Title: Sport event management: Jizerská 50 Goal: The aim of the master thesis is to create proposal and suggestions for the 50th Jizerska 50 and the next upcoming event. Methods: In this thesis was used the qualitative analysis of Jizerska 50 - form of case study, participant observation, semi-structured interview and complemented by the SWOT analysis. Results: The result of master thesis is the set of proposals, which are based on the knowledge and results of Jizerska 50 in previous years and its SWOT analysis. Analysis revealed the possibility of applying new variations for the 50th Jizerska 50 and the next upcoming event. Also suggestions for project management effectiveness, sponsorship and event program. Key words: project management, cross-country skiing, organization, sport sponsorship, SWOT analysis, marketing mix.

Title: The training process analysis of Martin Jakš in 2010 - 2016 Objectives: The purpose of this study is to pedagogically evaluate the training process of Martin Jakš, the member of the Czech cross-country skiing team. Methods: This study is designed as a case study. The study addresses a qualitative research, which was based on an analysis of training process of an elite cross-country skier. Training indicators and sport physical examination were analyzed and assessed with regard to racer's performance in the studied term. Results: The results of this study showed a tendency to decrease of athlete's performance in the studied term. Key terms: cross-country skiing, yearlong training cycle, training indicators, sport physical examination, performance

This thesis is devoted to the optimization of pacing strategies in two locomotive endurance sports; cross-country skiing and road cycling. It has been established that constant pace and variable power distributions are optimal if purely mechanical aspects of locomotion are considered in these sports. However, there is a lack of research that theoretically investigates optimal pacing for real world athletes who are constrained in their ability to generate power output through the bioenergetics of the human body. The aims of this thesis are to develop numerical pacing strategy optimization models and bioenergetic models for locomotive endurance sports and use these to assess objectives relevant in optimal pacing. These objectives include: Investigate the impact of hills, sharp course bends, ambient wind, and bioenergetic models on optimal pacing and assess the effect of optimal pacing strategies on performance. This thesis presents mathematical models for optimization of pacing strategies. These models are divided into mechanical locomotion, bioenergetic, and optimization models that are connected and programmed numerically. The locomotion and bioenergetic models in this thesis consist of differential equations and the optimization model is described by an iterative gradient-based routine. The mechanical model describes the relation between the power output generated by an athlete and his/her locomotion along a course profile, giving the finishing time. The bioenergetic model strives to mimic the human ability to generate power output. Therefore, the bioenergetic model is set to constrain the power output that is used in the mechanical locomotion model. The optimization routine strives to minimize the finishing time in the mechanical locomotion model by varying the distribution of power output along the course, still satisfying the constraints in the bioenergetic model. The studies contained within this thesis resulted in several important findings regarding the general application of pacing strategies in cross-country skiing and road cycling. It was shown that the constant pace strategy is not optimal if ambient conditions change over the course distance. However, variable power distributions were shown beneficial if they vary in parallel with course inclination and ambient winds to decrease variations in speed. Despite these power variations, speed variations were not eliminated for most variable ambient conditions. This relates to the athlete’s physiological restrictions and the effect of these are hard to predict without thorough modeling of bioenergetics and muscle fatigue. Furthermore, it vi was shown that substantial differences in optimal power distributions were attained for various bioenergetic models. It was also shown that optimal braking and power output distributions for cycling on courses that involve sharp bends consisted of three or four phases, depending on the length of the course and the position of the bends. The four phases distinguished for reasonably long courses were a steady-state power phase, a rolling phase, a braking phase, and an all-out acceleration phase. It was also shown that positive pacing strategies are optimal on relatively long courses in road cycling where the supply of carbohydrates are limited. Finally, results indicated that optimal pacing may overlook the effect of some ambient conditions in favor of