Oxygen uptake in wheelchair fencing

Eleven elite wheelchair fencers (7 class A, 4 class B; 3 women, 8 men) completed a wheelchair fencing-specific incremental test (WFST) with continuous heart rate (HR) and breath-by-breath oxygen uptake (VO2; COSMED K5). An individual linear equation VO2 = a + b*HR was derived for each fencer. They then performed two 15-hit epee bouts, one of which was monitored, to compare directly measured VO2 with VO2 estimated from HR. A subsample of seven fencers took part in a simulated epee competition in which HR was recorded continuously and VO2 was estimated from the individual equation.

Data were collected in the summer of 2022 in Troyes (France) and Bath (UK). Ethics: Clinical Research Ethics Committee of Sport in Catalonia, ref. 012020CEICEGC.