Sports Analytics Research Collaborations: Connecting Business Schools with Athletic Departments

This panel focuses on building research collaborations between Business Schools and athletic programs at their respective universities. The panelists are representatives of four such collaborative research projects and will explain the process they used to engage the Athletic Departments; nature of projects that they initiated along with their status; kind of data they obtained; and some of the value-add they were able to provide for their Athletic Departments. The panel discussion will focus on “how to form collaborations” and will stimulate a discussion to engage and encourage the audience to reflect on their own opportunities and challenges in possibly building their own sports analytics projects

The elimination race in track cycling : patterns and predictors of performance

The track cycling Omnium is a multi-event competition that has recently been expanded to include the Elimination Race (ER), which presents a unique set of physical and tactical demands. The purpose of this research was to characterise the performance attributes of successful and unsuccessful cyclists in the ER, that are also predictive of performance. Video recordings of four international level ERs were analysed. The performance attributes measured related to the cyclists’ velocity and two dimensional position in the peloton. The average velocity of the peloton up to lap 30 (of 50) was relatively high and consistent (52.2±1.5 km/h). After lap 30, there was a significant (p<0.001) change in velocity (49.9±2.4 km/h), characterised by more fluctuations in lap-to-lap velocity. Successful ER cyclists adopted a tactic of remaining in the middle of the peloton, in the lower lanes of the velodrome, thus avoiding the risk of elimination at the rear and the extra effort required to remain on the front of the peloton. Unsuccessful cyclists tended to reside in the rear and upper (higher) portions of the peloton, risking elimination more often and having to ride faster than those in the lower lanes of the velodrome. The physiological demands of the Elimination Race that are determined by velocity, vary throughout the Elimination Race and the pattern of movement within the peloton is different for successful and unsuccessful cyclists. The findings of the present study may confirm some aspects of race tactics that are currently thought to be optimal, but they also reveal novel information that is useful to coaches and cyclists who compete in the Elimination Race

Track cycling: An analysis of the pacing strategies employed during the devil elimination race

This study aimed to provide a description of the pacing requirements of the track cycling Elimination race, and to identify effective pacing strategies to maximise overall Omnium medal opportunity. Six male, and six female elite competitive races were investigated using half-lap split times. Selected dependant variables were; mean speed and variation in speed. Spearman’s Rho correlations were used to test patterns between dependant variables and the final finishing position of riders. One-way ANOVAs were also applied to test for differences in dependant variables, between successful (top 6 finishers) and unsuccessful groups (7th-12th). Pacing patterns of the men's and women's races were complex, but followed an overall positive and variable pacing pattern, with men's race quarter speeds of 52.8km/h (±1.9), 52.1km/h (±2.1), 51.1km/h (±2.2), and 49.5km/h (±5.5). In general, differences in pacing strategy were not found to significantly influence the success of riders unless employed late in the race. Results are discussed for the application and the development of effective elimination race strategies and tactics

A machine learning approach to predicting winning patterns in track cycling omnium

This paper presents work on using Machine Learning approaches for predicting performance patterns of medalists in Track Cycling Omnium championships. The omnium is a newly introduced track cycling competition to be included in the London 2012 Olympic Games. It involves six individual events and, therefore, requires strategic planning for riders and coaches to achieve the best overall standing in terms of the ranking, speed, and time in each individual component. We carried out unsupervised, supervised, and statistical analyses on the men's and women's historical competition data in the World Championships since 2008 to find winning patterns for each gender in terms of the ranking of riders in each individual event. Our results demonstrate that both sprint and endurance capacities are required for both men and women to win a medal in the omnium. Sprint ability is shown to have slightly more influence in deciding the medalists of the omnium competitions

Identifying Optimal Technical and Tactical Performance Characteristics in Australian Football

This study identified the optimal technical and tactical performance characteristics of Australian football teams. The application of machine learning approaches identified the key indicators of successful AFL teams. The main findings of this research provide an evidence-base for key stakeholders to inform their training and match day decisions

The Application of Recovery Strategies for Cyclists

During training and congested competition schedules, recovery strategies are thought to alleviate post-exercise fatigue and enhance subsequent performance. Consequently, a substantial challenge is placed on athletes and coaches to ensure optimal recovery is attained, this has been one of the contributing factors for the development of acute recovery strategies aimed to enhance performance recovery. Recently, athletes have incorporated the use of Intermittent Sequential Pneumatic Compression (ISPC), a form of dynamic compression, to enhance recovery post-exercise. However, with contrasting findings and limited literature, further research is necessary to determine the value of ISPC on exercise recovery and/or subsequent performance. While ISPC has been examined in cycling settings, studies have failed to examine the effects of this strategy in trained cyclists, limiting the ecological validity of their results. Furthermore, the Omnium is a multi-race event in track cycling at the Olympic Games, with short periods of recovery (as little as 30-mins) between 6 separate races. Therefore, the objective of this investigation was to examine the impact of ISPC on trained cyclists, when implemented between a maximal 20-min cycling bout (simulated scratch race) and a 4-min maximal test (simulated individual pursuit), as experienced during an Omnium track cycling competition. Twenty-one (13 male, 8 female, mean ± SD; age: 36 ± 14 years) trained cyclists completed a familiarisation trial followed by two experimental trials in a counterbalanced, crossover design. Participants performed a fixed-intensity 20-min cycling bout on a Wattbike cycle ergometer, followed by a 30-min recovery period where ISPC recovery boots or passive recovery (CON) was implemented. At the conclusion of the recovery period, participants performed a 4-min maximal cycling bout (4-minTT). Average power (Watts) for the 4-minTT, blood lactate concentration (BLa) and perceived total quality recovery (TQR) during the recovery period were used to examine the influence of ISPC. There were no significant differences between trials for the 4-minTT (p = 0.08), with the effect deemed to be trivial (d = -0.08). There was an unclear effect (d ±90%CI = 0.26 ±0.78, p = 0.57) for ISPC vs CON in the clearance of BLa during the recovery period. There was a small but not significant difference for TQR in favour of ISPC (d ±90%CI = 0.27 ±0.27, p = 0.07). These findings suggest there is little additional benefit associated with the use of ISPC to enhance recovery and subsequent performance when used during the recovery period between two events in a simulated Omnium track cycling competition