Caffeine enhances endurance performance but may impair shooting accuracy, creating a potential trade-off for overall biathlon performance. In a randomized, placebo-controlled, crossover study, seven elite male biathletes consumed caffeine (3 mg/kg) or taste-matched placebo 60 min before a simulated biathlon competition consisting of five “laps” of 6-min treadmill skiing interspersed by four five-shot bouts. Participants further performed precision shooting (20 prone and 20 standing) pre- and postcompetition. Caffeine increased distance covered in Laps 1 (1,824 ± 73 vs. 1,772 ± 66 m; p = .03, dz = 1.12) and 2 (1,801 ± 92 vs. 1,776 ± 84 m; p = .02, dz = 1.19) but did not improve total distance ( p = .06). Blood lactate ( p = .01, ) and ventilation ( p .77) formats. Caffeine impaired postexercise precision shooting in prone position (88.9 ± 6.0% vs. 93.3 ± 7.5%; p = .04, dz = 0.65). Our findings highlight task-specific effects of caffeine, emphasizing the importance of tailoring supplementation to integrated performance demands.
Engel et al. (Thu,) studied this question.