Movie Reviews
Championship Form: Hurdles
There is no doubt that video analysis of hurdling can speed the process of development. Here is a set of elite athletic performances that were filmed during the first World Championships in Helsinki in 1983 and are still available and pertinent to running today. A 70-member team of scientists and film makers, led by Dr. Petr Susanka and Dr. Pataki, examined running, throwing, and jumping events and created an 11-tape series, including three tapes on running: sprints, hurdles, and distance (800 meters to marathon). In the "Championship Form: Hurdles" tape, both the men's and women's high and low hurdle events are captured in their entirety, as well as from specific points in the competition allowing specific references to reaction time, stride positioning, hurdle clearance, angular velocities, durations of rhythmic units, and much more. The serious consideration is broken down into milliseconds, plantar flexion, maximum differences between athletes, horizontal and vertical reflections of center of gravity, that any true student or coach of an event will find both fascinating and revealing. Here is a sample of the types of analysis that is presented while watching athletes in slow motion executing the skills. These quotes are all from the hurdles video: "The shortened time on the first stride is generally due to the markedly shortened duration of the support and recovery phases. These build up again in the second stride between hurdles thus adding to the total stride time. The third stride is noted for the markedly shortened time, mainly that of the recovery phase. Top hurdlers make 0.45 seconds, or slightly less, to clear the hurdles which makes the take off time little different from the previous two takeoff phases"; "The difference between the body's center of gravity at takeoff at the highest point of the path was 11 centimeters. The culminating point was 16 centimeters ahead of and 31 centimeters above the upper edge of the hurdle"; "The average distance between takeoff and the hurdle is 2.17 meters with the maximum difference of 33 centimeters. The average distance between the hurdle and foot touch is 1.33 meters; the maximum difference, 39 centimeters. There is minimum of difference between the takeoff and landing spot (3.37-3.64 meters)"; "The action of the leading leg is of substantial importance for the path of the body's center of gravity and its speed. The horizontal component of the speed of the leading legs' center of gravity varied from 10 meters per second at take off to 5.6 meters per second at landing"; "The best average time of a rhythmic unit was achieved by the winner of this event, Edwin Moses, of 4.06 seconds. Moses took off 2.38 meters ahead of the hurdle. That is also his average stride length between the hurdles. The overall length of the clearance stride was 3.99 meters. The distance in the landing technique behind the hurdle with Moses is almost identical with the technique in short hurdling events". The hurdle presentation takes 28 minutes to break down a little over two minutes of hurdling action. All the athletes in the high hurdle races are shown in entirety and most of the intermediate runners are shown to some degree. Whatever your track event, there is a video in this series that can break down the specific components to aid you in your own teaching or performance. After watching these tapes you may find yourself always watching taped footage in slow motion and with your finger on the pause button.