other more influential, mechanical or physiological, aspects of locomotion. In summary, the results showed that athletes benefit from adapting their power output with respect not only to changing course gradients and ambient winds, but also to their own physiological and biomechanical abilities, course length, and obstacles such as course bends. The results of this thesis also showed that the computed optimal pacing strategies were more beneficial for performance than a constant power distribution. In conclusion, this thesis demonstrates the feasibility of using numerical simulation and optimization to optimize pacing strategies in cross-country skiing and road cycling. / Avhandlingen handlar om optimering av farthållningsstrategier inom längdskidåkning och landsvägscykling. Det finns ett utbrett stöd för att konstant fart och varierande effektfördelningar är optimala om endast mekaniska aspekter beaktas i dessa sporter. Ändå saknas teoretiska studier som undersöker optimal farthållning för verkliga idrottsutövare som är begränsade i sin förmåga att generera effekt genom kroppens bioenergetiska system. Målen med den här avhandlingen är att utveckla metoder för bioenergetik och optimering av farthållningsstrategier i uthållighetsidrott. Dessutom är målet att undersöka påverkan av backar, svängar, omgivande vind och bioenergetisk modellering på den optimala farthållningsstrategin samt att utreda potentialen till prestationsförbättring med optimala farthållningsstrategier. Avhandling presenterar matematiska modeller för optimering av farthållningsstrategier. Dessa modeller delas in i en mekanisk modell för förflyttning, en bioenergetisk modell och en optimeringsmodell. De mekaniska och bioenergetiska modellerna som presenteras i avhandlingen består av differentialekvation och optimeringsmodellen utgörs av en gradient-baserad algoritm. Den mekaniska modellen beskriver förhållandet mellan utövarens effekt och den resulterande rörelsen längs banan som ger tiden mellan start och mål. Den bioenergetiska modellen beskriver människokroppens olika energisystem och dess begränsningar att generera effekt. Den bioenergetiska modellen interagerar med optimeringsmodellen genom att utgöra dess begränsningar för vad den mänskliga kroppen klarar av. Sammanfattningsvis försöker optimeringsmodellen minimera tiden mellan start och mål i den mekaniska modellen genom att variera effekten längs banan. Samtidigt ser optimeringsmetoden till att denna effektfördelning inte kränker den bioenergetiska modellen. Studierna som ingår i avhandlingen resulterade i flera viktiga upptäckter om generella tillämpningar av farthållningsstrategier inom längdskidåkning och landsvägscykling. Det visade sig att konstant fart inte är optimalt om omgivande betingelser varierade längs banans sträckning. Däremot var varierande effektfördelning fördelaktig om den varierar parallellt med banlutning och omgivande vindpåverkan för att minska fartens variationer. Trots denna variation, visade resultaten att fartvariationerna inte eliminerades helt. Detta har att göra med utövarens fysiologiska begränsningar, vars påverkan är svår att förutspå utan genomgående modellering av bioenergetik relaterat till muskeltrötthet. Dessutom viii visade resultaten att olika bioenergetiska metoder gav upphov till betydande skillnader i de optimala farthållningsstrategierna. Resultaten i avhandlingen visade också att optimal effektfördelning vid kurvtagning i landsvägscykling innehåller tre eller fyra faser. The fyra faser som var utmärkande på relativt långa banor var en tröskelfas, en rullfas, en bromsfas och en maximal accelerationsfas. Resultaten visar också att positiv farthållning är optimal på relativt långa banor i landsvägscykling där tillgången på kolhydrater är begränsad. Samtidigt visade resultaten på optimala farthållningsstrategier ibland att inverkan av omgivande betingelser förbisågs till fördel för med inflytelserika betingelser som påverkar framdrivningen. Sammantaget visar resultaten i denna avhandling att utövare gagnas av att anpassa effekten med hänsyn till varierande terräng, omgivande vind, atletens egen fysiologiska och biomekaniska förmåga, banans längd och hinder såsom kurvor. Resultaten visar också att de optimala farthållningsstrategier med varierande effektfördelning som beräknats i denna avhandling förbättrar prestationen jämfört med konstanta effektfördelningar. Sammanfattningsvis visar denna avhandling på möjligheterna att använda numerisk simulering och optimering för att optimera farthållningsstrategier i längdskidåkning och landsvägscykling. / <p>Vid tidpunkten för disputationen var följande delarbeten opublicerade: delarbete 5 accepterat, delarbete 6 manuskript.</p><p>At the time of the doctoral defence the following papers were unpublished: paper 5 accepted, paper 6 manuscript.</p>

