I think the photo is just before you’d expect ankle extension. The heel is slightly clear and on the way up. Her form looks pretty damn good to me.
Generally you can evaluate the efficiency of running (once upright) by the status of the free leg (the one not touching the ground) at the point the heel of the stance leg leaves the ground - which for the geeks among us is the point the extensor chain (HS, glutes, lats etc) begins to become inhibited by a reflex on the bottom of the foot. The further the knee is past the stance leg at this point the better because the free hip will then be moving upwards and releasing energy stored in the IT band and glutes on the stance leg. If you look at Bolt at heel up his free leg is way past his stance leg allowing him to use all that elastic energy - hence why he is so efficient and has great speed endurance (at least over the 100m).
As KK says the further the free leg is past the stance leg the less weight is on the stance leg and so it can begin to extend. However the ankle isn’t able to fully extend until it is way behind the stance knee (hip extension is first, then knee then ankle). So i agree with Charlie, i think she looks pretty good in this picture and you shouldn’t expect ankle extension just yet - more likely as her free leg reaches it’s highest point (around hip height). The issue for me with her poor performance is with her drive and transition at the moment… we’ll wait and see what she does in Germany tonight…
Did you see the race? What’s wrong with her drive and transition?
astute commentary tc.
Just to add
I think this can serve to exhibit the correct firing sequence-hip to knees and then ankles.
great post topcat, out of curiosity how would you work on correcting/improving this action in someone who isnt meeting this ‘form’ i have an athlete who appears to have a slow ‘spring back’ so inturn isnt getting the full extension…is this a mobility issue? (in general)
I agree, some times…people just aint machines lol
Its a pity this hasn’t been discussed further as it is an interesting question and one I have been pondering the past few weeks. In that time I have been focussing on getting the heel straight up as fast as possible after foot strike. That would then help with the feeling others (Flash?) described where leg action is almost up and down. I wonder if that feeling is the outcome rather than the cause? make sense? 
I agree more with your last sentence. Effort is better put in the ‘knee up’ action rather than the ‘heel up/back’ one, which happens naturally, it’s the ‘outcome’. Good flexibility in hips/quads seems a prerequisite for this to happen, as it should. Others?
The faster you run the more pronounced the heel up stepping over the knee. As you have said it happens naturally
Agreed. if you rush the recovery, you’ll cut off some of the power at the end of the stroke and risk a quad pull.
Looks like you were right.
Love to hear what the spin doctors are saying.
Almost everything! 
Not a straight line out of the blocks. Very high heel recovery (you want it to stay low) etc… Having said that I watched her train a few days ago and if she sorts out the acceleration she will run 6.90/10.4x. At 40m her upright running technique is almost perfect in terms of achieving all the positions you need to maintain max velocity. I haven’t seen technique like this in a female before. Does anyone have any good slow motion footage of her when she was running slower from a few seasons back. I would like to see what has changed.
I’ve been looking for a close view slow-mo but it’s tough since the cameras are always on the middle of the track and she would be in an outer lane back then. Best I’ve found so far:
Don’t forget to change the quality to 480p.
Thanks, as you say it’s difficult to tell. She ran 11.17 back then which is no slouch but it appears she lacks the leg stiffness she has now and the swing leg lags slightly more because of it. I also get the impression she collapses slightly and the free hip isn’t popping up as quickly so she can’t use the elastic energy stored in her IT band as well.
From what i can tell her technique hasn’t changed that much but she now just has the stiffness and strength to execute with perfect relaxation - which is why her arm action looks better now. That extra stiffness allows her to more elastic off the ground and hence she uses less energy with each stride. If you were talent spotting you could tell she had the potential back then if you looked carefully. It’s amazing what can be achieved if you can just put it all together.
She has just got stronger and stiffer, I don’t understand the stiffer bit.
Could you suggest other athletes ready for a talent spotter.
Dawn Sowell, back around 89. Disappeared within a year or so, certainly could have run faster had she hung around but she found interests away from the track - God and babies, I think.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-Z0hUYFFT8&feature=related
Did Jeter just turn on the Jets or did Laverne have some miss step late? Either a great race to watch. 
…Oh and the head on shot is incredible.
Whatever she is doing/taking is working without a doubt.