short sprinters are losing because of lack of stride length. even if maurice greene is still at his prime he wouldnt be able to beat gatlin and powell. i’m not tall myself and i have experienced defeat when tall sprinters ran me down near the end, its really frustrating. and i dont see any future with short sprinters.i need a good convincing response.
your kidding right… just because they are tall doesnt negate the fact that shorter sprinters have run fast times.
I know many sprinters/ athletes who are over 5’11 and cant run under 10.9 w/ average talent because of ROM, one can be 6’5 w/out ROM it doesnt matter.
Kenny Mac~~~
Well the high school national record is held by a guy who is 5’7" and arguably the 2 fastest men ever are under 5’10" (BJ and Mo, who have the fastest times before BJ’s premature celebration on a slow track or Mo’s injury and still running 9.82).
Height doesnt have anything to do w/ speed it’s strength/power and fast twitch fibers inside the muscle cells. Andre Cason was 5’7 and I think he post 9.93 back in 1993.
Jon Drummond wasnt that tall and he wnt 9.91 4 yrs ago. One of my favorite all- time sprinters.
Kenny Mac~~~~
They aren’t gaining speed at the end of the race - your just losing more speed than they are. Work on maintaining what you have already established early in the race and good things will happen.
I am 6’1" and get run down by shorter guys all the time. I know that I need to work on the CZ if I am going to hold them off.
The bottom line is that sprinters from a range of different heights can be fast. It really comes down to physics: who is applying the most force (in a brief period of time) per stride and maintaining it for as long as possible.
This is why sprinters of different heights can dominate althought very tall sprinters and very short ones will probably not make the podium too often.
How tall was Ben Johnson?
Just under 5’10".
Thank you.
Sprinting is stride frequency and stride length. Of course, power plays a big part, as well as form and technique.
Taller sprinters DO have longer strides, but it’s not accurate to state that they have the advantage. They may have less frequent strides, less power, improper form etc. than their shorter competitors. It’s all about the individual.
It’s also important to take body proportions into account. Being taller doesn’t necessarily mean longer legs, there are a number of variables that contribute to overall height. Two people can be the same height, but one can have a long torso and the other can have long lower legs.
The top two HS sprinters in my province this year were 6’3" and 5’3".
You obviously don’t watch a lot. Because in the 2005 womens track season Lauryn Williams and Veronica Campbell defeated the tall and lengthy Yuliya Nesterenko and Christine Arron. Nesterenko is 5’11 and Arron 5’10, Campbell is 5’3 and Lauryn is 5’2.
In the mens side Take the mens World indoor championships final with Leonard Scott and Terrence Trammell and that russian guy. Trammell is 6’2, Scott and that russian guy are about Maurice Greenes height and they led trammell from start to finish.
Have you ever though about is this way? The Shorter people have the better starts and they have more power. The tall people have horrible starts and average power and don’t reach top-speed till the 70m mark, so that means you’ll have to turn them legs over earlier I suggest the 60m mark to keep your lead so the taller person will have to work harder.
Since I’m a big womens track fan I show you my videos of the shorter women winning.
1- The womens 100m final from Edmonton 2001
http://youtube.com/watch?v=s7yufh2V4Z8
2- Womens 100m final from Helisinki 2005
http://youtube.com/watch?v=97fTs1MTx14&mode=related&search=
3- Womens 60m final from Moscow 2006
http://youtube.com/watch?v=WZqsTtZ-kEA&mode=related&search=
Look at it analyze it and believe it, that height aint nothing but a number.
Have you never realized it has nothing to do with height, but leg length.
You could be 5’ 10" with the leg length of someone 6’ 2".
Giving you another plus of less weight above hips to carry?
Or you could have shorter legs and be tall (Michael Johnson).
Where are you looking?
http://athleticssuperstars.tripod.com/076.jpg
compared to
http://www.sporting-heroes.net/files_athletics/BAILEY_D_19990828_GH_L.jpg
Physics never seems to lie, two athletes with differing heights running say 10.5 secs over the 100m will have almost identical stride lengths frequencies and contact times irrespective of height. Their variables will be in the same range and will not differ much. This suggests that height is not necessarily the most important factor. Of course there will be an ideal range of height for the 100m sprint.
froma physics stand point there is a difference but i dont disagree that people of a varyed height range can run teh same times. for example a person with longer limbs will generate greater distal limb velocity (thing of a rock tied to a string and swung in a circle the rock at the end will be moving much faster than a point on the string an inch away from the individual swining the rock hand) this results in greater ground contact forces simlpy if all other factors are the same. but also keep in mind movement is only accomplished when force is generated against the ground so a smaller stride may facilitate this. there are a lot of factors to consider. so just having long legs wont make you fast and just having a a greter stride rate wont make you fast. i a lot of ways this is a moot topic because u cant change someones body levers but u can train other factors which i believe have a greater contribution to the production of speed, like ground contact time. this seems to be one of if not the most important factor as studies have shown that as a sprinter improves said improvement is directly related to a decrease in ground contact time. this also appears to be the difference between novice and elite sprinters.