Bakgrunden till denna rapport är att det sportvarumärke jag samarbetat med ville utveckla en modell av längdskidåkningsjacka som fanns i deras sortiment. Undersökningen gällde att identifiera förbättringspunkter på en dam- och herrvariant av denna jacka. Avsikten var att bevara plaggens design och genom förändringar i mönstrens konstruktion förbättra passform och rörelsefrihet, och därigenom plaggets funktion. Genom att konstruera, sy toiler och prova av dessa på provmodeller, har rörelsefrihet och passform kunnat utvärderas. Resultatet visade att viktiga punkter var raglanärmens konstruktion, böjningen av ärmen, kragens form, ärmhålsdjup och placering av skärlinjer. Det blev också tydligt att kombinationen av designerns och konstruktörens kunskaper tidigt i processen är a och o för ett lyckat resultat. En tydlig kommunikation mellan dessa parter kan minska antalet provplagg under produktutvecklingen.Ämnen som också behandlats under arbetet är gradering, produktspecificering och deras betydelse för plagg och produktion. I undersökningen har jag även tittat på möjligheter till ytterligare utveckling av jackornas funktion om designen kan förändras, till exempel genom att flytta skärningar och på så vis ändra modellens utseende.This study was made due to a sports brand wanting me to develop a style of cross country ski jacket that are currently part of their collection. The study contained identifying areas of possible improvement in both a men and women´s jacket. The mission was to keep the design of the jacket and on the same time improve the fit and ease of movement in the garment (and thereby the function). Through analysis of style samples, pattern construction, sewing of proto samples and fittings on models, the fit and ease of movement has been evaluated. The results are that important garment elements are the neck width, scye depth, construction of the raglan sleeve, the pre-bent sleeve and the placement of cut lines. A conclusion is that to reach a functional and nice looking garment, the designer and the pattern constructor need to cooperate in the product development phase. Good communication between these two departments can reduce the number of proto samples that has to be made.Pattern grading, product specifications and their impact on the style and production process are subjects that are also presented and discussed in this report. During the project I have also studied the possibilities of further development through style design changes. / Program: Designteknikerutbildningen

Les skieurs et les skieuses de bosses constituent une communauté d’athlètes talentueux et exceptionnels au sein de la population sportive canadienne : ceux-ci ont remporté quatre médailles aux Jeux olympiques de Sotchi (2014) et leur absence du podium est atypique sur le circuit de la Coupe du monde. Comment ces skieurs et ces skieuses de bosses ont-ils développé une expertise leur permettant d’être parmi les meilleurs, sinon les meilleurs, au monde ? L’atteinte d’un niveau expert est attribuable à la conduite de pratiques délibérées dirigées par un professeur et visant à améliorer des habiletés critiques à la performance (Ericsson, Krampe et Tesch-Römer, 1993). Ces pratiques ont lieu en dehors des cours institutionnels (entraînements avec l’équipe de sport) (Ericsson et al., 1993). Le développement du talent (et de l’expertise) en sport résulterait d’une accumulation de pratiques délibérées et de jeux délibérés menés au cours de 10 années ou 10 000 heures (Memmert, Baker et Bertsch, 2010). Le jeu délibéré est un engagement précoce dans une activité physique intrinsèquement motivante qui procure une gratification immédiate ainsi qu’une expérience de plaisir (Côté et Hay, 2002). En ayant lieu à l’extérieur de l’institution sportive, ces pratiques et ces jeux sont invisibles au public, suggérant que d’autres formes d’activités existent. Dès lors, cette thèse investigue l’ensemble des situations d’apprentissage menées en dehors des équipes de ski de bosses par des skieurs/skieuses expert(e)s et prometteur(e)s canadiens/canadiennes. Cette thèse appliquée approfondit la contribution de ces situations d’apprentissage au développement de l’expertise et du talent au moyen du concept d’Activité privée, un outil conceptuel qui regroupe l’ensemble de ces situations. Notre méthodologie qualitative, rétrospective et ethnographique traduit le point de vue et l’expérience de ces skieurs et de ces skieuses provenant de la culture sportive spécifique (Darbon, 2002) du ski de bosses au Québec et au Canada. La première partie de la thèse met en évidence une variété de catégories d’activités privées qui apparaissent, disparaissent ou se maintiennent au cours du développement sportif. Ces activités privées correspondent non seulement à des pratiques et des jeux identifiés dans la littérature sur le développement de l’expertise et du talent (Côté, Erickson et Abernethy, 2013; Ericsson et al., 1993), mais également à des jeux contribuant au développement cognitif et moteur (Piaget, 1945). Les skieurs évoquent aussi des formes d’activités privées "Autres". La deuxième partie de la thèse montre que le choix et la