Background This study describes the long-term development of training characteristics and physiological performance-determining variables among six world-class (Tier 5) female cross-country skiers across three decades, collectively holding 61 Olympic/World Championship medals. Methods The skiers were divided into two groups: three world-leading (Tier 5+) athletes with = 8 medals in international championships and three Tier 5 athletes with = 4 medals. Self-reported training characteristics, as well as peak oxygen uptake (VO2peak) and submaximal lactate threshold tests from junior to senior age were collected and analyzed retrospectively. Training was categorized into endurance, strength and speed training, with endurance training systemized using a five-zone intensity scale. Results While athletes exhibited individual patterns in the development of training volume from junior to senior, the increase in training volume was primarily driven by a rise in low-intensity endurance training. There was a noticeable trend that Tier 5+ athletes had a longer, more consistent increase in training volume compared to Tier 5. Among Tier 5+ athletes, VO2peak values showed a positive progression from junior to senior level, whereas only one of the Tier 5 showed the same pattern. Additionally, Tier 5+ demonstrated larger improvements in speeds at a given blood lactate and heart rate level than Tier 5 throughout the investigated period (e.g., mean increase in speed at estimated lactate threshold: ~14% for Tier 5+ vs. ~ 7% for Tier 5). Conclusions Keeping in mind the limitations associated with the small sample size, the development pathways to becoming a Tier 5+ skier tended to involve longer, more consistent, increases in training volume, resulting in greater improvements in both VO2peak and submaximal physiological determinants than Tier 5 skiers. Keypoints - Despite individual development patterns, the increase in training volume from junior age to world-class senior level was primarily driven by increases in zone 1 low-intensity endurance training, with individual patterns in the progression of moderate- and high-intensity training. - World-leading female cross-country skiers generally tended to demonstrate a longer, more gradual and stepwise increase in training volume, resulting in higher overall training volumes compared to their medal-winning peers. - World-leading female skiers exhibited sustained development in VO2peak and lactate threshold, surpassing medal-winning peers.
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