Importance of competition goals in female marathoners

Purpose: We examined the importance of record competition in women’s marathon by comparing and analyzing the records of elite female marathoners for each competition they participated in. Methods: Data of the top 500 female marathon athletes in 2019 were collected from the World Athletics home page (http://www.worldathletics.org). All competitions approved by the World Athletics were given one of the following categories based on the scale of the competitions: OW, GL, A, B, C, D, E, and F. Race results, relative performances, and the categories of competitions in which subjects participated in were analyzed. Record comparisons were made using one-way ANOVA followed by the Bonferroni post hoc test. Results: There were significant differences in the average record of each category of competition. The average finishing time in GL was the fastest [2:30:26 (± 00:06:29)]. From A to F, average finishing time tended to increase from 2:32:38 (± 00:05:24) to 2:38:17 (± 00:08:27). The average finishing time in OW was the slowest [2:50:36 (± 00:10:48)]. Comparing the relative performances of the athletes in a year, relative performance was faster when participating in large scale international competitions (e.g., GL, A, B, and C), where the primary motivation of athletes is to achieve best records, than other smaller competitions (e.g., E and F), where athletes compete for ranks rather than records (p<.05). However, the relative performance in Olympic Games and World Championships (i.e., OW) was much slower than others (p<.05). Conclusions: These results are interpreted to mean that record competition is better for marathon performance.