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Comparison of shot-put release parameters and consistency in performance between elite throwers with and without intellectual impairment

Background: Shot-put is one of the events in which athletes with intellectual impairment compete at the Paralympic Games, since their re-inclusion in 2012. The purpose of this study was to compare the competition performance and investigate differences in release parameters and consistency of performance between high level shot-put throwers with and without intellectual impairment. Methods: Data collection took place at the 2014 European Championships athletics for athletes with intellectual impairment (n = 20; 11 men, 9 women, MIQ = 60.2 ± 7.3, Mage = 28.1 ± 6.7 years), and the 2015 national championships for athletes without intellectual impairment (n = 26, 12 men, 14 women, Mage = 24.9 ± 5.6 years). A video camera operating at 100 Hz was utilized to capture the throws and 2D images were analyzed with motion analysis software to calculate release parameters and check consistency of the throw. Results: Independent t tests revealed that the average (11.87 m) and best (14.81 m) performance of male world-class intellectual impairment-throwers was significantly lower compared to the average (14.62 m) and best (17.78 m) performance of male national level throwers without intellectual impairment (F = 5.3, p < .05), primarily due to the significantly lower release velocity (r = .79, p < .01). The inter-individual variance in throw-to-throw distance was significantly larger in intellectual impairment-throwers; however, opposite to what was expected, the angle of release consistency was not significantly different between both samples. Intellectual impairment-throwers performed with superior release velocity consistency than non-intellectual impairment-throwers. Conclusions: These findings support the assumption that impaired cognitive function may constrain the ability to optimally release the shot-put.