Small details with great effects on speed running

In sprint events, the start is a special issue, which has led us to conduct a more in-depth study of some biomechanical aspects that, on the one hand, may have permissive effects on performance or, conversely, may have a restrictive influence, depending on the stance adopted by the sprinter when getting into the “set” position for the block start. Ensuring optimal angles at the joints of the body segments enables the runner to quickly react when the starter’s gun is fired, but especially to achieve the most efficient flexion-extension sequence of the lower limb joints (hip-knee-ankle) concurrently with providing the necessary balance that allows focusing attention on the sound of the gun. Carefully watching how the block start positions are approached, it has been found that no two athletes have the same stance at the “set” command and the same dynamics of the first steps. The different approaches to the speed running technique are mainly dependent on each athlete’s morphofunctional characteristics, which will leave their mark on efficiency and specific training sessions. There are many situations in which some say that only a particular position allows them “to feel that they push best the starting block”, while others try to imitate the start positions of certain sprinters they have seen in various television broadcasts just because they have noticed something special in their performance as compared to other athletes, but without understanding the degree of efficiency of those movements.

Acute Effects of a Speed Training Program on Sprinting Step Kinematics and Performance

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of speed training on sprint step kinematics and performance in male sprinters. Two groups of seven elite (best 100-m time: 10.37 ± 0.04 s) and seven sub-elite (best 100-m time: 10.71 ± 0.15 s) sprinters were recruited. Sprint performance was assessed in the 20 m (flying start), 40 m (standing start), and 60 m (starting block start). Step kinematics were extracted from the first nine running steps of the 20-m sprint using the Opto-Jump–Microgate system. Explosive power was quantified by performing the CMJ, standing long jump, standing triple jump, and standing five jumps. Significant post-test improvements (p < 0.05) were observed in both groups of sprinters. Performance improved by 0.11 s (elite) and 0.06 s (sub-elite) in the 20-m flying start and by 0.06 s (elite) and 0.08 s (sub-elite) in the 60-m start block start. Strong post-test correlations were observed between 60-m block start performance and standing five jumps (SFJ) in the elite group and between 20-m flying start and 40-m standing start performance and standing long jump (SLJ) and standing triple jump (STJ) in the sub-elite group. Speed training (ST) shows potential in the reduction of step variability and as an effective short-term intervention program in the improvement of sprint performance.