IMPACT OF THE SARS-COV-2 PANDEMIC ON ATHLETIC PERFORMANCE IN THE 100-METER RACE

The COVID-19 virus has caused numerous deaths among the Romanian population and worldwide, which has entailed the restriction of certain rights regarding the training of elite athletes. Most sports competitions were cancelled all over the world, even the 2020 Olympic Games, thus jeopardising the athletes’ performance. The purpose of this research is to make a comparison between the results of Romanian elite athletes in the sprint race (100 m) before and after the emergence of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and to identify certain parameters specific to these races: start reaction time, heart rate (during exercise and at rest) and stride frequency. In order to identify and monitor these parameters, we used the Polar Flow application, which is popular among both team and individual athletes. It was found that the average heart rate during competition had the value 175 beats per minute before the pandemic, while after the period of restrictions, it was 184 beats per minute; at rest, the average heart rate values were 66 beats per minute and 78 beats per minute, respectively. The average values recorded in the outdoor and indoor 100 m races are as follows: before the pandemic, 6.70 s and 10.66 s, respectively; after the period of restrictions, 6.88 s and 10.85 s, respectively. The enforcement of constraining conditions that affect the optimal development of training leads to changes in physiological parameters and significant differences between the results obtained.