p <0.001) and a moderate correlation was detected between the maximal speed reserve and D ' 3-hyp ( r =0.58; p =0.01). These moderate- to high correlations with D ', especially when derived from models using two parameters, suggest the existence of similar mechanisms underpinning the variables.

Menstrual health represents a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being in relation to a woman's menstrual cycle. From a health literacy perspective, knowledge acquisition and expertise are dependent upon the degree to which an individual can find, access, understand, critically analyse, and apply health information. Therefore, menstrual health literacy can be used to describe the state of knowledge acquisition and application specific to menstrual health-related issues. Menstrual health literacy is low among female athletes, their coaches, and practitioners, and few evidence-informed education or implementation strategies exist to improve menstrual health literacy in sport. Moreover, athletes seldom discuss their menstrual cycles or hormonal contraceptive use with their coaches, despite experiencing menstrual symptoms and/or disturbances and perceiving their menstrual cycles/hormonal contraceptive use to affect performance. Barriers to communication about menstrual cycle-and hormonal contraceptive-related topics include a perceived lack of knowledge among athletes, coaches, and practitioners, concerns about how conversations on these issues will affect interpersonal relationships, and a lack of formal and informal discussion forums. Whilst evidence relating to the effects of the menstrual cycle phase and hormonal contraceptive use on training and performance is currently limited, with existing studies often lacking methodological rigour, impactful steps can still be made to support female athletes. This cornerstone review highlights the current state of menstrual health literacy among athletes, coaches, and practitioners, and provides recommendations for improving menstrual health literacy in sport.

The International Olympic Committee's (IOC) consensus statement on 'methods for recording and reporting of epidemiological data on injury and illness in sport' recommended standardising methods to advance data collection and reporting consistency. However, additional aspects need to be considered when these methods are applied to specific sports settings. Therefore, we have developed a snow sports-specific extension of the IOC statement to promote the harmonisation of injury and illness registration methods among athletes of all levels and categories in the different disciplines governed by the International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS), which is also applicable to other related snow sports such as biathlon, ski mountaineering, and to some extent, para snow sports. The panel was selected with the aim of representing as many different areas of expertise/backgrounds, perspectives and diversity as possible, and all members were assigned to thematic subgroups based on their profiles. After panel formation, all members were provided with an initial draft of this extension, which was used as a basis for discussion of aspects specific to the discipline, application context, level and sex within their snow sports subgroup topic. The outcomes were then aligned with the IOC's existing consensus recommendations and incorporated into a preliminary manuscript draft. The final version of this snow sports-specific extension was developed and approved in two iterative rounds of manuscript revisions by all consensus panel members and a final meeting to clarify open discussion points. This snow sports-specific extension of the IOC statement is intended to guide researchers, international and national sports governing bodies, and other entities recording and reporting epidemiological data in snow sports to help standardise data from different sources for comparison and future research.

In this study, a menstrual cycle knowledge questionnaire (MCKQ) for female athletes and coaches was developed and validated. Items for an initial questionnaire (Pre-MCKQ) were generated from existing questionnaires and supplemented by three experienced gynaecologists. The 21-item Pre-MCKQ was piloted on a sample of 325 recreational female athletes, 27 female coaches and 19 male coaches. Each item's difficulty and item–total correlation scores were assessed, and the final MCKQ was reduced to 12 items. Eighteen experts rated the 12-item MCKQ for relevance (M = 5.4 and SD = 0.8) and clarity (M = 5.4, SD = 1.0) using a 6-point Likert scale. The 12-item MCKQ was then completed by 562 elite female athletes and 170 coaches (55 female, 114 male and 1 other). Test–retest reliability was assessed with a separate cohort of sport science students (n = 64). The mean difficulty index was 57%, and the mean item–total correlation was r = 0.36. Cronbach's alpha of 0.73 indicates that the questionnaire is reliable and test–retest reliability was strong. Knowledge test scores differed significantly among female athletes, female coaches and male coaches (F (2,728) = 8.59, p < 0.01 and ηp2 = 0.02, respectively), demonstrating construct validity. Additionally, participants who rated their knowledge of the menstrual cycle as higher scored significantly better than those with lower self-ratings (F (5,726) = 38.45, p < 0.01, ηp2 = 0.21). In conclusion, the 12-item MCKQ appears to be a valid and reliable tool to assess the menstrual cycle knowledge of female athletes and coaches. 

This study explores the motivations of individuals producing open-access podcasts related to sport and exercise science. Following interviews with 14 podcasters, we found that the podcasters demonstrated various gatekeeping practices, such as selecting and excluding interview guests based on academic credentials, to ensure credibility. Despite being independent from traditional media outlets, the podcasters imposed self-regulatory editorial decisions when sharing knowledge, challenging the notion of complete independence in new media. The findings highlight the tension between democratization and gatekeeping in contemporary knowledge dissemination, suggesting that constraints shape content creation practices in specialized fields such as open-access podcasts with educational focuses.

Frontal midline theta power (FMT) has been associated with superior rifle shooting performance. Our experiment examined whether electroencephalographic-based training could increase FMT, shooting performance, and attentional focus in highly trained/elite biathletes. Participants (n = 28; age, M = 21.7, SD = 2.3) were assigned to a control group or an intervention group (with 3 hr of neurofeedback training). FMT increased from baseline during the neurofeedback training sessions (p <= .05). However, there were no Group x Pre-post training (test) interactions for FMT or shooting performance (p > .05). There was a small Group x Test effect for attentional focus (p = .07, eta 2p = .12), indicating a potential benefit of neurofeedback training. Superior shooters were more proficient at increasing FMT during neurofeedback training, but this did not translate to greater improvements in shooting performance. Our findings suggest that the effects of neurofeedback training are transient and do not necessarily benefit performance.