Yes, her GCT is very long, but her feet are very propulsive, so it’s difficult to reach the fine balance. That’s also one of the reason of her difficult starts, over-striding and trying to push to more on the ground, causing long, long GCT with high variations in CG. Compared with Privalova start, Arron’s stride frequency is too low in her first 10 strides. But few women can match Arron in the acceleration phase.
In 98, her knee-lift was lower, and above all, in her best races, she had a strange a double-peak in her stride frequency cruve (at 30m and 65m), allowing her to accelerate up to 70m mark.
pierre is that her race tactics to accelerate smoothly?
i know that tom tellez coached his guys to accelerate smoothly and that was the plan.people always used to think that carl lewis was a terrible starter but the fact was he had a pr of 6.6 for 60m.his reaction times were always up there if not the fastest but his start and smooth acceleration from the blocks was the plan.
what are CA’s coaches thoughts on acceleration patterns?
She is a different athlete now.
I tried to replicate the angles by going through every single frame and could not do so. The above are as close a comparison as I could get. Her core is stronger and her angles are better. Note frame 2 in particular, the front leg angle is slightly more shallow yet the rear foot is leaving the ground. That says it all.
Sure, she’s a different woman, she’s a mother and trains a little differently. But maybe the frames looks better in 2003, but she was better in 1999, look at her 5 best perfromances (note that in 1999, even if she had intense left knee pain, she had better starts in Sevilla’99 than in WCh’2003).
1999
10.97 (+0.5) Paris 19Jun
10.97 (-0.1) Sevilla 22Aug
11.00 (-0.5) Sevilla 21Aug
11.04 (-0.1) Sevilla 22Aug
11.08 (-0.6) Nice 17Jul
2003
11.01 (+0.8) Saint-Denis 24Aug
11.04 (+1.2) Monaco 14Sep
11.05 (-0.1) Zürich 15Aug
11.06 (+0.9) Saint-Denis 24Aug
11.07 (-1.3) Firenze 21Jun
Video of her 10.73 and 10.81 race in 1998 shows that her backward shoulder movement was smaller, that her knee left was lower and that her free leg’s knee was just ahead of supporting leg’s knee at touch down. And then her max velocity was + 10.7m/s …
X-Man:
From her quotes, Arron says that she “pushes” during 20-25m, then she “tows”, and then accelerates and tries to maintain her maximal velicity. The transition between the “push” (when the touch-down is behind the CG) and the “tow” (touch-down under CG) is very difficult to do, and Arron did it perfectly. The main technical advices fshe had or the “push” were: move you knees inward in order to prevent your feet to turn outward at touch down (a thing that Flo-Jo did, and Ashford didn’t!), have a small arm angle and try to maintain it through the race (the other weakness for Arron with her shoulder back movement).
No wonder she gets left behind during early acceleration, too much forebrain work.
i’m sure at this stage it is totally natural for such movements to happen in her running without thought…cues!
the photo sequences are good,great work dcw and pierre.in the middle photo illustrating full triple extension notice the angle of the back and compare both.top=more curvature,bottom=less angle
she is still very sound mechanically and i can see her having a great 2004 and hopefully giving ms jones a run for her money.arron has great rythem,co-ordination and relaxation in her running.
Arron’s technique is very sound, she’s maybe working her brain harder than some other oponents who are physically much stronger, but can’t use their strength on the track! Technique, technique, technique…
2004 will be better than 2003, as she start her training lately and was cautious about motherhood, personal stuffs and training. However, the battle will be hard with 3 US girls (if they all qualify): Jones, Gaines and White! Thánou will be at home and Pintusevich injury free. All can run 10.80 or little under. Bahamas has 2 girls capable of running under 10.90 (Sturrup and Ferguson) and Jamaïca 2 girls around 10.90 (Lawrence and V. Campbell). Too much people around there!
Looking at those pics.,I don’t think she is maintaining small arm angles. Would that be considered breaking at the elbows(her arms are almost straight on the down stroke)?
The above lets you examine the arm angles. They are great. They do open up on the down swing but that is what they are supposed to do, it shows that she is really using them to help deliver the vertical force component to get that lovely “hovering” effect.
BTW, I quite like that “push” and “tow” queing. Nice stuff. Knowing and managing the precise transition from push to tow is the art of the great sprinter.
No, she’s not maintaining a small angle, and it can be seen as a fault. Small angles on legs or arms are better for frequency.
It would be good to see the comparison with Florence Griffith-Joyner arm movement, we would see that arm angle for Flo-Jo is more open on the flight phase than Arron, and closer in the touch-down moment.
Yes, and she would not be getting anything like the stride length she is getting either. She is working well to her strengths. One size doesn’t fit all!