BackgroundRecent studies found that the athlete’s age of the best ultra-marathon performance was higher than the athlete’s age of the best marathon performance and it seemed that the athlete’s age of peak ultra-marathon performance increased in distance-limited races with rising distance. MethodsWe investigated the athlete’s age of peak ultra-marathon performance in the fastest finishers in time-limited ultra-marathons from 6?hrs to 10 d. Running performance and athlete’s age of the fastest women and men competing in 6?hrs, 12?hrs, 24?hrs, 48?hrs, 72?hrs, 144?hrs (6 d) and 240?hrs (10 d) were analysed for races held between 1975 and 2012 using analysis of variance and multi-level regression analysis. ResultsThe athlete’s ages of the ten fastest women ever in 6?hrs, 12?hrs, 24?hrs, 48?hrs, 72?hrs, 6 d and 10 d were 41?±?9, 41?±?6, 42?±?5, 46?±?5, 44?±?6, 42?±?4, and 37?±?4?yrs, respectively. The athlete’s age of the ten fastest women was different between 48?hrs and 10 d. For men, the athlete’s ages were 35?±?6, 37?±?9, 39?±?8, 44?±?7, 48?±?3, 48?±?8 and 48?±?6?yrs, respectively. The athlete’s age of the ten fastest men in 6?hrs and 12?hrs was lower than the athlete’s age of the ten fastest men in 72?hrs, 6 d and 10 d, respectively. ConclusionThe athlete’s age of peak ultra-marathon performance did not increase with rising race duration in the best ultra-marathoners. For the fastest women ever in time-limited races, the athlete’s age was lowest in 10 d (~37?yrs) and highest in 48?hrs (~46?yrs). For men, the athlete’s age of the fastest ever in 6?hrs (~35?yrs) and 12?hrs (~37?yrs) was lower than the athlete’s age of the ten fastest in 72?hrs (~48?yrs), 6 d (~48?yrs) and 10 d (~48?yrs). The differences in the athlete’s age of peak performance between female and male ultra-marathoners for the different race durations need further investigations.
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