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Women Dominate Men at Ultradistance Swimming — Here’s the Fascinating Reason Why
To give a hint, it’s linked to women having less muscle than men
For physical activities, finding any sport where women can even compete with men is rare. This is because even in areas where women have a genetic advantage, men’s size advantage usually outweighs it.
But in one discipline, women very much appear able to compete. Ultradistance swimming.
You may have seen this narrative sold. It’s a popular one, and it’s true. But it’s more complex than meets the eye, which is why before we get to it, we first need to clear something up. The myth that women can compete with men in long-distance running.
Women’s endurance advantage over men is greatly misunderstood
A popular idea which frequently shows up on social media is that women are faster than men at distances over 195 kilometres.
It makes sense why this shows up so often. For example, though in running disciplines, men start with a 7 to 14 percent advantage at track distance level (think 100 metres, 1500 metres et cetera), according to widely published data, the longer the race, the more the gap narrows.