mise en place des activités privées dépendent de la disponibilité des ressources environnementales (artefacts) et sociales, mais également du contexte spatio-temporel. La mise en place et le déroulement des activités privées sont subordonnés aux processus proximaux (Bronfenbrenner, 1977), c’est-à-dire aux étayages (Bruner, 1983a) de l’entourage (entraîneurs, parents, fratrie et coéquipiers) et aux moyens d’autorégulation (Zimmerman, 2000) de celles-ci. La troisième partie de la thèse démontre que le choix de l’activité privée à mener découle d’un désir (Ross, 1995), orienté vers une fin-en-vue (Dewey, 1938), et d’une valorisation pragmatique. Outre ces constats, le choix, la mise en place et le déroulement des activités privées sont orientés par une sensibilité à (Récopé, Rix-Lièvre, Kellin et Boyer, 2014) et un modèle de performance idéale propre à chaque skieur. La quatrième partie expose les bénéfices retirés des activités privées. Ces bénéfices retirés permettent au skieur de posséder des habiletés critiques (habiletés techniques, physiques, stratégiques, mentales, esthétiques, proprioceptives et visant la performance globale) lui permettant ainsi d’offrir une performance experte et talentueuse en compétition de ski de bosses. [...] / Canadian mogul skiers are a community of talented and exceptional athletes in the Canadian sporting community: they won four medals at the Sochi Olympics (2014) and their absence from the podium is atypical on the world Cup circuit. How did these mogul skiers develop an expertise which classified them among the best, if not the best, in the world? Expert people conduct deliberate practice aimed at improving performance-critical skills and these deliberate practices are supervised by an expert teacher (Ericsson, Krampe and Tesch-Römer, 1993. These practices take place outside of the sport institution (sports team’s training program) (Ericsson et al., 1993). The development of talent (and expertise) in sport would result from an accumulation of deliberate practices and deliberate play conducted over 10 years or 10,000 hours (Memmert, Baker and Bertsch, 2010). Deliberate play is an early commitment to intrinsically motivating physical activity that provides immediate gratification and enjoyment (Côté and Hay, 2002). By taking place outside the sports institution, these practices and plays are invisible to the public, suggesting that other forms of activity exist. Therefore, this thesis investigates all learning situations conducted outside of the mogul teams by experienced and promising Canadian male and female skiers. This applied thesis study in depth the contribution of these learning situations to the development of expertise and talent through the concept of Private Activity, a conceptual tool that includes all possible learning situations. Our qualitative, retrospective and ethnographic methodology reflects the point of view and the experience of these skiers coming from the specific sports culture (Darbon, 2002) of mogul skiing in Quebec and Canada. The first part of the thesis highlights a variety of categories of private activities that appear, disappear or is maintain in the course of the skier’s sport development. These private activities not only correspond to practices and plays identified in the literature on the development of expertise and talent (Côté, Erickson and Abernethy, 2013, Ericsson et al., 1993), but also to plays contributing to cognitive and motor development (Piaget, 1945). Skiers also evoke private activities we identified as "Others". The second part of the thesis shows that the choice and the implementation of private activities depend on the availability of environmental (artefacts) and social resources, but also on the spatial-temporal context. The implementation and conduct of private activities are subordinated to the proximal processes (Bronfenbrenner, 1977), that is to say the entourage’s scaffolding (Bruner, 1983a) (coaches, parents, siblings and teammates) and to the self-regulation (Zimmerman, 2000) means. The third part of the thesis demonstrates that the choice of the private activity to be carried out arises from a desire (Ross, 1995), directed towards a end-in-view (Dewey, 1938), and a pragmatic valorization. In addition to these findings, the choice, implementation and conduct of private activities are oriented by a sensibility to (Récopé, Rix-Lièvre, Kellin and Boyer, 2014) and an ideal performance model specific to each skier. The fourth part describes the benefits derived from the private activities. These benefits allow the skier to acquired critical skills (technical, physical, strategic, mental, aesthetic, proprioceptive, and overall performance skills) allowing him to achieve expert and talented performance in mogul skiing competition. A modeling of the concept of Private Activity to study the development of expertise in sport is proposed at the end of the four parts of the thesis. To conclude, the non identical trajectory [...]

