No correlation of anthropometry and race performance in ultra-endurance swimmers at a 12-hours-swim

BACKGROUND: In swimmers, the effects of the anthropometric factors, upper extremity length, hand length and body height, on performance over 100 m have been shown, but no data exist about the influence of anthropometric factors on performance in ultra-endurance swimmers. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Twelve male Caucasian ultra-swimmers participated in our study at the 9th edition in 2007 of the 12-hours-swim in Zurich, Switzerland. We determined body mass, length of arms and legs, body height, circumferences of extremities, skeletal muscle mass and fat mass in order to correlate with the covered distance and to find an effect on race performance. RESULTS: The 12 swimmers achieved an average distance of 29.4 +/- 5.1 km, varying from 22.8 km to 39.1 km during these 12 hours. There was no correlation between body mass, length of arms and legs, body height, circumferences of extremities, skeletal muscle mass and fat mass to race performance. CONCLUSION: In these 12 male ultra-endurance swimmers no effect of the anthropometric parameters body mass, body height, BMI, circumferences of extremities, length of arms and legs, skeletal muscle mass and fat mass, on performance in a 12-hours-swim has been found.