The purpose of this study is to explore differences in pacing strategies between successful and less successful male elite cross-country skiers during a 15 km interval-start race involving different techniques. The final rank, split times and final times were extracted individually for the top 100 finishers in the 15 km individual time trial races from the Norwegian national season opener races over two years. The same course was used in all the competitions. The athletes were divided into four groups according to final rank: Q1: 1st-25th; Q2: 26th-50th; Q3: 51st-75th; Q4: 76th-100th. The relative change in speed was used for the time spent on lap 1, to an average for laps 2 and 3. Significant correlation between placement and speed reduction after the first lap was found in three out of four races. In Race 2 (skating), both Q1 and Q2 had lower speed decreases between laps than Q4 did. In year 2, both races (classical and skating) had lower speed reduction between laps for the first quartile compared to that of the last. Overall, this study shows that lower-level cross-country skiers started out relatively faster in the first lap and achieved a greater reduction in speed in the subsequent laps when compared to their faster opponents.
Keywords: classic style; competition; race strategy; skating; time trial.