Darwinian Selection Discriminates Young Athletes: the Relative Age Effect in Relation to Sporting Performance

Sports Medicine - Open

Table 1 Data overview

Sport	Data retrieved	Age	Age range	Total N	Females	Males
Cross-country skiing^a	2014	33.6 ± 19.8	1–90	124,139	50,684	73,381
Cross-country skiing^b	2015	34.9 ± 17.2	4–90	11,377	2596	8781
Cross-country skiing^c	2015	21.6 ± 4.5	17–39	943	361	582
Alpine Skiers	2015	18.9 ± 3.2	17–39	502	244	258
Athletics	2019	21.8 ± 9.8	10–68	14,503	7511	6992
Orienteering	2015	34.7 ± 21.2	1–95	41,164	16,925	24,239
Chess	2016	41.4 ± 22.3	5–95	4900	327	4562
E-Sport	2016	21.7 ± 5.2	10–45	47,030	1159	45,871
All athletes	–	31.0 ± 18.5	1–95	244,558	79,807	164,666
Reference population	2016	–	–	5,390,954	2,618,818	2,772,136

^aDataset retrieved from the official timing system for Swedish Skiing “SSF-Timing” and includes recreational, competitive, and elite skiers entered in one or more competitions sanctioned by the Swedish Ski Association
^bDataset retrieved from www.skidresultat.se, and includes recreational, competitive, and elite skiers finishing one or more races
^cDataset of FIS-registered (elite) cross-country skiers. In total, the sex of 74 subjects was unspecified. Reference population refers to all births in Sweden between the years 1961 and 2011