Abstract
While many older adults are immobile and frail, others still participate in competitive
sports. World records of javelin throw decrease with increasing age. It is, however,
unknown 1) whether the decline is linear or, as in sprint performance, accelerates
beyond the age of 69; and 2) to what extent frailty-related changes in throwing technique
contribute to decreasing performance. We plotted current world records against age
and assessed the performance of 27 male javelin throwers 69 years and older during
three master athletics championships. Three to six throws were filmed, and the best
throw of each athlete selected. A step-wise linear regression was applied to assess
contributions of age, angle of release, angle of attitude, angle of attack and elbow
angle just before the pull to performance. The ageing-related decline in javelin-throw
performance accelerated after age 69. Age was the main predictor of performance (adjusted
R2=0.68), with a small contribution of elbow angle (adjusted R2 increased to 0.76) and angle of attack (R2=0.82; all P<0.001) in the older athletes. None of the technique-related parameters
correlated with age. Although the technique had some influence on javelin-throwing
performance, the accelerated decline was not associated with a characteristic ageing-related
change in technique.
Keywords
age - athletics - video - biomechanics - ageing - javelin - throwing
