Authors: F. Moen, K. Myhre and Ø. Sandbakk

Corresponding Author:
Frode Moen
E-mail address: frmoe@online.no, Tel. : +47 932 487 50
Postal address: Department of Education, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, N-7491 Trondheim, Norway

Frode Moen is currently the head manager of the Olympic Athlete program in central Norway, where he also has a position as a coach / mental trainer for elite athletes and coaches. He also is an associate professor at the Department of Education at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. He previously has worked as a teacher in high school where sport was his major subject, and he has been a coach for the national team in Nordic combined in Norway for several years. Frode received his Ph. D. in coaching and performance psychology from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. His research focuses mainly on coaching in business, coaching in sport, communication, performance psychology and relationship issues.

Associations Between Emotions and Performance in Cross-Country Skiing Competitions

ABSTRACT
This article looks at how emotions are associated with performance during cross-country skiing competitions among 10 senior Norwegian national level athletes. The results in this study show that there is a relatively similar emotional distribution pattern found among the athletes who are most satisfied with their performance compared to the less satisfied ones. However, the intensity in their emotions is different. The most satisfied athletes have higher intensity in their eudaimonic and hedonic emotions, while the negative emotions “sad” and “scared” are higher among the less satisfied athletes. The emotion “angry” is not significantly different between the two groups of athletes, and significantly higher in intensity compared to “sad” and “scared”. The emotions in this study explain 53 % of the variance in subjective performance. The results are discussed in regard of applied implications and possible future research.

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