The 2-parameter critical velocity model has been used for determination of aerobic and anaerobic performance. Nevertheless, the 3-parameter model previews an additional parameter corresponding to the maximal instantaneous velocity (Vmax) to the original model, having an impact on the estimation of the other two parameters. Thus, the aim of this work was to verify and compare the relationship of the critical velocity (Ccrit), provided by the 2-parameter (Ccrit-2parameters) and 3-parameter (Vcrit-3parameters) models, with the mean velocity kept in a maximal effort of 6,000m (V6000m) in canoeing. Nine competitive, male canoers (17.4± 2.4 years) performed at different days, maximal tests of 200, 500, 1,000, 1,800 and 6,000m. The Vcrit was calculated for all subjects, from the 200 to 1,800 distances, using the hyperbolic equations with two and three parameters. The distance durations were in the interval between 46.1 ± 3.5 s to 513.9 ± 25.6 s. One-way ANOVA for repeated measures was used for comparison between velocities (Vcrit-2parameters, Vcrit-3parameters and V6000m), followed by the Newman-Keuls post hoc. The association between variables was performed with the Pearson correlation. The Bland-Altman Plot among the Vcrit-2parameters, V Crit-3parameters and V6000m was applied for concordance analysis. The 6,000m sprint had an average of 29.9 ± 1.0 min duration. There was significant difference of the Vcrit-3parameters (2.93 ± 0.36 m/s) in comparison with the Vcrit-2parameters (3.31 ± 0.22 m.s-1) and V6000m (3.35 ± 0.11 m.s-1). Vcrit-2parameters and V6000m did not differ between each other. The correlation between Vcrit-2parameters and V6000m was of 0.72 (p= 0.03), while the correlation between Vcrit-3parameters and V6000m was not significant. The outcomes of this study suggest that the 2-parameter critical velocity model provides Vcrit values more suitable for the aerobic assessment of canoers. The Vcrit-3parameters underestimates the velocity which can be kept for approximately 30 min, with low aerobic performance predictive capacity. Thus, evidence on the validity of the 2-parameter original model critical velocity proposed by Monod and Scherrer was obtained.
critical velocity; two parameters; three parameters; canoeing
