Introduction: In the sprint hurdles, eight steps are taken from the start blocks until the first hurdle. On the other hand, recent race strategies have shown seven steps to be more beneficial by decreasing the time to the first hurdle. This seven-step approach, however, requires the athlete to change their foot position in the start blocks and it is imperative that they maintain a high horizontal velocity with a short flight time over the hurdle (Salo and Scarborough, 2006; Mann and Herman, 1985). The purpose of this case study was to identify whether a particular athlete was able to demonstrate the required performance criteria when performing a seven-step approach to the first hurdle. Methods: Over the course of several months, one elite male hurdler (age=26yrs; mass=80kg; height=1.86m) performed six trials with a seven-step approach and six trials with an eight-step approach to the first hurdle. Dependent performance parameters included horizontal velocity 2m after the first hurdle, time from the start to 3m after the first hurdle, and flight time over the hurdle. Horizontal velocity of the hip was digitised using high speed cameras and analysis software (240Hz; Quintic biomechanical software), timing gates collected time from 0.5 to 3m (Smartspeed; Queensland, Australia), and the OptoJump system (1000Hz; Microgate; Bolzano, Italy) calculated flight time. A paired samples t-test (P<0.05) was used to determine which race strategy was more favourable for this particular athlete. Results: The seven-step approach strategy resulted in similar horizontal velocity (8.15±0.43 vs. 8.24±0.50m/s; P=0.236) than the eight-step approach. However, the seven-step approach resulted in a significantly slower performance time (2.54±0.02 vs. 2.47±0.01s; P=0.001) and longer flight time (0.424±0.031 vs. 0.366±0.018; P=0.007) over the hurdle. Conclusion: Although a seven-step approach allows for a shorter sprint hurdle performance time, there is an increased risk of falling associated with this strategy. In the current study, the sevenstep approach resulted in similar horizontal velocity but a slower time to 3m and over the hurdle. As a result, an eight-step approach was adopted for this particular athlete. This case study highlights how systematic biomechanical testing of a race strategy can assist coaches by determining the most beneficial race strategy for a particular athlete.
© Copyright 2014 19th Annual Congress of the European College of Sport Science (ECSS), Amsterdam, 2. - 5. July 2014. Published by VU University Amsterdam. All rights reserved.