AY Honors/Track & Field/Answer Key

Sprints are short running races in athletics. They are roughly classified as events in which top runners will not have to "pace themselves", but can run as fast as possible for the entire distance.

Common distances

60 m

• The 60 metres is normally run indoors, on a straight section of an indoor athletic track. Since races at this distance can last around six or seven seconds, having good reflexes and thus getting off to a quick start is more vital in this race than any other.
• This is roughly the distance required for a human to reach maximum speed and can be run with one breath. It is popular for training and testing in other sports (e.g. speed testing for American football, although 40 yards is more common there).
• The World record in this event is held by American sprinter Maurice Greene with a time of 6.39 seconds.
• 60 metres is used as an outdoor distance by younger athletes when starting in sprint.

100 m

• The 100 metres sprint takes place on one length of the home straight of a standard outdoor 400 m track. Often, the world-record holder in this race is considered "the world's fastest man/woman." The current World Record of 9.69 seconds is held by Usain Bolt of Jamaica and was set on 16 August 2008, at the Beijing Olympics. The women's world record is 10.49 seconds and was set by Florence Griffith-Joyner.
• The 4x100 m relay is another prestigious event, with an average speed that is quicker than the 100 m, as the runners can start moving before they receive the baton. The World record in this event is 37.10 seconds, held by the Jamaican team as set 22 August 2008 at the Beijing Olympics.
• World record progression 100 metres men
• World Record progression 100 m women
• National champions 100 metres (men)

200 m

• This begins on the curve of a standard track (where the runners are staggered in their starting position, to ensure they all run the same distance), and ends on the home straight. The ability to "run a good bend" is key at this distance, as a well conditioned runner will be able to run 200 metres in an average speed higher than their 100 m speed.
• Indoors, the race is run as one lap of the track, with only slightly slower times than outdoors.
• Four-person relays are occasionally run at this event.
• A slightly shorter race (but run on a straight track), the stadion, was the first recorded event at the Ancient Olympics and the oldest known formal sports event in history.
• The World record in this event is 19.30 seconds, held by Usain Bolt and was set on 20 August 2008, at the Beijing Olympics.

400 m

• 400 metres is one lap around the track on the inside lane. Runners are staggered in their starting positions to ensure that everyone runs the same distance. While this event is a sprint (according to some), there is more scope to use tactics in the race; the fact that 400 m times are considerably more than four times a typical 100 m time demonstrates this.
• The world record is currently held by Michael Johnson with a time of 43.18 seconds.
• The 4x400 m relay is often held at track and field meetings, and is by tradition the final event at major championships.

• Common tactics include exploding out of the blocks and continuing to run hard through the curve, relaxing in the middle 200 meters and kicking hard on the homestretch.

Uncommon distances

150 m

• This informal distance can be used to work on a 100 m runner's stamina, or a 200 m runner's speed, and has been used as an exhibition distance. The distance was used in a race between 1996 Olympic champions, the 100 m gold medalist Donovan Bailey (Canada) and 200 m gold medalist Michael Johnson (USA). It was to decide who of the two, was really the 'fastest man on earth' (see Bailey-Johnson 150-metre race).

300 m

• Another informal distance, which could be used to aid a 200 m runner's stamina, or a 400 m runner's speed. This is usually run indoors by high school athletes.

500 m

• More common than 300 m and 150 m, because this is half a kilometre. This could aid 400 m runners in their stamina, or help a middle-distance runner to gain speed. The borderline distance between sprints and middle distance. This is usually run indoor by high school athletes and on occasion collegiate athletes.

600 m

• This race is a CIS (Canadian Universities) indoor-only event only and run at all Canadian indoor track and field races because it is a recognized event at the Canadian University Championships. It is often run by 400 m runners looking to build endurance, or 800 m runners looking to build speed. It is a demanding race, with many athletes running at a pace just below their 400 m pace. The 600 m is sometimes considered a middle distance event.

Rules

The start

Starting blocks are used for all sprint and relay events. The starting blocks consist of two adjustable footplates attached to a rigid frame. Olympic sprint races commence with the firing of the Starter's gun. The starting commands are "On your marks" and "Set." Once all athletes are in the set position, the Starter's gun is fired, officially starting the race. For the 100m, all competitors are lined up side-by-side. For the 200m and 400m, which involve curves, runners are staggered for the start.

False starts

If a sprinter commences his or her starting motion from the set position before the Starter's gun is fired, it is deemed a false start. The first false start of a race results in a warning to the offending runner, but any athlete in that race who thereafter commits a false start will be disqualified.

Lanes

For all Olympic sprint events, runners must remain within their pre-assigned lanes, which measure 1.22 meters (4 feet) wide, from start to finish. The lanes are numbered 1 through 8, starting with the inside lane. Any athlete who runs outside the assigned lane is subject to disqualification. If the athlete is forced to run outside of his or her lane by another person, and no material advantage is gained, there will be no disqualification. Also, a runner who strays from his or her lane in the straightaway, or crosses the outer line of his or her lane on the bend, and gains no advantage by it, will not be disqualified as long as no other runner is obstructed.

The finish

The first athlete whose torso (as distinguished from the head, neck, arms, legs, hands or feet) reaches the vertical plane of the closest edge of the finish line is the winner.

Resource:www.nbcolympics.com/trackandfield/

Sprinters

Versatile athletes

Most athletes will not be able to compete exclusively in one sprint event. Reasons for this could be pragmatic: being willing to race over only one distance might not earn an athlete enough prize money (or media exposure, which can lead to more money) to survive on. Where this doesn't apply, such as for more high-profile (i.e. rich) runners, an athlete may feel that running over two events is more enjoyable and varied, and gives them a better chance of success.

