| Resumo: | The aim of this investigation was to conduct a longitudinal assessment of the performance, energetics and biomechanic profiles of masters swimmers, over one full season. The thesis includes the following studies: (i) review of literature; (ii) identification of the energetic and biomechanical contributions for longitudinal swimming performance; (iii) analysis of the changes of the energetic profile over a season; and (iv) analysis of the effect of gender, energetic and biomechanics on swimming performance. Results suggest that, for masters swimmers: i) there are no longitudinal studies related with changes in the performance and the factors influencing it within and/or between seasons; ii) cross-sectional studies related with energetics, biomechanics, and performance are scarce and present low quality scores; iii) swimmers improved significantly their 200m freestyle performance over a season; iv) although we found some improvements in energetic variables over the season, the performance seems to be more dependent on technical parameters; v) male swimmers have better performance, higher stroke length, stroke index and maximal blood lactate concentration after exercise than female counterparts; vi) gender has a significant effect on the stroke length, stroke index and maximal blood lactate concentration after exercise.
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