Comparative analysis of female track and field events within combined track and field events

Aim. The paper aims to justify mutual adaptation of the functional structure of certain track and field events (pentathlon and heptathlon) and the integral effect of each of these events on sports performance in highly skilled female athletes. Materials and methods. Correlation analysis was performed for the results of pentathlon (10 best world results for each season between 2000 and 2019, 198 results in total) and heptathlon events (8 best results of each world championships between 1983 and 2019, 136 results in total). The correlation of each event with the sum of the rest of the events was found. Results. The analysis of pair correlations performed for pentathlon and heptathlon events showed their similarity with respect to functionally similar events. However, the structure of heptathlon events is more homogeneous compared with pentathlon events. The central integral event among heptathlon events is 200 metres. Throwing events contradict running events as seen from negative significant correlations between them. The effect of each of the events on the rest of the events shows that jumping events and sprinting contribute to performance enhancement while throwing events and 800 metres impede the progress. The assessment of the effect of certain events on the rest of the events showed that the long jump explained 14% of performance enhancement in heptathlon events (4% in pentathlon events), while the shot put explained 6% of performance decrease in heptathlon events (2% in pentathlon events). Conclusion. The study on the features of the functional structure of certain pentathlon and heptathlon events in case of their mutual adaptation allows to statistically predict system effects that arise as a result of performance enhancement in highly skilled female athletes.