Physics confirms sprinters are performing better than ever before

NewsBot · Jul 3, 2012

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Press Release:
Physics confirms sprinters are performing better than ever before

In this month’s Physics World, Steve Haake, director of the Centre for Sports Engineering at Sheffield Hallam University in the UK, reveals that the men’s 100m sprint will be one event not to miss this summer.

Haake has developed something called the “performance-improvement index”, which uses very simple physics to compare the relative improvement of top athletes in different sports over the last 100 years.

The model shows that the performance-improvement index in the men’s 100m sprint is increasing at a time when those of other events, such as javelin and swimming, have plateaued or decreased.

Some of the reasons for these changes, which Haake describes in this feature, are because of technological interventions that have changed the face of the sport. The performance of javelin throwers, for example, was improving drastically up until the mid-1980s, to a point where officials were concerned for crowd safety.

At the time, javelins would float to the ground and land flat, meaning it was very hard to tell where the tip had hit the ground. As such, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) changed the specifications of the javelin itself, moving its centre of mass towards the tip by 4cm and so forcing the javelin to land on its tip, thus reducing throwing distances by about nine metres.

Haake also describes the step-change in the men’s 100m in the mid-1970s with the introduction of fully automated timing.

In swimming, an unprecedented 25 and 47 world records were broken in 2008 and 2009, respectively, with tight-fitting, full-body swimsuits seen as the main reason.

The swimsuits, which have now been banned by swimming’s ruling body (FINA), were relatively tight and reduced the cross-sectional area of the body by pulling it into a more cylindrical shape, thus reducing drag. They were made from polyurethane, which also affected the way the water flowed over the body.

As Haake writes, “One way of finding out how exactly technology affects sporting performance is to examine the physics involved. We can then try to quantify the effect of technology on sporting events – and find out whether it really is all about the equipment.”
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Admin2 · Jul 3, 2012

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Kevin Kirby · Jul 3, 2012

NewsBot said: ↑

Press Release:
Physics confirms sprinters are performing better than ever before
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Don't really know why you need "physics" to understand that a smaller time on your stopwatch means the sprinter is "performing better than ever before"?!:bang:

wdd · Jul 4, 2012

The whole abstract seems a little confused if not confusing.

What is the performance-improvement index as far as world or other records, for any sport where performance is measured by time, are concerned?

Would one index be the current record time (r) divided by the difference between that record time (r) and the new record time (R)

ie performance-improvement index = r/(R-r)

in which case the smaller the index the greater improvement in the performance?

That, in itself is arithmetic, mathematics, statistics but not physics.

Does the physics come into it by attempting to give an answer to how whatever has changed in the environment between one record and the next contributes to the change in performance level?

Lets hope the article is more clearly written than the abstract

Bill

PS Maybe the title should read: Physics confirms why sprinters are performing better than ever before

NewsBot · Jun 16, 2017

Methods of Power-Force-Velocity Profiling During Sprint Running: A Narrative Review
Cross, M.R., Brughelli, M., Samozino, P. et al.
Sports Med (2017) 47: 1255. doi:10.1007/s40279-016-0653-3

The ability of the human body to generate maximal power is linked to a host of performance outcomes and sporting success. Power-force-velocity relationships characterize limits of the neuromuscular system to produce power, and their measurement has been a common topic in research for the past century. Unfortunately, the narrative of the available literature is complex, with development occurring across a variety of methods and technology. This review focuses on the different equipment and methods used to determine mechanical characteristics of maximal exertion human sprinting. Stationary cycle ergometers have been the most common mode of assessment to date, followed by specialized treadmills used to profile the mechanical outputs of the limbs during sprint running. The most recent methods use complex multiple-force plate lengths in-ground to create a composite profile of over-ground sprint running kinetics across repeated sprints, and macroscopic inverse dynamic approaches to model mechanical variables during over-ground sprinting from simple time-distance measures during a single sprint. This review outlines these approaches chronologically, with particular emphasis on the computational theory developed and how this has shaped subsequent methodological approaches. Furthermore, training applications are presented, with emphasis on the theory underlying the assessment of optimal loading conditions for power production during resisted sprinting. Future implications for research, based on past and present methodological limitations, are also presented. It is our aim that this review will assist in the understanding of the convoluted literature surrounding mechanical sprint profiling, and consequently improve the implementation of such methods in future research and practice.
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Physics confirms sprinters are performing better than ever before

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Physics confirms sprinters are performing better than ever before

NewsBot The Admin that posts the news.

Admin2 Administrator Staff Member

Kevin Kirby MVP

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NewsBot The Admin that posts the news.

Physics of falling says professional athletes are running wrong

Physics of nail conditions: why do ingrown nails always happen in the big toes?

A good Physics Geek story

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