J &omrchonrc.\.

Vol

27. No. 6. [r(, 653-697.

1994

Pergamon
002 I-9290194

$7 00 + ICI

ANALYSISOF THE RACEPATTERNS

OF MEN
S IOOMSPRINT
IN THE III WORLDCHAMPIONSHIPS
IN ATHLETICS,TOKYO,1991
M. Ae M. Suzuki1 A. Ito
A. latsuo3 and K. Kobayashi3
1 Instiiute of Healkh and Short Sciencks, University of Tsukuba, Japan
2 Osaka University of Physical Education, Osaka, Japan
3 Tokyo University, Tokyo, Japan
The purpose of this study was to investigate the changes in sprint speed, stride
length(SL) and stride
frequency(SF) of the mens 1OOm sprint
in the 3rd World
Championships in Athletics,
Tokyo, 1991. The analysis of the mens 100 m sprint was
carried out on the basis of recordings from 12 video cameras(60 fields/s).
Ten cameras
located at 10m intervals along the home straight determined the elapsed time, interval
time, and average speed. Two cameras located at each end of the straight determined the
touchdown time for each stride and thus SF. SL was then calculated by dividing the
average speed by the estimated SF. Thirty-three
sprinters reached their maximum speed
in the 50-60m section, 19 in the 40m50msection and 15 in the 60m70msection. Most of
the excellent sprinters showed double-peaked speed curves. And their SF and SL curves
showed a rapid increase in SF in the first 20m and then an increase in SL accompanied
by a slight decrease in SF in the second half of the race. These changes in SF and SL
observed in the worlds best sprinters may enable them to achieve rapid acceleration
and to maintain high speed throughout the rest of the race.

ANALYSIS
F. Alves

OF SWIMMING

RACES

Faculty of Human Movement, Technical University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal.

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships among velocity (V), stroke rate (SR), and
stroke length (SL) during the stroke phase and the start time (ST) and turn times (TT) of the 50 m and
100 m events for the finalists in the 1992 Clubs National Championships and to compare them with
those obtained by world elite swimmers.
ST was defined as the time required to reach 10 meters from the starting wall, IT as the time taken
from 7.5 m before to 7.5 m after the turning wall. The stroke time (ST.T) was the self-propulsive period
excluding the ST and TT.
Female swimmers in the freestyle and backstroke events showed significant correlation between total
race time and SR, confirming results from other studies.Women are more dependenton high levels of
stroke rate to keep a fast swimming velocity, perhaps due to less muscular power. The fastest swimmers
in almost all the 100 m events revealed greater V variation between the two laps considered.
Correlations found between total race time, SR and SL indicate, however, that SL is maintained rather
constant in those swimmers. The velocity decrease is, therefore, a consequence of the decrease on SR. In
conclusion, the swimmer competitive performance can be evaluated by determining the SR and SL of
the stroke phase and the relative duration of the components of the race.

A THREE-DIMENSIONAL
KINEMATIC ANALYSIS OF ALPINE SKIING IN MOGULS
Anton N. Amdt and Peter D. Milburn
Department of Biomedical Science
University of Wollongong, Wollongong 2500 NSW, Australia
Three elite competitive mogul skiers were filmed executing a turn on a reference mogul. Two
LOCAM high speed cameras were used operating at a nominal frame rate of 200 Hz. Three
markers positioned on the foot, leg, thigh and torso were necessary to define these segments in
three-dimensional space. The x, y, and z coordinates of these markers were calculated using
the Direct Linear Transformation (DLT) technique. Rotations of segments about previously
defined Joint Coordinate System (JCS) axes provided values for flexion/extension,
abduction/adduction and internal/external rotation about the hip, knee and ankle joints. Results
were compared to mogul skiing coaching principles and also alpine skiing injury mechanisms
as defined in the scientific literature. A possible vulnerable position for the ACL of the knees
was identified immediately after impact with the mogul with both the knee and the hip joints
extended and the ankle directed posteriorly. However this posture and an active extension of
the knees after the vertex of the mogul had been negotiated, both corresponded to techniques
recommended in coaching guidelines. Recommendations were made from the results of this
study describing aspects of technique reducing the risk of injuries in mogul skiing.
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