Influence of Different Performance Levels on Pacing Strategy during the Female World Championship Marathon Race

PURPOSE: to analyse pacing strategies displayed by athletes achieving differing levels of performance during an elite level marathon race. METHODS: Competitors in the 2009 IAAF Women's Marathon Championship were split into Groups 1, 2, 3, and 4 comprising the first, second, third, and fourth 25% of finishers respectively. Final, intermediate, and personal best (PB) times of finishers were converted to mean speeds, and relative speed (% of PB speed) was calculated for intermediate segments. RESULTS:Mean PB speed decreased from Group 1 to 4 and speed maintained in the race was 98.5 ± 1.8%, 97.4 ±3.2%, 95.0 ± 3.1% and 92.4 ± 4.4% of PB speed for Groups 1-4 respectively. Group 1 was fastest in all segments and differences in speed between groups increased throughout the race. Group 1 ran at lower relative speeds than other groups for the first two 5 km segments, but higher relative speeds after 35km. Significant differences (P