freecodecamp--freecodecamp/curriculum/challenges/english/blocks/daily-coding-challenges-python/697a49e6ff50d756c9b69363.md

id, title, challengeType, dashedName

id	title	challengeType	dashedName
697a49e6ff50d756c9b69363	Challenge 186: 2026 Winter Games Day 7: Speed Skating	29	challenge-186

--description--

Given two arrays representing the lap times (in seconds) for two speed skaters, return the lap number where the difference in lap times is the largest.

The first element of each array corresponds to lap 1, the second to lap 2, and so on.

--hints--

largest_difference([26.11, 25.80, 25.92, 26.23, 26.07], [25.93, 25.74, 26.53, 26.11, 26.30]) should return 3.

({test: () => { runPython(`
from unittest import TestCase
TestCase().assertEqual(largest_difference([26.11, 25.80, 25.92, 26.23, 26.07], [25.93, 25.74, 26.53, 26.11, 26.30]), 3)`)
}})

largest_difference([27.04, 25.94, 26.22, 26.07, 26.18], [25.59, 25.80, 26.11, 26.01, 26.23]) should return 1.

({test: () => { runPython(`
from unittest import TestCase
TestCase().assertEqual(largest_difference([27.04, 25.94, 26.22, 26.07, 26.18], [25.59, 25.80, 26.11, 26.01, 26.23]), 1)`)
}})

largest_difference([25.82, 25.90, 26.05, 26.00, 26.48], [25.85, 25.92, 26.07, 25.98, 25.95]) should return 5.

({test: () => { runPython(`
from unittest import TestCase
TestCase().assertEqual(largest_difference([25.82, 25.90, 26.05, 26.00, 26.48], [25.85, 25.92, 26.07, 25.98, 25.95]), 5)`)
}})

largest_difference([25.88, 26.10, 25.95, 26.05, 26.00], [25.90, 26.55, 25.92, 26.03, 26.01]) should return 2.

({test: () => { runPython(`
from unittest import TestCase
TestCase().assertEqual(largest_difference([25.88, 26.10, 25.95, 26.05, 26.00], [25.90, 26.55, 25.92, 26.03, 26.01]), 2)`)
}})

largest_difference([25.92, 26.01, 26.05, 25.88, 26.12], [25.95, 26.00, 26.03, 26.45, 26.10]) should return 4.

({test: () => { runPython(`
from unittest import TestCase
TestCase().assertEqual(largest_difference([25.92, 26.01, 26.05, 25.88, 26.12], [25.95, 26.00, 26.03, 26.45, 26.10]), 4)`)
}})

--seed--

--seed-contents--

def largest_difference(skater1, skater2):

    return skater1

--solutions--

def largest_difference(skater1, skater2):
    max_diff = -1
    lap_number = 1

    for i in range(len(skater1)):
        diff = abs(skater1[i] - skater2[i])
        if diff > max_diff:
            max_diff = diff
            lap_number = i + 1

    return lap_number