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

This study conducted a comparative analysis of the performances of elite junior male athletes from Taiwan and Japan in the 800-meter preliminary and final races from 2021 to 2024. The research aimed to explore performance differences between the athletes from the two countries under different competition formats. Data sources included YouTube race videos and official result reports, with lap-by-lap analysis conducted using video analysis software. The results revealed that Taiwan's competition format, which adopts the "Top N from each group + fastest losers advance" model, encouraged athletes to maintain a conservative pace in the preliminaries, focusing on advancing smoothly and delivering stronger performances in the finals. In contrast, Japan's "time-based qualification" format led athletes to exert maximum effort in the preliminaries, resulting in excessive fatigue that adversely affected their final race performances. The design of Taiwan's format allowed athletes to conserve energy and perform exceptionally in the finals, whereas Japan's athletes exhibited intense competition in the preliminaries but suffered from depleted energy in the finals. Regarding pacing strategies, Taiwanese athletes generally adopted positive splits, while Japanese athletes showed a mix of positive splits in two years and negative splits in the other two years. Taiwanese athletes performed relatively poorly in the second lap, with a greater disparity between their first and second lap performances compared to Japanese athletes. Overall, Japanese athletes slightly outperformed Taiwanese athletes in the finals. The findings indicate that athletes' pacing strategies, competition format design, and energy management are closely interrelated and significantly influence race outcomes. This study suggests that Taiwanese athletes should enhance their second-lap pacing control and consider adjusting competition format designs to improve competitiveness on the international stage.