<p>This paper is about skiing and Swedish nationalism during the late 19th century and early 20th century. The aim is to investigate why skiing was considered so eminently suited for the incorporation of certain ideals in the national fellowship.</p><p>The paper accounts an analyse of texts and documents about Swedish skiing from 1897-1924. Skiing was a nationalistic concern from the very beginning of this period. It was connected to heartfelt feelings towards the Swedish nature, the patriotic upbringing of the youth, as well as the health of the nation. Over the years skiing also became an increased object of sportification. The competitions were popular, and the nationalistic propagandists saw the contests as means to popularize the sport. Thereby they also hoped to attract attention to the national ideals which skiing was associated with – deep feelings for the nature, a strong youth suitable for military service, and a healthy population.</p><p>Reserachers interested in the history of Swedish sport, often understand the sportification as a gradual dissociation from the nationalistic ambitions. They admit that sports, especially skiing, was influenced by patriotic ideas. But when skiing became a larger object of competition, an ideology of competition gradually replaced the nationalistic strivings.</p><p>This paper understands skiing as an invented tradition, according to Eric Hobsbawm’s <em>The Invention of Tradition</em>. An invented tradition shows a formalization and ritualization of a practice. The healthy skiing in the magnificent Swedish nature, is in this paper understood as the ritualized part of the tradition, while the competitions are seen as the formalized part.</p><p>By understanding skiing as an invented tradition, this paper shows that an increased interest for competitions, and the establishment of an ideology of competition, by no means replaced the efforts influenced by a nationalistic ideology. Nationalism and the ideology of competition did not exclude each other. They both existed within the same tradition, a tradition which reflects the strivings of this historic period.</p><p>Skiing was eminently suitable for the incorporation of certain national ideals in the national fellowship: Skiing communicated the ideals of the nation, and the competitions gained interest for this sport and the ideals it was associated with. The increased interest for competitions represented an increased efficiency in the nationalistic strivings.</p>

This thesis is about selection processes and processes of measuring and judging athletes in competitions in top-level sport. The purpose was to increase the knowledge of these processes and to analyse them from a validity perspective in order to contribute to the discussion of whether the “right” athletes are selected to participate in teams, competitions and games and whether the “right” athletes win. The rule and judging systems were investigated in the judged sports acroski and rhythmic gymnastics. Information was gathered through individual interviews with two judges, two coaches, and four elite athletes from each of the sports, and in addition to this the respective sport’s rule systems, judging manuals, meeting protocols and historical documents were studied. Selections to top-level sport teams were investigated by individual interviews with 14 top-level coaches (selectors) from the national league in soccer and a national team and from national teams in alpine skiing. The results from the judging study showed that both studied sports had undergone major changes in their rule and judging regulations, changes that had a considerable impact on the sports and the judgements. The level of definition of the rules and regulations was raised to increase the opportunities for clear and reliable judgements, but this became problematic for the overall validity of the judgements. The reason for this was that the new rules and regulations did not clearly correspond to the original idea of the sport, since the specified and detailed regulations lead to less originality and freedom in the performances. In the selection study, the results pointed to great differences in how precisely defined the selection criteria were among the teams. The selectors stated that well-defined selection criteria or grounds could be helpful in many ways, but they also emphasised how important it was for them that some parts of the selections were based on their subjective valuations of the athletes. Quite a few coaches from both sports argued that they would choose an athlete with good behaviour and favourable personality over an athlete with better sports skills, if they had an opportunity to do that depending on the selection system that was used. Overall, this research displays how validity issues connected to the selection and judging criteria and these processes might affect the outcome of the processes. It is notable that high reliability is in the main focus of the measuring and judging processes, while considerably vaguer and more subjective assessments are considered important in the selection process. The thesis points to the importance of discussing and understanding the consequences of rules, rule changes, selection and judging criteria as well as how these processes are performed, if the desired outcomes and consequences of the selection and judging processes are to be reached.

