Factor structure of swimmers for evaluating endurance and predicting 5000-m indoor and open water swimming performance

Background: The purpose of the present study was to describe factor structures to evaluate swimmers' endurance. The second aim was to determine 5000m pool velocity (5000(vp)) and 5000m open water swimming velocity (5000(vow)). Material and methods: The study sample comprised 14 swimmers who were candidates for the Turkish Open Water National Team (age: 13.78 +/- 1.21 years; height: 168.06 +/- 6.67 m; body mass: 59.06 +/- 7.99 kg). Anaerobic threshold, critical swimming speed, and 5000m swimming tests were measured in a pool setting, and 5000m open water swimming test was measured in sea conditions. Results: Results of the factor analysis show that the effect of 4 cardiorespiratory endurance factors, classified as velocity and heart rate (HR), HR and lactate, exercise HR and exercise lactate, were explained at 89.16% in relation to 5000m open water swimming performance, and the first factor had the greatest factor weight and formed 48% of the total variance. Regression coefficients for 5000(vp) and 5000(vow) were found to be R-2 = 0.94 and R-2 = 0.79, respectively (p < 0.05). Conclusions: These findings suggest the equations of prediction specified in the present study may provide trainers with more appropriate tools to evaluate performance in juvenile swimmers.