French soccer fans celebrate in the street after France’s victory against Croatia in the World Cup Final on Jul. 15, 2018 in Paris, France. (Photo by Jack Taylor/Getty Images)
Being an elite athlete is hard work, but so too is being a fan. Data collected from roughly 7,000 smartwatches in France shows just how much heart rates soared at key moments of the country’s 4-2 victory over Croatia in the World Cup Final on Jul. 15.
French consumer electronics company Withings, which makes connected health products under the Nokia brand, collected and anonymized the data from Nokia Steel HR watches. Heart rate peaked after France broke a 1-1 tie in the 38th minute when Antoine Griezmann converted a penalty kick.
French fan heart rates during the World Cup Final. (Courtesy of Withings)
The highest average heart rates were seen in the youngest demographic in the study. After the second French goal, the average beats-per-minute of men and women in their 20s peaked at 105.1. The aggregate for all cohorts right then was just shy of 99 bpm. Overall, men had higher heart rates than women at all key junctures except after the fourth French goal, when the two sexes were nearly even (96.4 for women, 96.1 for men).
The study also noted that French celebrations of their team’s goals prompted much more cardio activity than the distress of seeing Croatia score. The southern Occitanie city of Toulouse hosted the highest average heart rates, followed closely by Paris.
Nokia acquired Withings in 2016, but Nokia then sold the company back to one of Withings’ co-founders earlier this year.