This paper is about skiing and Swedish nationalism during the late 19th century and early 20th century. The aim is to investigate why skiing was considered so eminently suited for the incorporation of certain ideals in the national fellowship. The paper accounts an analyse of texts and documents about Swedish skiing from 1897-1924. Skiing was a nationalistic concern from the very beginning of this period. It was connected to heartfelt feelings towards the Swedish nature, the patriotic upbringing of the youth, as well as the health of the nation. Over the years skiing also became an increased object of sportification. The competitions were popular, and the nationalistic propagandists saw the contests as means to popularize the sport. Thereby they also hoped to attract attention to the national ideals which skiing was associated with – deep feelings for the nature, a strong youth suitable for military service, and a healthy population. Reserachers interested in the history of Swedish sport, often understand the sportification as a gradual dissociation from the nationalistic ambitions. They admit that sports, especially skiing, was influenced by patriotic ideas. But when skiing became a larger object of competition, an ideology of competition gradually replaced the nationalistic strivings. This paper understands skiing as an invented tradition, according to Eric Hobsbawm’s The Invention of Tradition. An invented tradition shows a formalization and ritualization of a practice. The healthy skiing in the magnificent Swedish nature, is in this paper understood as the ritualized part of the tradition, while the competitions are seen as the formalized part. By understanding skiing as an invented tradition, this paper shows that an increased interest for competitions, and the establishment of an ideology of competition, by no means replaced the efforts influenced by a nationalistic ideology. Nationalism and the ideology of competition did not exclude each other. They both existed within the same tradition, a tradition which reflects the strivings of this historic period. Skiing was eminently suitable for the incorporation of certain national ideals in the national fellowship: Skiing communicated the ideals of the nation, and the competitions gained interest for this sport and the ideals it was associated with. The increased interest for competitions represented an increased efficiency in the nationalistic strivings.

The overall aim of this thesis was to study the influence of physical activity on health. Risks and benefits of physical activity is of particular interest since there is a global trend of less physical activity among youths and adults. In order to investigate this aim we used a database from a large cross country ski race, Vasaloppet, with participants with a wide age range, and with both elite athletes and ordinary people who exercise and promote their health. The most serious risk of strenuous exercise is sudden death and it is challenging to identify preventive effects of major endemic diseases. Using epidemiological methodology we studied 200 000 Vasaloppet skiers and compared them with the general population. Based on personal identification numbers we added data from Swedish national personal and health registers, clinical registers as the cancer register, Swedeheart, or Swedish stroke register, and socioeconomic information from Statistics Sweden. In the Vasaloppet database we collected data on age, gender, finish time and number of races during the period 1989 to 2010. We evaluated risk of death during the race in two papers (I,II). During 90 years of annual races, cardiac arrest occurred in 20 skiers, of which five survived. The death rate is in average two per 100 000 skiers. We also studied the association with cancer incidence (paper III). The overall reduction of cancer was modest among skiers compared with the general population, but for cancers related to lifestyle the risks were markedly lower. We investigated the risk for recurrent myocardial infarction and found a 30% reduction among skiers (paper IV). In paper V we showed that skiers with a first stroke have a lower incidence of all-cause death. The skiers had a higher frequency of atrial fibrillation but had less severe stroke and no increased risk of recurrent stroke. Thus our data suggest that a lifestyle with a high level of physical activity may work as a protection after a cardiovascular event. Summary: The short excess mortality in endurance physical activity is by far outweighed by the long term protective effect of exercise in cardiovascular diseases and cancer.

No description available.