Analysis of the Start to the First Hurdle in 110 M Hurdles at the IAAF World Athletics Championships Beijing 2015
Original Article Analysis of the start to the first hurdle in 110 m hurdles at the IAAF World Athletics Championships Beijing 2015 JOSÉ LUIS LÓPEZ DEL AMO1 , M. CARMEN RODRÍGUEZ2, DAVID WILFRED HILL3, JULIÁN ERNESTO GONZÁLEZ4 1Sport Performance Analysis Research Group SPARG, University of Vic-UCC, Spain 2Sports and Society, Department of Physical Education and Sports, University of Seville, Spain 3Department of Kinesiology, Health Promotion and Recreation, University of North Texas, Denton, USA 4National School of Sports, Cali, Colombia ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to use observational analysis to evaluate the relationships between variables measured at the start of the men’s 110 hurdles event and race performance itself. Data were obtained for competitors in 2015 IAAF World Athletics Championships, in Beijing, China. The athletes’ start was quantified by reaction time and time to the first hurdle; their action over the first hurdle was quantified by the take-off distance (i.e., the distance from the last step to the first hurdle), the landing distance, and the total distance in the air over the first hurdle. Regression analyses revealed that the combination of one measure of the start (either reaction time or time to the first hurdle) and the measure of propulsion over the first hurdle (distance in air over the first hurdle) predicted performance (SEE = 0.23 s in the heats, SEE = 0.16 s in the semi-finals, SEE = 0.09 s in the finals). In addition, looking at performances in the finals, where all athletes with available data used a seven-step approach to the first hurdle, inclusion of stride length data improved the prediction somewhat (SEE = 0.07 s).
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