NFS, I think this is a great topic.
The idea that athletes try and run as tall as possible means they are trying to/allowing themselves to minimise ground contact and it is commonly thought that if an athlete can minimise ground contact then they will run faster, especially for more elite sprinters. I am however intrigued by this notion in that according to most research you run faster by applying more force in the same or less time (Weyand et al and others). Now this to me is a difficult concept in that as you run faster you generally spend less time on the ground due to improved stiffness qualities, therefore you have less time to apply this “more” force. It is a major challenge for us all to get our athletes to apply more force. The notion that improves strength means more ground force is the answer it seems.
Tying in all this…I am also intrigued by the French methods which from memory I am told “don’t exist” but I am sure Piacenta was onto something when he tried to get his French athletes to try and run with essentially as few strides as possible in the 100m. Christine Arron 44.7 strides and Marie Jose Perec, 42.8 strides! less than Asafa. Le Maitre takes around 43 strides, not many compared to others. What does this have to do with the more force notion discussed above? Well, maybe not much, but maybe a focus on striking slightly further in front of the body to allow greater contact length and therefore more time to apply force. Did these athletes apply more force by increasing contact length and therefore ran faster as a result? Who knows, just some thoughts…
Yohan Blake, does he run tall and upright? Hmm, not from what I’ve seen, slightly piked, a bit like Maurice G at times, does this allow him to increase contact length, maybe so…