Physical fitness and motor competence performance characteristics of elite Chinese youth athletes from four track and field throwing disciplines – a cross sectional study

Purpose Systematic athletic training during adolescence may facilitate the development of sport-specific skills and the expression of sport-specific physical characteristics in young athletes. The aim of this study was to differentiate male athletes aged 14-17 years from four different throwing disciplines using anthropomorphic measurements and motor competence performance tests, in order to test whether athletes from different disciplines have physical form and fitness characteristics consistent with the sport-specific demands of each throwing discipline. Methods The sample consisted of 289 male youth athletes belonging to the four different throwing disciplines: shot put (n=101), hammer throw (n=16), discus throw (n=63), and javelin throw (n=109). The performance diagnosis comprised three anthropometric measurements, and twelve physical fitness tests. Discriminant analysis and neural network (Multilayer Perceptron) were used to test whether it is possible to discriminate between athletes of the four sports. Results The results of this study show that for male throwing athletes aged 14-17 years, differences in generic anthropometric and sport performance tests distinguish the talent of more than two-thirds of young athletes based on individual sport (DA: 68.7%; MLP: 72.2%), regardless of the classification method used. Conclusion The relevance of the three anthropometric parameters and twelve physical fitness measures for talent identification and training monitoring in the track and field throwing disciplines was confirmed. The discus throwers had a height advantage, the shot putters and hammer throwers had better arm strength, while the javelin throwers had better explosive strength and sprint speed. All events, except the hammer throwers, showed a high level of explosive power in the medicine ball forward or backward throw test. This was particularly important for the shot put and discus athletes.