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The home advantage in alpine skiing
Journal article

The home advantage in alpine skiing

Abstract

The purpose of the present paper was to study the extent of the home advantage in World Cup Alpine Skiing, a sport characterized by high task independence. Four performance measures were used: Federation International de Ski (F.I.S.) race points, difference between start seed and finish placement (with the results from second seed skiers only), number of skiers who did not finish (DNFs), and the number of skiers who did not qualify for the second of two runs (DNQs). Data from 5 seasons (N = 290 competitions) were used for male and female skiers of two ability levels (first and second seeds) competing in their home country versus away in four disciplines (downhill, giant slalom, super-g, and slalom). A significant home advantage was found for F.I.S. race points (10.09%, p < .001). None of the interactions between location and gender, discipline, or ability were significant (p > .05). The difference between start seed and finish placement also showed a significant home advantage (23.44%, p < .001). Again none of the interactions were statistically significant (p > .05). No home advantage was found in DNFs or DNQs (p > .05). The results were discussed in terms of their relationship to previous research with sports characterized by high task interdependence as well as potential causal mechanisms contributing to the home advantage in World Cup Alpine Skiing.

Authors

Bray SR; Carron AV

Journal

Australian Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, Vol. 25, No. 4, pp. 76–81

Publication Date

December 1, 1993

ISSN

0813-6289

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