Those who follow my blog know that I like a lot the 400 m hurdles event. All the more so, since the decathletes have a fascination for this gruelling event. I have posted on several occasions articles on the low hurdles and there are frequent references to the ones I call the musketeers of the 400 m hurdles. This article is inspired by a post on the World Athletics site announcing a documentary on Edwin Moses entitled, "Moses - 13 steps".
Unfortunately the documentary does not appear to be available in Europe (but there is a trailer on youtube). Anyhow, interesting as it certainly is, the documentary is more biographical than technical (although it certainly contains most interesting clips from Moses' races). For me, it was the motivation to revisit the question of the number of steps between hurdles, where Moses did indeed revolutionise the discipline.
In the 400 m the first hurdle is at 45 m from the start and the subsequent distance between hurdles is 35 m (and there remain 40 m after the last hurdle to the finish line). For many years, the graal was for the elite men hurdlers to be able to run in 13 strides between hurdles from the second to the tenth. The advantage of an odd number of steps is that every hurdle is passed with the same leading foot (and, clearly, everybody has a dominant one).
The first to attempt a 13-step race was Ch. Moore who won the 400 m hurdle title at the 1952, Helsinki, Olympics but only up to the fifth hurdle, switching to a 15-step rhythm afterwards. Moore ran in an Olympic record of 50.8 s, the 50.6 s world record of G. Hardin dating back to 1934. Second behind Moore was the soviet hurdler Y. Lituyev who noticed Moore's technique and decided to adopt it. He was the first to try 13 steps all the way to the last hurdle. And with this technique Lituyev broke in 1953 G. Hardin's world record with 50.4 s. However Lituyev's technique was not flawless and he could not avoid an occasional stumble. In fact, this is how he lost the European title in 1954, stumbling between the 7th and 8th hurdles, in a race won by A. Yulin with 50.5 s, Lituyev being second with 50.8 s. Had he not stumbled he might have been the first man below 50 s in the low hurdles.
It was Moses who mastered the technique of 13 steps and used it throughout his races. The problem is that one has to keep a 2.7 m stride, something quite difficult over the bends and towards the end of the race when tiredness sets in. Still, Moses, with his 1.88 m stature did not have trouble with this. He dominated the event, winning 122 consecutive victories. He won the 1976 and 1984 Olympics and would have won the 1980 ones were it not for the ridiculous boycott of the Moscow Olympics by the US. (But since he finished only third in Seoul in 1988, he would not have equalled Oerter's feat. In fact, he wouldn't have even surpassed Saneyev who obtained silver after three golds).
Moses was prophetic in his predictions for the discipline. On one occasion he stated that a 12-step rhythm might be necessary in order to break the 47 s and perhaps 46 s barrier. Moses would have been perfectly capable to switch his style to 12-strides. In fact he had to do it in 1981, while racing in Zurich, over two successive hurdles in order to avoid falling. But his dominance of the event was such that he did not need to change anything.
It was K. Young, who broke Moses' record and the 47 s barrier who tried a 12-step rhythm. His pattern was 20 strides to the first hurdle, 13 strides to hurdles 2 and 3, then 12 strides to hurdles 4 and 5 and finally 13 strides from the 6th hurdle to the end. (But let's not forget that Young, with 1.93 m, was even taller than Moses).
In my article "Revisiting the 400 m hurdles..." I discuss the technique of Young along with that of double olympic champion F. Sanchez, who, being rather short (just 1.75 m), could maintain a 13-stride rhythm only over the very first hurdles. What is curious is that J. Culsón (olympic and world medalist), who is the tallest of the elite hurdlers with 2.01 m, was running with 13 steps up to the eighth hurdle and then switched to 14.
World record holder K. Warholm is the shortest among todays' hurdling elite, but with 1.87 m he is just one cm shorter than Moses. Still, we see him often having trouble at the last hurdles either switching to 15 steps (Warholm is not equally at ease hurdling with either leg), or, if he tries to maintain the 13 rhythm, hitting the last hurdle and losing time. (In fact he switched from 13 to 15 for the last three hurdles during the Paris Olympics). A. Samba (1.92 m) and K. McMaster (1.91 m) both opt for 13 strides up to the 6th hurdle and then switch to 14. The one who seems to have mastered the 13-stride technique is R. Benjamin, who is of the same stature as the previous two (1.91 m). However, from time to time, he passes a few hurdles in 12 steps, but it seems as if he is "overstriding" rather than having planned that. The one who is really implementing the 12 steps is A. Dos Santos. Being 2 m tall and at ease with both legs, he has no trouble maintaining 12 steps up to hurdle five and then continuing with 13. (And he passes the first hurdle with 19 steps while most high-level athletes need 20).
And how about women? They use typically 15 steps between hurdles. But S. McLaughlin (1.75 m) is changing this. She is hurdling with 14 steps up to the seventh hurdle and then switches to 15, and she is experimenting with a 14-stride pace throughout. It goes without saying that she is perfectly at ease with both legs. Her greatest rival F. Bol, somewhat taller at 1.80 m, but slightly less at ease with both legs, has also adopted the 14-step technique.
So, the way to astral performances passes through a reduction of the number of steps between hurdles. And Moses was the one who traced this way.
No comments:
Post a Comment