title: Influence of starting position on finishing position in World Cup 500 m short track speed skating.
abstract: Top short track speed skaters and their coaches have suspected that starting positions influence finishing positions, especially in the 500 m racing distance. The objective of this study was to examine systematically the influence of starting position on finishing position in 500 m short track speed skating. The data analysed included results from World Cup 500 m races ranging from the 1999-2000 season through to the end of the 2003-2004 season. All 500 m men's and women's races with four skaters starting and finishing (preliminaries, heats, quarter-finals, semi-finals and finals) were included in the data set. The association between starting position and finishing position was examined using Kendall's tau. Results show that for both sexes, there is a significant positive correlation between starting position and finishing position (P<0.001). This effect is generally more pronounced in semi-finals and finals than it is in preliminaries, heats and quarter-finals. Strategies to counter this inequity are proposed, drawing upon similar experiences in other sports.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Kinesiology/Olympic Oval, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Calgary, Canada. smaw@ucalgary.ca
authors.forename: Sean
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Maw
authors.forename: Lisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Proctor
authors.forename: Jessica
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Vredenburg
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ehlers
mesh_terms: D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012861:Skating