Medbase St. Gallen Am Vadianplatz, 9001 St. Gallen, Switzerland.
Institute of Primary Care, University of Zurich, 8091 Zurich, Switzerland.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020 Mar 6;17(5):1719. doi: 10.3390/ijerph17051719.
Participation and performance trends in ultramarathon running have been investigated for large datasets and long period of times with an increase in participants and an improvement in performance. However, the analysis of ultramarathons across many decades is missing. We analyzed these trends for 96,036 athletes (88,286 men and 7750 women) from 67 countries competing between 1956 and 2019 in '100 km Lauf Biel' in Switzerland, the oldest 100-km ultramarathon in the world. More men than women participated in all years. The number of male participants reached a peak at around 1985 and a decline in participation occurred thereafter. Women started competing in 1962. Men were always faster than women and both women and men reduced their race times over years. After about 1985, both overall women and men and both female and male winners were not able to improve race times. For men, athletes from all age groups below the age of 49 years old reached a peak of participation in the 1980s, and showed a decrease since then. Regarding age groups, the decrease first started in age group 20-29 years, followed by 30-39, 40-49, 50-59, and 60-69 years. For athletes in age groups 70-79 and 80-89 years, no decrease occurred. For women, age group athletes in age groups 40-49, 50-59, and 60-69 years increased their participation, whereas age groups 20-29 and 30-39 peaked in the late 1980s and started to decrease or stabilize, respectively. Switzerland, Germany, and France were the countries with the highest numbers of participants throughout the history of the race. In men, race times increased after about 1990 for most nationalities; only runners from Germany seemed to stabilize their performance. In women, runners from Italy, France, and Austria improved their performance over the years. In summary, the analysis of the oldest 100-km ultramarathon in the world showed a decrease in participation and an impairment in performance in the last 60 years. These changes were due to a decrease in the number of male ultramarathoners in around the 1980s, where mainly the number of age group runners younger than 70 years decreased.
我们分析了 1956 年至 2019 年间 67 个国家的 96036 名运动员（88286 名男性和 7750 名女性）在瑞士“比耶尔 100 公里长跑”中的参赛趋势，这是世界上最古老的 100 公里超级马拉松赛事。多年来，越来越多的男性参与其中，而女性的参与度则在增加。在所有年份中，男性的参赛人数都超过了女性。男性参与者的数量在 1985 年左右达到峰值，之后参与人数有所下降。女性从 1962 年开始参赛。男性的速度一直快于女性，而且女性和男性的比赛用时都随着时间的推移而减少。自 1985 年以来，女性和男性的总体成绩以及男女冠军都未能提高比赛成绩。对于男性来说，49 岁以下所有年龄段的运动员在 20 世纪 80 年代达到参赛高峰，此后呈下降趋势。至于年龄组，下降首先从 20-29 岁年龄组开始，然后是 30-39 岁、40-49 岁、50-59 岁和 60-69 岁年龄组。对于 70-79 岁和 80-89 岁的运动员，没有出现下降。对于女性来说，40-49 岁、50-59 岁和 60-69 岁年龄组的运动员增加了参赛人数，而 20-29 岁和 30-39 岁年龄组则在 20 世纪 80 年代末达到高峰，随后分别开始下降或稳定。瑞士、德国和法国是该赛事历史上参赛人数最多的国家。在男性中，大多数国家的比赛成绩在 1990 年后有所提高；只有德国的跑步者似乎稳定了他们的表现。在女性中，意大利、法国和奥地利的跑步者多年来提高了他们的表现。总之，对世界上最古老的 100 公里超级马拉松赛事的分析显示，在过去的 60 年里，参赛人数减少，表现下降。这些变化是由于 20 世纪 80 年代左右男性超级马拉松运动员数量的减少造成的，其中主要是 70 岁以下年龄组运动员数量的减少。
