Vol. 7, Issue 1, Part A (2025)

This study aims to analyze the performance of junior male athletes in the 800 m event at the Taiwan Middle School Athletic Games from 2022 to 2024, focusing on the characteristics of their performance in the preliminaries, semifinals, and finals, pacing strategies, and the impact of these strategies on race results. The research uses official results reports and publicly available footage as data sources. By comparing competition data from three years, it reveals trends in pacing variations and how energy distribution affects race outcomes. The results show that most athletes adopt a "fast at the start, slow at the end" pacing strategy. This strategy helps secure an early advantage but leads to excessive energy expenditure in the first half, resulting in a slowdown in the second half and negatively affecting the final result. Some athletes, however, employ a more even-paced strategy, maintaining a steady speed and successfully sprinting in the latter half, ultimately achieving excellent results. The study identifies a loss of pace in the second lap as a major factor for poor performance. Additionally, the frequent competition schedule presents challenges to athletes' physical condition and health. For example, the winner of the 2023 800 m event, who competed in four events and participated in eight races over five days in 2024, ultimately withdrew from the 800 m final due to a muscle strain. This highlights that overly intensive schedules can lead to excessive fatigue and increase the risk of injury. Therefore, the study suggests that future training should focus on physical management, the appropriate selection of pacing strategies, enhancing speed endurance, and considering reasonable scheduling to avoid overloading, while providing scientific guidance for coaches to design more effective training plans.