No abstract

Practitioners have for many years argued that athletic sprinters should optimise front-side mechanics (leg motions occurring in front of the extended line through the torso) and minimise backside mechanics. This study aimed to investigate if variables related to front-and backside mechanics can be distinguished from other previously highlighted kinematic variables (spatiotemporal variables and variables related to segment configuration and velocities at touchdown) in how they statistically predict performance. Twenty-four competitive sprinters (age 23.1 ±3.4 yr, height 1.81 ±0.06 m, body mass 75.7 ±5.6 kg, 100-m personal best 10.86 ±0.22 s) performed two 20-m starts from block and 2-3 flying sprints over 20 m. Kinematics were recorded in 3D using a motion tracking system with 21 cameras at a 250 Hz sampling rate. Several front-and backside variables, including thigh-(r=0.64) and knee angle (r=0.51) at lift-off, and maximal thigh extension (r=0.66), were largely correlated (p<0.05) with accelerated running performance (ARP), and these variables displayed significantly higher correlations (p<0.05) to ARP than nearly all the other analysed variables. However, the relationship directions for most front-and backside variables during accelerated running were opposite compared to how the theoretical concept has been described. Horizontal ankle velocity, contact time and step rate displayed significantly higher correlation values to maximal velocity sprinting (MVS) than the other variables (p<0.05), and neither of the included front-and backside variables were significantly associated with MVS. Overall, the present findings did not support that front-side mechanics were crucial for sprint performance among the investigated sprinters.

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between the forces applied to the starting blocks and the start performances (SPs) of amputee sprinters (ASs) and non-amputee sprinters (NASs). SPs of 154 male and female NASs (100-m personal records [PRs], 9.58–14.00 s) and 7 male ASs (3 unilateral above knee, 3 unilateral below knee, 1 bilateral below knee; 100 m PRs, 11.70–12.70 s) with running specific prostheses (RSPs) were analysed during full-effort sprint starts using instrumented starting blocks that measured the applied forces in 3D. Using the NAS dataset and a combination of factor analysis and multiple regression techniques, we explored the relationship between force characteristics and SP (quantified by normalized average horizontal block power). Start kinetics were subsequently compared between ASs and NASs who were matched based on their absolute 100 m PR and their 100 m PR relative to the world record in their starting class. In NASs, 86% of the variance in SP was shared with five latent factors on which measured parameters related to force application to the rear and front blocks and the respective push-off directions in the sagittal plane of motion were loaded. Mediolateral force application had little influence on SP. The SP of ASs was significantly reduced compared to that of NASs matched on the basis of relative 100-m PR (−33.8%; d = 2.11, p < 0.001), while a non-significant performance reduction was observed when absolute 100-m PRs were used (−17.7%; d = 0.79, p = 0.09). These results are at least partially explained by the fact that force application to the rear block was clearly impaired in the affected legs of ASs.

The use of technological aids to improve sport performance (‘techno doping’) and inclusion of Paralympic athletes in Olympic events are matters of ongoing debate. Recently, a long jumper with a below the knee amputation (BKA) achieved jump distances similar to world-class athletes without amputations, using a carbon fibre running-specific prosthesis (RSP). We show that athletes with BKA utilize a different, more effective take-off technique in the long jump, which provided the best athlete with BKA a performance advantage of at least 0.13 m compared to non-amputee athletes. A maximum speed constraint imposed by the use of RSPs would indicate a performance disadvantage for the long jump. We found slower maximum sprinting speeds in athletes with BKA, but did not find a difference in the overall vertical force from both legs of athletes with BKA compared to non-amputees. Slower speeds might originate from intrinsically lower sprinting abilities of athletes with BKA or from more complex adaptions in sprinting mechanics due to the biomechanical and morphological differences induced by RSPs. Our results suggest that due to different movement strategies, athletes with and without BKA should likely compete in separate categories for the long jump.