IDO MOVEMENT FOR CULTURE

Background. In 2009, the International Judo Federation established the Judo World Tour and the judo Ranking List (WRL), initially for senior and then for cadet and junior athletes. However, no study has investigated its predictive power for World Championships for senior, junior or cadet age groups.
Problem and aim. To verify the relationship between ranking, short-term performance variables and World Championship performances.
Method. Data from 230 male cadet, 198 female cadet, 339 male junior, 241 female junior, 437 male senior, and 289 female senior judo athletes were analyzed. Stepwise multiple linear regression was conducted to predict points attained in the World Championship for each sex and age group.
Results. The WRL and short-term performance could predict between 5% and 27% of the result in the World Championships for these groups. For seniors, being among the top ranked athletes in the draw, but having performed a lower number of competitions, were factors associated to a better performance; for juniors, being among the top ranked athletes in the draw (for males), being the best ranked athlete and presenting a higher winning percentage in the year of the competition (for females), better predicted performance; for cadets, a higher number of wins up to the World Championship, but a lower number of total matches up to this event, were the main factors associated with performance.
Conclusions. World Championship performance for cadet, junior and senior male and female judo athletes could only be partially predicted (5% to 27%) by the WRL and by the performance in competitions in the year of the event.