The Impact of Birth Altitude on Endurance Performance
by Doug Stewart
Last week I wrote about the impact of changing altitudes when sprint training, and since then, a new paper exploring altitude and sports performance has been published.
This time, the researchers posed the question ‘Does Altitude of Birth Influence the Performance of National – to Elite – Level Colombian Cyclists?’
In July I shared a study exploring the impact on the performance of cyclists when racing above 1,500m. This previous paper found that altitude natives (those born at altitude) have an advantage, particularly in races including efforts at >1,500m above sea level. This held true even when lowlanders acclimatised to the altitude for around 2 months.
This new paper looked again into the impact of birth altitude on cyclists. They took 80 development cyclists, aged between 17 and 22 years old, who were competing across 3 performance levels:
Under 23 World Class Level (8 riders)
Under 23 National Class Level (41 riders)
Junior National Level (31 riders)
The researchers also set 3 altitude levels for birth:
Below 800m
800m to 2,000m
Over 2,000m
The riders completed a maximum effort incremental test until they had to stop due to exhaustion (a ramp test) at an altitude of 2,570m. Through this test, the researchers identified that those cyclists born at the lowest altitude had a lower peak power output and estimated VO2Max figures than those born at the middle or high altitudes.
Interestingly, although around 50% of all the cyclists in the study were born at over 2,000m, 84% of those riding at the World Level were born at over 2,000m. Whilst there was no significant difference in the test used here between the mid to high altitude born cyclists, the fact the more of the elite cyclists were born at higher altitude may suggest that there are various, at present unclear, benefits.
If you were born at sea level and pick a race at altitude, then you may optimise your performance by doing altitude training. However, despite the training, it looks like you still will be at a disadvantage compared to altitude natives.
References:
Garzon, M., Leguizamo, J., Saldarriaga, F., Galeano, E., & Millet, G. P. (2022). Does Altitude of Birth Influence the Performance of National- to Elite-Level Colombian Cyclists?, International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance