Great analysis! With many instructive details. And great to see that Femke clearly has room for further improvement. Could you do the same analysis on Sydney McLaughlin? That would also be very interesting!
@@rientsdijkstra4266 thanks! I’m planning on it. I thought I would get a few of these under my belt before I go after the GOAT. I’d be asking for trouble!
I think you're awesome. I'd love to have a conversation with you. All of your points are valid. I would like to offer a consideration. Sometimes, people's compensations are stronger than optimal biomechanics. A 100% agree with your rating system. I love that it is less of a judgment and more of a screen to see where an athlete can continue to improve. The most impressive part is that her B minus is still good enough to potentially go sub 50 seconds.
Thank you! I agree, but to muster up the boldness to finally make a video where I give a grade to the best athletes in the world, I knew I needed to be as objective as possible. I’d be open to a conversation. You can Email me at acemethodcoaching@gmail.com.
I think you analysis is objective and accurate. Her sprints technique is definitely her strength but her hurdling technique, especially the use of her arms, could use significant improvement. If she corrected that, she would be consistently in the low 51s high 50s.
Turnover beats power. I think she is more efficient than any other sprinters. It looks so easy when she is running. She's not one of the smaller sprinters but she is lighter on her feet than anyone. And her turnover, her cadence is so controlled and so consistent she just pulls away without looking like she's struggling. A lot of it comes from her strength and balance in her biomechanics. She reminds me a lot of two other sprinters who are among the all time greats: Michael Johnson and Jesse Owens. How are Sha'Carri Richardson's and Shelly Ann Fraser-Price's top end speeds so fast? It's turnover. They are two of the shortest sprinters but their ability to hit the ground more frequently than anybody else is a big part of their greatness.
Hi coach. Is she hamstring dominant? She may have a n incredible posterior chain that allows her to get away with giving up her tendon stretch reflex of her Achilles. I agree with you though. What could she do if she tapped into that? Dave from Indiana
It's why athletes should do drills march drill especially where you are bringing your knee up and then you cycle your leg, the foot strikes the ground in a sliding motion, but stops right under you. This is what she does when she runs, this is the correct way to run. Which is what I was trained to do when I ran collegiately.
Actually, we automatically cut up our videos into shorts. I’m actually re-working This video and going to re-post the long video on Saturday. It’s going to be better because I learned some things from some of the feedback that I got.
Unfortunately never going to happen, but Fans would love to see both Syd & Femke take '25 off running the 400mH & fully compete in the flat 400m vs the likes of Paulino, Naser, Pryce, Kaczmarek, Adeleke & hopefully a healthy Shaunae & Britton! The 400mH will be fine for a yr with the likes of Cockrell, Jones, Clayton etc having very competitive battles with each other!
If she runs against men and sets a woman's WR, it won't count. Even if she runs against not quite top tier women, just being there and the adrenaline rush might give her the boost to run a fast time. So she won't get Diamond League points but still would be eligible for the prize for breaking a WR.
It seems to me that the "mid-foot" strike is the most anatomically efficient and powerful because it is utilizing the center of the anatomical arch of the foot (between the navicular and cuneiform), allowing the skeleton to bear the body weight instead of the soft tissue of the foot and ankle thus allowing more power to be driven from the larger muscles of her legs.
There have been a few other successful sprinters with similar technique. I think the way her foot strikes the ground does not help or hurt her raw speed, but benefits her speed-endurance. Very similar to Michael Johnson. Also, like MJ, in spite of how strong she closes, she's not very aerobic; she is a true sprinter and absolutely hates running 800m in practice and will probably never race anything over 400m. I am pretty sure Bobby recognized all of this early on which is why he primarily focuses on conditioning and hurdle technique. I suspect if Sydney ever focused on the 100/200 Bobby would focus on more traditional sprint mechanics.
Question: Is the key that her foot is moving aggressively backward when it strikes the ground? We see this this in elite middle distance and distance runners from time to time.
I may. Before I do that, I’d be more interested in investigating his high school program. They are pumping out amazing athletes there. I’d like to know how they accomplishing that.
Great observation Coach! My theory is that despite landing flat footed, her ground contact time is very short comparatively while the greater traction allows her to generate greater forward force. Combined with her other efficiencies, she just dominates.
Just a small point. No-one's foot moves backward relative to the ground. It is an illusion. USM videos confirm. Observe the X sign hoarding at 1:30 then 1:36, then 2:03/4 for confirmation.
Still thinking about your comment. 🤔 Is it safe to say that the foot moves backwards in relation to the sprinters body? Is that what causes the illusion? Where can I find more about this concept?
@@acemethodcoaching9102 The illusion is known as "motion smear" or a form of visual strobing effect. It occurs because of the way our eyes and brain perceive fast-moving objects in relation to the ground. There are four concepts that lead to this - Relative Motion, Persistence of Vision, Frame Rate and Perception and Optical Flow. Best Google these due to my lack of time to respond properly. I had to disagree recently with coaching/teaching staff at Loughborough University (UK's premier sports Uni.) who didn't understand this. They were actually teaching that the foot lands under the body. If it did you would fall flat on your face.
@@acemethodcoaching9102 The illusion is known as motion smear or reverse-phi effect. It is due to a combination of relative motion, persistence of vision, frame rate and perception and optical flow. There are studies by Stratford and Yale.
I don’t know if you will get this message, because this video has since been blocked by RU-vid, but I greatly appreciate your input. I already grasp the basics of the concept and I am working it into my paradigm. Are you a running coach? If you wouldn’t mind, reach out to me at Ace method coaching@gmail.com. I’d like to run an idea by you of some videos that I want to start making.
She's has a forefoot strike. Look at her landing on the side views around 1:43. I think the difference you're observing is actually her high mobility in all three of the major joints for running (hips, knees ankles). I intentionally use the word mobility because that word in the technical sense means having both high flexibility and high strength. Basically I'm saying that you're noticing that Sydney has an uncommonly rare mixture of flexibility and strength such that she is able to generate power at the extreme ends of her range of motion. Especially in her ankles. Usually the high ankle stiffness that contributes to high explosiveness decreases ankle flexibility. But for whatever reason Sydney seems to have retained high ankle flexibility without loss of ankle strength.
Yes! I wish more people would appreciate what mobility truly is (I learnt from Rick Merriam). Ankles are so important as are the hips. I gave my England Elite athlete friend specific exercises to strenghen his ankles alongside the rest of the chain.
Sprinting comes from the hips. Just about everything else is a resulting effect of good hip movement. When focus starts being put elsewhere then form suffers. If you purposely try to do what it looks like she is doing you will end up running sub optimally. If you use your hips correctly and you happen to run like her then yiur form will be good
Bob Kersey, Sydney's world famous coach....doesn't seem to care if she runs on the balls of her feet. She is still convincingly the World record holder and GOLD MEDAL winner. This guy must not have NOTHING to do. I wonder if she was not a person of color....would it be so interesting. I sure that Bob Kersey DOES not need your help!!!
Exactly...? I noticed that with Sydney also in 2022 in the 4x400 anchor. How did this flaw still equal so much speed success? It was as perplexing as trying to explain the success of Michael Johnson... stride length vs frequency.
If you don't fully engage the calf complex you won't get maximum power, that means fully loading the Achilles which cannot happen without heel contact.
I hadn't noticed this about Sydney. Have you examined her foot action in the flat races as well? Also her body angle , like Michael Johnson, seems to be more upright, rather than angled a bit forward, like some other runners. By this time you would think that she has arrived at a form that she's comfortable with. As a middle distance runner, I always found the method of striking on the outside ball of the foot, then coming down on the heel and then thrusting off to be the most effective. Pointing the foot downwards during the stride gets you up higher, and I found this to be important. Also this form absorbs a lot of the impact force. But I also ran steeplechase, and if I approached a hurdle and had to adjust my steps, I may have altered this pattern and gone lower. But this is an important aspect of running.
I thought we'd all moved on to having athletes perform a mid-foot strike.... with the exception of short sprinters who have their feet on the ground for such a short amount of time. I thought we'd all concluded that a mid-foot strike allows the athlete more time to get their foot under the corresponding hip and to produce more force per foot strike - effectively "marching" down/around the track. Granted, I don't have any athletes as talented as Sydney, but my athletes (particularly long sprinters) do tend to have more success running with a mid-foot strike. I think Syd's doing the right thing.
I’m getting a lot of good comments, including yours. You may be right. My point is really the fact that her foot strike is noticeably different than everyone else’s. Thanks for your input.
I disagree. Sydney is not dorsi flexing her foot. Yes you can see her sole from anterior view and that is because she has great hip angle. Look at her foot and you will see she is neutral. specifically look at tibia and ankle angle. She does not plantar flex at all. She conserves energy by being neutral and relaxed. When she lands she is under her COG as you said and does not run with her gas and brakes on at same time. By landing mid foot, as she does, as she comes off ground contact, she is able to absorb the energy and utilize stretch reflex to propel her forward with achilles tendon reflex. no excessive stress and risk of injury. Her hip angle is amazing and she can take advantage of the stretch reflex in her hip flexors to efficiently whip that heel up without wasted energy. All free energy. This girl is very efficient. Just saying in my humble opinion.
@@scottellis5324 thanks for your input, but, you have to admit that her movement is different than the others, right? What would you say is different, then. Maybe we’re just talking about semantics.
@@scottellis5324 i’m still pondering your comment. You’re saying that her movement looks different because her hips are more rotated than the other sprinters? May or may not be the case, but I’m mostly focused on the foot strike. What’s your opinion as to why other sprinters don’t look like this? Sha’Carri seems to have her hips rotated, but she clearly strikes the ground on the balls of her feet. I’m not debating. I’m all about learning.
I agree with this for the most part. I'm not sure how much she's actively dorsiflexing, but her hip position is absolutely ideal. In regard to Sha'carri (as was mentioned by Mike earlier in the thread), her hips are in great position, but I think she sells herself a bit short with a forefoot strike due to her being unable to contact the ground under her COM as she might be able to if she adopted a little more mid-foot strike. Granted, I haven't analyzed this in Sha'carri's form, just an idea at this point.
@@acemethodcoaching9102 Thank you Coach for your kind reply. Thank you for taking the time and energy to provide a learning platform all us passionate track and field junkies. With Syd there is so much to talk about. I worked Sports Med in NJ for years and have been watching her since 8th grade. Her High School Union Catholic was just down the road and they came to our track for our relay meet. I had her and her brother on my table to stretch as I worked other big state meets. Lot of people don't realize that she was unique and special all the way back then. In another league altogether. This is part of the equation. She has the natural gifts but also the sustained coaching all the way through. At the core of all of this is her core. Core stable, arms and legs moving. So Part 1 of my answer is it is not as much what she is doing but more what she is not doing. Please take a peak at this attached video of her 49.85 HS anchor split at NB Nationals in 2017 in the Swedish Relay. I happened to be living in Sweden now haha.. Watch the race and then specifically pause at 4:14. She is confident, patient and disciplined and never broke form. So efficient. Look at all the runners in that frame that she has passed and passing. These are all really good HS runners. Sydney has always had this and only built on this over the years. So Part 1 about what makes her different is she does not leak energy. Her effort is channeled down the track with maximal transfer of energy through her stable core and without negative friction or resistance. Love to hear your response. I will now go into a more deep dive of those angles and share my humble opinion which you are most interest on this thread. Part 2 coming soon haha. Thanks again. This is fun.
