Mitigating against relative age effects in youth Track & Field: Validating corrective adjustment procedures across multiple events.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVES: With the aim to better identify talented Track & Field performance development, this study estimated the relationships between chronological (decimal) age with 60-m sprint, high jump, triple jump, and pole vault performance. Then, to mitigate against expected Relative Age Effects (RAEs), Corrective Adjustment Procedures (CAPs) were applied to an independent sample. DESIGN: Mixed-longitudinal design examining public data between 2005 and 2019. METHODS: The performances of 5339 Italian sprinters and jumpers (53.1 %) spanning 11.01-17.99 years of age were examined, with trendlines between chronological age and performance established. Related to an independent sample (N = 40,306; female 45.5 %), trendlines were then utilised to apply CAPs and adjust individual performance. Considering raw and adjusted performance data, RAE distributions were examined for the top 25 % and 10 % performers. RESULTS: For all male and female events, quadratic models best summarised the relationships between chronological age and performance (R2 = 0.74-0.89). When examining independent athletes in similar event, RAEs were more pronounced in males (Cramer's V = 0.35-0.14) than females (Cramer's V = 0.29-0.07). For both sexes, RAE magnitude decreased with age and increased according to performance level (i.e., Top25%-Top10%). However, following CAP applications, RAEs were reduced or removed within annual age groups and performance levels. CONCLUSIONS: With RAEs prevalent across Italian youth Track & Field events, findings validate CAPs as a strategy to account for the influence of relative age differences on athletic performance. CAPs help establish a more equitable strategy for performance evaluation and could help improve the efficacy of long-term athlete development programming.