# Goal Shot Analysis in Elite Water Polo--World Cup Final 2018 in Berlin
## 3 Results
### Biomechanical Analysis of the Goal Shot Behavior of Individual Players  
From a biomechanical point of view, the ball velocity and the flight duration of the ball during the goal shot are of primary interest. Because of its dominant importance, our analysis focused on the drive shot, but in both techniques of the high (\"dry\") and the bounce shot (as a rebound from the water surface). To ensure that the examined goal shots were executed by the players with approximately maximum intensity, only those drive shots (\(n=193\)) were included in the analysis that were unimpeded (\"free\" shots), executed without technical mistakes, from a minimum distance of 6 m, and with a ball release velocity of at least 17 ms\({}^{-1}\) (Table 3).  
As a result, both penalty throw (from the 6 m line) and throw from the field showed very high release speeds, some of which were over 25 ms\({}^{-1}\). Thereby, the top performers were one player of the 2016 and 2020 Olympic champion Serbia with faster than 27 ms\({}^{-1}\) and one player from Hungary with faster than 26 ms\({}^{-1}\). At these shot speeds, the reaction time of the goalkeeper (time between t3, leaving the ball from the hand, to t4, passing goalkeeper's position) was less than 0.2 s in individual cases (Figure 6).  
Hungary's national team occupied a special position among the world's top water polo teams in terms of shot velocity, because, on the one hand, its average superiority over four of seven World Cup finalists was significant (see the individual comparisons in Figure 7b; [PERSON] post-hoc, \(p<0.05\)), and, on the other hand, no less than five players achieved shot velocities higher than 23 ms\({}^{-1}\), which was not achieved by a single Japanese or South African player, for example.  
Figure 5: Overall hit rates of all players participating in the water polo World Cup Final 2018 in the different target zones of the water polo goal (separated for (**a**) position attack and (**b**) man-up attack situation of the team).  
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c} \hline \hline \multirow{2}{*}{**Nation**} & \multirow{2}{*}{\(n\)} & \multicolumn{4}{c}{**Ball Speeds (ms\({}^{-1}\))**} \\ \cline{3-6}  & & **Mean** & **SD** & **Min.** & **Max.** \\ \hline Hungary & 29 & 22.92 & 1.73 & 19.14 & 26.34 \\ Australia & 17 & 22.55 & 1.34 & 19.75 & 24.70 \\ Serbia & 32 & 21.46 & 2.42 & 17.13 & 27.32 \\ Germany & 22 & 21.38 & 1.77 & 18.39 & 25.29 \\ Croatia & 32 & 21.45 & 1.52 & 17.40 & 23.85 \\ USA & 24 & 22.15 & 1.60 & 18.16 & 24.83 \\ Japan & 25 & 20.04 & 1.30 & 17.00 & 21.86 \\ South Africa & 12 & 20.75 & 1.25 & 17.69 & 22.38 \\ \hline Total & 193 & 21.62 & 1.90 & 17.13 & 27.32 \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table}
Table 3: Ball speeds during goal throw with drive shot at time t3 (leaving hand), only for direct and bounced, unimpeded drive shots without technique faults, from a distance of at least 6 m and with ball speeds higher than 17 ms\({}^{-1}\).  
Comparing the overall team scoring results of the eight participating national teams, the higher scoring rates of the water polo nations Hungary (Olympic champion 2000, 2004, 2008), Croatia (Olympic champion 2012) and Serbia (Olympic champion 2016, 2020), which have been successful at Olympic Games and World Championships for many years, are already noticeable at first glance (Figure 7a).