Multidimensional correlation analysis of morphological, age and sports indicators of the Russian's main and junior national team swimmers

AIM: To determine the degree of dependence of sports skills on morphological indicators in Russian national team and junior national team swimmers. METHODS: The study involved 27 male athletes who are part of the main and/or junior national swimming team. The examination included collection of general and sports anamneses, study of final competition protocols to determine the best result in WA points without considering pool length for 2024, morphological measurements of standing body length, body weight, and the mass and proportions of fat and lean components by bioimpedansometry. Additionally, anatomical and morphological indices were calculated: absolute and relative body surface area, Wheight-to-height index, Body mass index, Rohrer index, and body fat and non-fat mass component indices. RESULTS: The study showed that representatives of the main (adult) national team had larger total body dimensions than junior swimmers: corresponding differences were obtained in body mass, body surface area (both - p 0.01). Adult swimmers had higher height (p 0.05), stronger physique (weight-height index - p 0.01; Body mass index - p 0.05), and more developed absolute lean body mass (p 0.05). Masters of Sports and International Masters of Sports also differed in total body dimensions (body mass, body surface area - p 0.01), physique strength (weight-height index - p 0.01; Body mass index - p 0.0), and lean body mass (p 0.01). The obtained differences in body composition indices indicate that as sports mastery increases, the importance of the absolute lean body mass indicator grows, while the characteristics of total body dimensions level off. The most significant correlates of morphological status in relation to sports mastery were: LBMa/BSA (r = 0.658), body surface area (r = 0.623), LBMa/BL (r = 0.621), body mass (r = 0.619), lean body mass (r = 0.612), FBMr/BSA (r = -0.589), height (r = 0.577), Wheight-to-height index (r = 0.558), relative body surface area (r = -0.544), FBMr/BL (r = -0.508). CONCLSION: In general, in the national swimming team, there is a trend towards an increase in sports skills along with the growth of a number of anatomical and morphological characteristics of the athletes' bodies.