Abstract
The purpose of this study was to quantify the daily fluctuations in heart rate variability (HRV) during taper for elite Paralympic medallist swimmers with various impairments. Ten-min supine recordings of 6 male elite Paralympic medallist swimmers were collected upon awakening each morning for the 18 days of taper leading into the London 2012 Paralympic games. Weekly training volume reduced from an average of 43 km·wk-1 to 23.5 km·wk-1 (45%) during the taper period. Daily HRV analysis during the taper period showed significant changes in HRV that followed a trend across all amputee athletes. Daily RMSSD was significantly reduced on day two (40.6% decrease from average) of the taper before peaking on day 13 (13.7% increase from average). An athlete with a neuromuscular impairment did not follow the same trend. There was a significant difference in HRV across Paralympic swimmers with varying impairments. The daily monitoring of training post international travel highlighted important highs and lows that may be used as indicators in readiness to perform.