Velocity and Stride Parameters of World-Class 400-Meter Athletes Compared With Less Experienced Runners
Résumé
The purpose of this study was to determine, based on the time course of the velocity and stride pattern recorded in each 50-m segment of a 400-m competition, whether elite 400-m runners present the same pacing strategy as less successful athletes. Based on video data, 3 different levels of performance were analyzed: world-class, national, and regional levels for both sexes, with each of the 6 groups comprising 5 subjects. The peak velocity was reached by all athletes between the 50-and 100-m marks with mean values of 8.96 and 10.12 m.s-1 for the 5 best women and men, respectively. Peak frequencies were observed in the second and third 50-m segments; peak values were 3.99 6 0.13 for the world-class women (WWC) and 4.12 6 0.19 for the men (MWC). A stride length of 2.29 6 0.04 was observed for the WWC and 2.53 6 0.08 for the MWC. The better athletes were able to achieve higher absolute and relative velocities (97.6 6 0.5 [MWC] and 96.3 6 0.7% [WWC] of their best performance for 200 m) at the 200-m mark compared with the lower-level athletes. Furthermore, the fatigue index was calculated as 22.99, 14.43, and 13.91% for the world-class, national, and regional levels, respectively. In summary, world-class runners adopt a more aggressive pacing strategy and demonstrate greater fatigue than the less experienced runners; this might indicate a greater mental commitment and/or a better capacity to run under fatigue.
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