Witthöft Anja, Marcin Thimo, Thuany Mabliny, Scheer Volker, Nikolaidis Pantelis T, Wilhelm Matthias, Weiss Katja, Rosemann Thomas, Knechtle Beat
Centre for Rehabilitation & Sports Medicine, Inselspital, University Hospital of Bern, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
Berner Reha Zentrum, Rehabilitation & Sports Medicine, Insel Group, Bern University Hospital, Bern, Switzerland.
PLoS One. 2025 Jan 16;20(1):e0311268. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0311268. eCollection 2025.
Several single race events (5 km, 10 km, half-marathon, marathon, ultra-marathon) in different countries and different years have been analyzed in multiple studies, representing the rising interest in endurance-based activity and thus physical health. With focus on participation numbers, performance or sex difference, many single study results were obtained. The running trends in a whole country covering a longer period of time and several race distances are missing so far.
The aim of this study is therefore to examine 5 km, 10 km, half-marathon, marathon and ultra-marathon races by age, sex, participation numbers and performance during two decades (1999-2019) for one country (Switzerland).
In this exploratory observational study, we analyzed 1,172,836 finishers (370,517 women and 802,319 men) competing between 1999 and 2019 in 5 different race distances in Switzerland. We used publicly available data about the athletes and examined total finishing numbers, sex, age and performances (measured in m/s) via descriptive analyses and linear mixed models. Do-not-finishers were excluded.
The most frequented race was the half-marathon (33.1% of finishers), the less frequented was the ultra-marathon distance (8.5% of finishers). In most recent years, only the number of finishers in ultra-marathon, especially in trail runs increased. In total, there were more male finishers (68.4%) than female finishers (31.6%) and only in 5 km races, more women finished than men (55.3%). Men were faster than women and both sexes were running slower in all race distances across years. Athletes in 10 km races had the best performance within the five analyzed race distances. Median age increased with longer race distance and decreased in ultra-marathon in recent years.
In summary, finishing numbers especially in ultra-marathons increased with a focus on trail runs, female and male athletes had a declining performance across years in all race distances and men ran faster than women. Median age increased with longer race distance leading to more aged endurance-trained athletes. A downtrend in median age is found only in ultra-marathon in recent years. The results are important for athletes, race directors and coaches with regard to training schedules and the trend towards long distance races as well as for the medical attendance especially of older athletes, being more and more interested in endurance running.
多项研究分析了不同国家和不同年份的多个单项跑步赛事（5公里、10公里、半程马拉松、马拉松、超级马拉松），这表明人们对耐力运动以及身体健康的兴趣日益浓厚。许多单项研究聚焦于参赛人数、成绩或性别差异，得出了诸多研究结果。然而，目前尚缺乏对一个国家较长时间段内多个跑步距离的跑步趋势的研究。
因此，本研究旨在考察瑞士在二十年（1999 - 2019年）间，5公里、10公里、半程马拉松、马拉松和超级马拉松赛事在年龄、性别、参赛人数和成绩方面的情况。
在这项探索性观察研究中，我们分析了1999年至2019年间在瑞士5种不同跑步距离赛事中完赛的1,172,836名选手（370,517名女性和802,319名男性）。我们使用了公开的运动员数据，并通过描述性分析和线性混合模型考察了总完赛人数、性别、年龄和成绩（以米/秒为单位）。未完赛者被排除在外。
参赛人数最多的赛事是半程马拉松（占完赛者的33.1%），参赛人数最少的是超级马拉松距离赛事（占完赛者的8.5%）。近年来，只有超级马拉松赛事，尤其是越野跑赛事的完赛人数有所增加。总体而言，男性完赛者（68.4%）多于女性完赛者（31.6%），只有在5公里赛事中，完赛的女性多于男性（55.3%）。男性比女性速度快，且多年来在所有跑步距离中，男女的速度都在变慢。在分析的5种跑步距离赛事中，10公里赛事的选手成绩最佳。随着跑步距离变长，完赛者的年龄中位数增加，而近年来超级马拉松赛事的年龄中位数有所下降。
总之，完赛人数尤其是超级马拉松赛事的完赛人数有所增加，特别是越野跑赛事；多年来，男女运动员在所有跑步距离中的成绩都在下降，男性比女性速度快。随着跑步距离变长，年龄中位数增加，这意味着有更多年龄较大的耐力训练运动员。近年来，只有超级马拉松赛事的年龄中位数呈下降趋势。这些结果对于运动员、赛事总监和教练制定训练计划以及长距离赛事的发展趋势具有重要意义，同时对于医疗保障尤其是对越来越热衷于耐力跑的老年运动员的医疗保障也具有重要意义。
