title: Environment and scheduling effects on sprint and middle distance running performances.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Achievement of athletes' performances is related to several factors including physiological, environmental and institutional cycles where physical characteristics are involved. The objective of this study is to analyse the performance achieved in professional sprint and middle-distance running events (100 m to 1500 m) depending on the organization of the annual calendar of track events and their environmental conditions.
  
  
  METHODS
  From 2002 to 2008, all performances of the Top 50 international athletes in the 100 m to 1500 m races (men and women) are collected. The historical series of world records and the 10 best annual performances in these events, amounted to a total of 26,544 performances, are also included in the study.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Two periods with a higher frequency of peak performances are observed. The first peak occurs around the 27.15(th) ±0.21 week (first week of July) and the second peak around 34.75(th) ±0.14 week (fourth week of August). The second peak tends to be the time of major international competitions (Olympic Games, World Championships, and European Championships) and could be characterized as an institutional moment. The first one, however, corresponds to an environmental optimum as measured by the narrowing of the temperature range at the highest performance around 23.25±3.26°C.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This is the first study to demonstrate that there are two performance peaks at a specific time of year (27th and 34th weeks) in sprint and middle distance. Both institutional and ecophysiological aspects contribute to performance in the 100 m to 1500 m best performances and define the contours of human possibilities. Sport institutions may take this into account in order to provide ideal conditions to improve the next records.
authors.affiliation: IRMES (biomedical Research Institute of Sports Epidemiology, Paris, France), INSEP (Institut National du Sport de l'Expertise et de la Performance), Paris, France ; Université de Rouen, Faculté des Sciences du Sport et de l'Education Physique CETAPS (Centre d'Etude Transformations des Activités Physiques et Sportives), Mont-Saint-Aignan, France.
authors.forename: Amal
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Haïda
authors.affiliation: IRMES (biomedical Research Institute of Sports Epidemiology, Paris, France), INSEP (Institut National du Sport de l'Expertise et de la Performance), Paris, France.
authors.forename: Frédéric
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Dor
authors.affiliation: IRMES (biomedical Research Institute of Sports Epidemiology, Paris, France), INSEP (Institut National du Sport de l'Expertise et de la Performance), Paris, France.
authors.forename: Marion
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Guillaume
authors.affiliation: IRMES (biomedical Research Institute of Sports Epidemiology, Paris, France), INSEP (Institut National du Sport de l'Expertise et de la Performance), Paris, France.
authors.forename: Laurent
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Quinquis
authors.affiliation: IRMES (biomedical Research Institute of Sports Epidemiology, Paris, France), INSEP (Institut National du Sport de l'Expertise et de la Performance), Paris, France.
authors.forename: Andy
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Marc
authors.affiliation: IRMES (biomedical Research Institute of Sports Epidemiology, Paris, France), INSEP (Institut National du Sport de l'Expertise et de la Performance), Paris, France.
authors.forename: Laurie-Anne
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Marquet
authors.affiliation: IRMES (biomedical Research Institute of Sports Epidemiology, Paris, France), INSEP (Institut National du Sport de l'Expertise et de la Performance), Paris, France.
authors.forename: Juliana
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Antero-Jacquemin
authors.affiliation: Université de Rouen, Faculté des Sciences du Sport et de l'Education Physique CETAPS (Centre d'Etude Transformations des Activités Physiques et Sportives), Mont-Saint-Aignan, France.
authors.forename: Claire
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tourny-Chollet
authors.affiliation: IRMES (biomedical Research Institute of Sports Epidemiology, Paris, France), INSEP (Institut National du Sport de l'Expertise et de la Performance), Paris, France ; Paris Descartes University, Sorbonne, Paris Cité, Paris, France.
authors.forename: François
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Desgorces
authors.affiliation: IRMES (biomedical Research Institute of Sports Epidemiology, Paris, France), INSEP (Institut National du Sport de l'Expertise et de la Performance), Paris, France ; Paris Descartes University, Sorbonne, Paris Cité, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Geoffroy
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Berthelot
authors.affiliation: IRMES (biomedical Research Institute of Sports Epidemiology, Paris, France), INSEP (Institut National du Sport de l'Expertise et de la Performance), Paris, France ; Paris Descartes University, Sorbonne, Paris Cité, Paris, France ; Hôtel-Dieu Hospital, CIMS (Centre d'Investigations en Médecine du Sport), AP-HP (Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris), Paris, France.
authors.forename: Jean-François
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Toussaint
mesh_terms: D054874:Athletic Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010807:Physical Endurance / Q000502:physiology; D012420:Running / Q000502:physiology*; D013696:Temperature