NO DIFFERENCES IN O2-COST BETWEEN V1 AND V2 SKATING TECHNIQUES DURING TREADMILL ROLLER SKIING AT MODERATE TO STEEP INCLINES

Losnegard, T, Myklebust, H, and Hallen, J. No differences in O-2-cost between V1 and V2 skating techniques during treadmill roller skiing at moderate to steep inclines. J Strength Cond Res 26(5): 1340-1347, 2012-Elite cross-country skiers use both the V1 and V2 techniques on moderate and steep inclines despite previous studies suggesting that the V1 technique is superior in terms of lower O-2-cost and better performance on these inclines. However, this has not been studied in elite athletes, and therefore, the aim of this study was to compare O-2-cost in these 2 main ski skating techniques in a group of 14 elite male cross-country skiers (age: 24 +/- 3 years, height: 184 +/- 6 cm, weight: 79 +/- 7 kg, V1 VO(2)max: 71.8 +/- 3.5 ml.kg(-1).min(-1)). With both techniques, the athletes performed submaximal trials for the determination of O-2-cost on a roller ski treadmill at 4, 5, and 6 degrees (3 m.s(-1)) and maximal trials at 8 degrees (>= 3 m.s(-1)) for the determination of VO(2)max. Video-based kinematic analyses on cycle length and cycle rate (CR) were performed to unravel if there was any relation between these variables and O-2-cost. No significant differences in O-2-cost or VO(2)max between techniques were found. However, large and significant individual variations in physiological response were observed. V2 had a longer cycle length and lower CR than V1 did. No significant correlation was found between CR and O-2-cost. This study shows that both V1 and V2 are appropriate techniques for optimizing O-2-cost on moderate to steep inclines in elite skiers. However, individual variation suggests that ski skating performance on moderate to steep inclines may be determined by technique preferences of the athletes.