## 4 Discussion
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c c c} \hline \hline  & & **Men** & **Women** & **Diff (\%)** & **Tier 5** & **Tier 4** & **Diff (\%)** \\ \hline Isometric & F\({}_{\rm m}\) & 52.86 \(\pm\) 2.96 & 37.27 \(\pm\) 2.97 & 29.49 \({}^{*}\) & 48.58 \(\pm\) 2.66 & 41.55 \(\pm\) 3.24 & 14.47 \\ Test & F\({}_{\rm peak}\) & 60.83 \(\pm\) 3.51 & 41.66 \(\pm\) 3.53 & 31.51 \({}^{**}\) & 55.92 \(\pm\) 3.16 & 46.57 \(\pm\) 3.85 & 16.72 \\ \hline \multirow{4}{*}{Maximal} & N\({}_{\rm strokes}\) & 12.77 \(\pm\) 0.43 & 7.90 \(\pm\) 0.43 & 38.13 \({}^{**}\) & 11.27 \(\pm\) 0.39 & 9.40 \(\pm\) 0.47 & 16.59 \({}^{*}\) \\  & P\({}_{\rm m}\) & 182.96 \(\pm\) 17.17 & 108.94 \(\pm\) 17.27 & 40.45 \({}^{**}\) & 160.53 \(\pm\) 15.47 & 131.37 \(\pm\) 18.80 & 18.16 \\ Incremental & P\({}_{\rm max}\) & 977.10 \(\pm\) 65.10 & 608.08 \(\pm\) 65.51 & 37.69 \({}^{**}\) & 886.25 \(\pm\) 58.68 & 699.65 \(\pm\) 71.31 & 21.05 \({}^{*}\) \\ Test & F\({}_{\rm m}\) & 17.27 \(\pm\) 1.30 & 12.00 \(\pm\) 1.31 & 30.51 \({}^{*}\) & 15.42 \(\pm\) 1.17 & 13.86 \(\pm\) 1.43 & 10.11 \\  & F\({}_{\rm peak}\) & 51.33 \(\pm\) 2.41 & 32.38 \(\pm\) 2.42 & 36.91 \({}^{**}\) & 46.46 \(\pm\) 2.17 & 37.24 \(\pm\) 2.64 & 19.84 \({}^{*}\) \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c} \hline \hline  & & Values are presented as mean \(\pm\) SD (standard deviation). Tier 5 (medallist at a major international event); Tier 4 (finalist at a major event). F\({}_{\rm m}\) (average force in Kg), F\({}_{\rm peak}\) (peak force in Kg), N\({}_{\rm strokes}\) (number of strokes), P\({}_{\rm m}\) (average power in N), P\({}_{\rm max}\) (maximum power in N), SD (standard deviation), \({}^{**}\) (\(p\leq 0.001\)); \({}^{*}\) (\(p<0.05\)). \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 5: Sex and performance differences in canoe-specific FEMD characteristics of world-class and elite canoeists. group differences in the LD and TZ muscles, although these findings are not comparable to ours due to the difference in sample characteristics. In our study, greater Vrd in the BF, TZ, and ES muscles can be seen in male medalists at a major international event (Tier 5). In this sense, it should be highlighted that establishing differences between two high-level groups that differ exclusively by winning a medal in an international event is somewhat straightforward. In fact, some of our canoeists classified as Tier 4 due to being a finalist at a major event when data were collected would currently be classified as Tier 5 for winning a medal at the end of the season after the major canoe international event. Therefore, to establish nuances between the muscular contractile properties of elite and world-class canoeists, very sensitive parameters should be used. In this sense, Vrd could be an appropriate parameter due to its sensitivity as a physiological marker of acute variations in speed and power performance of team sports athletes [32] and as a performance predictor in endurance sports such as cycling [20]. In brief, more research is needed to define the muscle contractile properties of female and male world-class canoeists due to their practical usefulness for training and talent detection. Regarding canoeists' ROM, no significant sex differences were found in shoulder ER, IR, and AKE. These findings are similar to those reported by [PERSON] and [PERSON] [33], although their sample was made up of kayakers, not canoeists. However, significant sex differences were found in YBT-UQ\({}_{\text{med}}\) of the stroke side, with males showing greater mobility than female canoeists. The YBT-UQ is a test that requires both shoulder stability and mobility in three different directions (medial, superolateral, and inferolateral directions). The canoe stroke technical pattern is characterized by repetitive shoulder flexion/extension movements along with large trunk rotations on the stroke side to continually attempt to increase stroke amplitude. However, canoeing is a water sport exposed to several environmental conditions (i.e., waves, water depth, upstream or downstream currents, etc.)