Principal Component Analysis in the Study of the Structure of Decathlon at Different Stages of Sports Career

Abstract Introduction. Due to the complexity of decathlon resulting from the number and diversity of the component events as well as difficult and time-consuming training required of athletes, high sports performance in this combined form of competition may depend on several factors. Material and Methods. The objective of the paper was to subject the careers of the world’s top decathletes competing between 1985 and 2018 to the principal component analysis (PCA) in order to explore and define interdependencies between the component events and the final result in decathlon at four stages of sports career development (from U20 – junior, through U23 and athletic excellence stage to decline in athletic performance). Results. The results made it possible to define the majority of the principal components determining high performance in decathlon. Conclusions. The analysis has shown that each sports ontogenesis stage has shared elements and a specific arrangement of events for every age category.