Double-Poling Physiology and Kinematics of Elite Cross-Country Skiers: Specialized Long-Distance Versus All-Round Skiers

Abstract

Long-distance cross-country skiers specialize to compete in races >50km predominantly using double poling (DP). This emphasize the need for highly developed upper-body endurance capacities and an efficient DP-technique. Our aim was to investigate potential effects of specialization; by comparing physiological capacities and kinematics in DP between long-distance skiers and skiers competing using both techniques (skating/classic) in several competition formats (“all-round skiers”). Seven male long-distance (32±6yrs; 183±6cm; 76±5kg) and six all-round (25±3yrs; 181±5cm; 75±6kg) skiers at high international levels conducted submaximal workloads and an incremental test to exhaustion for determination of peak O₂-uptake (VO_2peak) and time to exhaustion (TTE) in DP and running. In DP and running maximal tests, TTE showed no difference between groups. However, long-distance skiers had 5-6% lower VO_2peak in running (81±5 vs. 85±3 mL·kg^-1·min^-1; P=0.07) and DP (73±3 vs. 78±3 mL·kg^-1· min^-1; P2-cost than all-round skiers (3.8±3.6%; P-]) over a wide range of speeds (45-85% of VO_2peak) did not differ between groups, even though each workload corresponded to a slightly higher percentage of VO_2peak for long-distance skiers (effect-size: 0.30-0.68). The long-distance skiers displayed lower VO_2peak, but compensated with lower O₂-cost to perform equally with the all-round skiers on a short TTE-test in DP. Furthermore, similar submaximal [La^-] and reduced O₂-cost could be beneficial in sustaining high skiing speeds in long-duration competitions.