CommunicationPublished on 18 December 2025

Working together to better identify talent: the SFISM at the INSEP international conference in Paris

How do we discover the next generation of Swiss sporting talent? Selecting and promoting talent is central to elite sport. At an international conference held by INSEP in Paris, Mirjam Hintermann and Michael Romann presented their research on this topic to an audience of experts.

The National Institute of Sport, Expertise and Performance (INSEP) is France’s national training centre. It brings together elite sports promotion, education, research and applied sports science under one roof. At the end of November, experts from a number of countries met at an international conference in Paris to discuss the identification of talent in performance and youth sports.

The SFISM was also represented by Mirjam Hintermann (researcher in the Exercise Science group) and Michael Romann (Exercise Science group head), who were invited to present their current research. In their presentation, they introduced the concept of ‘smart competitions’ in youth performance sports – intelligent competition formats that promote children in a way that corresponds to their level of development. They also presented age-, maturity- and gender-specific performance development curves (percentile curves). This research shows how coaches can use these reference values for both individual talent development and team promotion.

The conference provided a valuable opportunity to discuss the latest findings from SFISM research with international experts. It also highlighted how other countries select, promote and structurally support talent. The insights gained will help the SFISM to better understand and further develop talent identification.