This document will be populated with frequently asked questions.
List of questions
- Why have I been allocated a slower age adjusted time than my actual time?
- I have the same age adjusted time as last year but received fewer points?
- I have equalled the world record, but did not receive 1000 points as I expected
- World records get broken annually, how do the formulae handle this
- Are there any formulae for long course age adjustment?
- How can I calculate my own age adjustment times?
All the above question are answered below
Question 1
Why have I been allocated a slower age adjusted time than my actual time?
Under the old Finnish formula, it used the assumption that 25 year olds were the fastest swimmers in Masters and thus the time for a 25 year old was established as the base time for comparison.
In reality the fastest times in Masters varies between 25 year old swimmers, 30 year old swimmers, 35 year old swimmers. To keep consistence to some extent with the old Finnish formula the record for 25 year old is used as the base reference point for my formulae.
My formulae take into account the fact that the fastest times in Masters varies between 25 year old swimmers, 30 year old swimmers, and 35 year old swimmers. Thus in some events swimmers aged around age 30 to 35 may receive a slower age adjusted time than their actual time because swimmers old than 25 have set the fastest time. Note there is a formula per event such that best age adjustment is calculated for each event.
Question 2
I have the same age adjusted time as last year but received fewer points?
Points are allocated using the FINA points table. This table is updated each year. The base for 1000 points is the elite world record, all points for other swim are calculated from this base. If the world record for an event improves from one year to the next, then the same age adjusted time in the later year would give a lower point score. See FINA website for a fuller explanation the link is http://www.fina.org/H2O/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1373&Itemid=641
Question 3
I have equalled the world record, but did not receive 1000 points as I expected
Points are allocated using the FINA points table. This table is updated each year. The base for 1000 points is the elite world record. The masters’ world records are generally around 10% slower. The masters’ adjusted world records time thus also tend to be around 10% slower than the elite world record, hence 1000 points are not achieved.
Question 4
Masters World records get broken annually, how do the formulae handle this
It is proposed to update the formulae annually to take into account the latest masters world records, it is anticipated that each generation will be faster than the previous generation. Thus the formulae need to be updated to reflect the change in standard of each generation.
The following table shows how many records are still standing from each year (based on FINA website data at 3 February 2017. There may be a little distortion from the era of the now banned suits.
| Number of records still standing from year indicated | year |
|
| 3 | 1996 | All set by SHEILA TAORMINA of USA |
| 1 | 1997 | Set by K.PIPES-NEILSEN |
| 6 | 1998 |
|
| 1 | 1999 |
|
| 6 | 2000 |
|
| 4 | 2001 |
|
| 4 | 2002 |
|
| 9 | 2003 |
|
| 3 | 2004 |
|
| 7 | 2005 |
|
| 15 | 2006 |
|
| 8 | 2007 |
|
| 23 | 2008 |
|
| 68 | 2009 |
|
| 36 | 2010 |
|
| 33 | 2011 |
|
| 35 | 2012 |
|
| 55 | 2013 |
|
| 70 | 2014 |
|
| 92 | 2015 |
|
| 67 | 2016 |
|
The Finnish formula was derived from the data available in 1995, as you can see all world records times have been broken since then. I have no idea how they generated the formula from the data they had available.
Question 5
Are there any formulae for long course age adjustment?
Formulae have not been created for long course age adjustment. My formulae were created for the Masters Decathlon competition. This competition takes long course times and converts them to short course times. I do not know how the conversion is done.
To my knowledge no long course competition uses age adjustment to determine awards, so it would appear that Decathlon is the only competition to use long course events that are later age adjusted.
Question 6
How can I calculate my own age adjustment times?
Rob Moore has written an Excel macro that calculates age adjusted times and decathlon points from an actual time. Please contact me for a copy.
I do not have any macro that allows you to work out what time you need to achieve to get a set number of points. You would have to use trial and error with the existing macro to get an answer.
Colin Robbins has created a Decathlon Calculator facility on the Nottingham Leander Masters website the link is http://www.leandersc.com/page/masters-decathlon-calculator/4301