For all you physics lovers out there, picture a projectile motion curve.
For all you other people, see below.
Pay close attention to the area where the upwards velocity succumbs to the evil forces of gravity. I give you, the unavoidable peak. We can change when and where the peak occurs with some manipulation, but we can’t stop it from happening as long as gravity is involved. That’s the life of a projectile.
Spoiler Alert: Athletes are projectiles.
You can look into studies, record your own data, or take my word for it- all athletes will hit a peak at some point. My interest is finding out when…so let’s nerd out hard on some Track & Field World Records!
TRACK & FIELD WORLD RECORDS BY AGE AND EVENT
Here’s a beauty I put together for you all-
My first thought was, wow, woman peak way later in life, thank god..I’ve got some time! But after a closer look, I noticed the data represents an average peak age for woman of 25.76 years, a mere year older than the male average of 24.71 years.
Keep in mind the averages don’t take into account the fact that some people were about to have a birthday (Ahem, Usain Bolt turned 23 five days after setting the 100m record and the day after setting the 200m record) so these averages may be a lot closer or further apart than I said!
So, what can we learn from this? Well, gender has a lot to do with when you will peak, but the activity you are doing has just as much pull. According to this data, the following can be expected:
Sprinters- Guys will typically hit top speeds during their low twenties, while women have a few more years, peaking around age 28. Hurdles add a few years to the male peak age, raising it to about 26, while lowering the female peak age by about 3 years.
Distance- Expect your best times before you hit legal drinking age or shortly thereafter..unless you’re a female steeple chaser.
Jumps- Field events show much similar ages for men and women, with each event typically showing a similar peak age for both genders. That being said, Jumpers can look forward to peaking between 22 and 29 for the most part. Female high jumpers see the earliest age peak of the four events and male triple jumpers peak the latest.
Throws- Ages range from 23 up to 31 on the chart, with men showing higher ages for peak performance than women aside from the shot put. Hammer throw sees the latest peak age for the throwing events.
Mid-Distance- This one is a bit of a wildcard. No real patterns here- except that girls peak much later, around 28, (aside from the 1,500) and boys peak typically before they turn 24.
Generally speaking, these numbers are a good place to start to predict patterns for peak athletic age based on gender and event. Unfortunately, If you are trying to predict the age that you will reach your peak, this chart won’t tell you. Peak age has much more to do with your ability and training than your gender and event.
As a 23 year old high jumper, I was not satisfied with the peak age shown of 22. I decided to do a little extra digging into female high jumpers and their peak performances. Here’s what I found:
Blanka Vlasic: 2.08m
Here is Blanka Vlasic’s career progression in the High Jump. Blanka hit her top performance when she was just about 26 years old, nearly 4 years older than the world record holder. If I’m like Blanka, I have at least 3 more years of adding inches!
Anna Chicherova: 2.07m
Or, maybe I’ll follow in the footsteps of Anna. Here is a graph of Chicherova’s career progression in the High Jump – She hit her peak performance on her 29th birthday! You go Glen Coco.
My opinion? Peak age is something we will all hit at one point or another, but that’s no reason to believe you’re downward slope is the result of you maxing out. Just look at both graphs above- Blanka and Anna both probably thought they hit their peak at one point- but they kept going, and they were rewarded with new heights. Quite literally.
So, do you think you have you peaked yet?
…Me neither.
TravelingTrackster 