129 Tracking talented swimmers during the junior-to-senior transition 6 mobility training. Therefore, future studies investigating the inter-individual differences in these training characteristics and their relation to the development of swim performance and underlying factors would be of great value in advancing our understanding of the pathway to swimming expertise. Strengths and weaknesses The uniqueness of the present study lies in its integration of study design, sample, and analysis, which sets it apart from other studies in multiple ways. First of all, our longitudinal analysis of performance and multiple underlying performance characteristics (multidimensional approach) allows for a more comprehensive understanding of the complex nature of athlete development, resulting in a more nuanced and insightful analysis of progression towards elite level swimming performances. Second and unlike previous studies, we followed top-tier national age group swimmers during their junior-to-senior transition. We particularly focused on the late junior and the early senior years, a time span of four years at the end of the talent trajectory (males aged 16-19; females aged 1518). It is worth noting that this specific group of swimmers has been underrepresented in existing research, with an even greater lack of focus on female athletes. As such, the present study shed a light on the unique developmental characteristics of talented male and female swimmers, revealing both similarities and differences between sexes. This underscores the importance of recognizing that findings from male swimmers cannot be directly extrapolated to females, emphasizing the need for sex-specific considerations and individualized approaches. Third, our analysis focused on differences between highperforming and lower-performing senior swimmers in relation to international reference values, while considering different rates of development between these performance level groups in our models. Opposite to their lower-performing peers, high-performing seniors are considered to be on track to the senior elite level. This group division was defined by benchmarks derived from the observed developmental pathway of international elite swimmers who ranked among the top 50 worldwide. Moreover, scores on swimming tests were related to (in-competition) levels of starts, turns, maximal swimming velocity and SI achieved by finalists of the European Championships in 2021. This comparison enabled us to assess the level of late-junior swimmers in relation to the level they need to attain as senior elite swimmers. Taken together, the present study is the first to provide evidence for differences in developmental pathways (both on performance and its underlying characteristics) of both male and female senior swimmers who are on track to the elite level compared to those who are not during the junior-to-senior transition. Alongside the strengths, it is important to acknowledge and address the limitations that exist within the present study. Unsurprisingly, we faced the challenge of a relatively small sample sizes, which is inherent in elite sports research (Skorski & Heckseden, 2021). As a result, the statistical power of our analysis was constrained, limiting our ability to detect
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