Usain Bolt's sprinting mechanics anaylized.
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| Posted on July 21, 2017 at 11:35:11 | ||
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Posts: 16951
Location: Santa Fe, NM Joined: April 8, 2004 Contributor Since: January 7, 2005 |
It's a topic of interest for those in the running biz. The guy has a very uneven gate. His left leg is a half-inch longer, and that foot spends 13-14% more time on the ground; his right foot hits the ground with about the same amount of extra force, more than a thousand pounds. It looks like a high speed limp in a 9-foot stride. Most sprinters have a very even gate; more energy efficient. So does Bolt's stride slow him down or is it an advantage? If a hindrance, then how much faster could he be, already the fastest human ever? All this being studied at various universities and sports medicine institutes. The man has spinal scoliosis which caused the different leg lengths, so his running style developed as compensation. If you have engineering training, there is a mechanical motion in nature called a rocking couple, which may play into this analysis. Interesting stuff, which was in my local paper, written by Jere' Longman in the New York Times.
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