For me, it’s a matter of both volume and intensity.
My stance is that once the weekly contents of sprints are categorized into the varied intensity ranges- the intensity range that registers the highest in volume (relative to what we understand as upper range volume limits for the respective intensity ranges) is what would constitute the emphasis. Then it becomes a matter of identifying which direction the character of the load volume (long to short or short to long) is heading when we look at a number of weeks in succession.
The one factor I think we can count on, regardless of the athlete/training camp, is that regardless which way the load is heading, long to short or short to long, it will be heading their smoothly/gradually; thus making the direction evident. I state this because the likelihood of injury would be too high in the case of frequent shifts in the weekly emphasis.