The indoor season is often not run by certain high-profile athletes, who may not like the atmosphere, different distances or extra corners involved. Again, some will have to run in this season in order to make a living.

While certain athletes will be strictly 100 m runners, and will run greater distances only for fun or money, many will compete in multiple events. Frankie Fredericks was successful over 100 m and 200 m (and ran the 60 m and/or 200 m in the indoor season). Michael Johnson won gold medals over 200 m and 400 m in the 1996 Olympics, and also in the 4 x 400 m relay. Usain Bolt won gold in both the 100 m and 200 m 2008 Olympics, beating the world record in both. Runners can do well in relays when they are competitive in the individual event.

There have been a few runners who have competed successfully at both the longer sprints and middle-distance events. Alberto Juantorena won both the 400 m and 800 m at the 1976 Summer Olympics, making him the only athlete ever to achieve such a double.

Hurdlers

Sometimes 100 m and 400 m runners have competed in the hurdles events at the same distances, and there is a certain amount of interchangeability between the flat and hurdle events.

Biological factors for runners

Some biological factors that determine a sprinter's potential are:

• Muscular strength
• Adrenaline use
• Anaerobic respiration capacity

Famous Sprinters

Few Olympic events fit the Games motto "Citius, altius, fortius" quite as well as the 100 metre sprint.

Ever since Baron de Coubertin revived the Olympics in 1896, the world's finest sprinters have run faster, aimed higher and grown stronger with every passing Games.

The quest to find the world's fastest runner began back in 776 BC, when an Ancient Greek athlete, Coroebus, won the 'stadion', a sprint of about 193m.

The descendants of Coroebus will, of course, be running over 100m or 200m in Sydney, and while the 200m runners reach a higher average speed the blue riband event for sprinters remains the shorter distance.

100m world records

Men: Maurice Greene, 9.79 secs, 16 Jun 1999, Athens Women: Florence Griffith-Joyner, 10.49, 16 Jul 1988, Indianapolis Nobody knows how quickly Coroebus covered the 193m of the 'stadion' but as he was probably dressed in armour and running on dirt it is unlikely that his time would trouble today's sprint heroes Maurice Greene and Marion Jones. We do know, however, that US athlete Thomas Burke won the first 100m of the modern era, at Athens in 1896, in the leisurely time of 12 seconds.

Turn of the century

By 1900 Sweden's Isaac Westergren had improved that mark to 10.8 seconds, although Frank Jarvis took the gold medal in 11 seconds at the Paris Olympics.

The first 10-second man Armin Hary

Donald Lippincott took the record back for America in 1912, when he stopped the clock at 10.6, a time that was matched by Britain's Harald Abrahams in his winning run at the 1924 Games.

In the meantime, however, Charlie Paddock had continued the US hold on the record by improving the mark to 10.4 in 1921.

America's Eddie Tolan and Ralph Metcalfe swapped bests during the 1930's until one of the most famous sprinters of all time, Jesse Owens, improved the record to 10.2 in 1936.

In the same year, Owens stole the show - and upset Hitler's plans to trumpet aryan supremacy - at the Berlin Olympics by winning four gold medals.

Over the next 24 years the record was broken with regularity until West Germany's Armin Hary became the first man to run 10 seconds flat in 1960. He also claimed Olympic gold in Rome in the same year.

Mexico breakthrough

American Bob Hayes won the 1964 100m gold in Tokyo, before countryman Jim Hines took the record below the all-important 10-second level, with a scorching 9.95 seconds in Mexico City.

With times being recorded electronically from 1968 - as opposed to stopwatches - the world best has incrementally moved downwards over the last 30 years.

Calvin Smith, who finally beat Hines' time in 1983, the great Carl Lewis, Leroy Burrell and Canada's Donovan Bailey, have all held the world record during this time.

The one athlete missing from this list is Ben Johnson, who sensationally took the Olympic gold in 1988 in a world record time of 9.83 seconds.

Johnson, unfortunately, had taken anabolic steroids and was exposed as a cheat and banned from competition.

Maurice Greene is the current world record-holder, having clocked 9.79 seconds in Athens in June 1999. Just to emphasise his achievement, he has also recorded a time of 9.80 seconds.

Cold War skulduggery

While Greene is just the latest in a long line of Americans to be the world's fastest man, dominance in women's sprinting has been more evenly shared around the world.

The chief reason for this, particularly during the height of the Cold War in the 1970's and 80's, was the focus placed on sport by East Germany.

Poland's Stanislawa Walasiewicz was the first real star of women's sprinting, setting a world record of 11.7 seconds in 1934, before improving it to 11.6 in 1937.

The Dutch legend Fanny Blankers-Koen lowered the mark to 11.5 seconds in 1948 - the same year she won four gold medals at the London Olympics - and Australia's Marjorie Jackson set a new mark of 11.4 in 1952.

America's Wilma Rudolph, who suffered from polio as a child, was the next great female sprinter, winning Olympic gold at Rome in 1960 and setting a new record of 11.2 seconds in 1961.

Rudolph's compatriot Wyomia Tyus took the Olympic 100m golds in 1964 and 1968, winning the Mexico City race in a superb 11.08 seconds.

But after Tyus, a series of German athletes, from the East and West, came to the fore.

East Germany's Renate Stechler was the most successful, winning the 1972 Olympic gold in Munich, and taking the record under 11 seconds against the stopwatch in 1973.

The first electronically-timed sub-11 second time did not come until 1977 when Marlies Gohr recorded 10.88 seconds in Dresden.

She bettered this in 1983, setting a record of 10.81 seconds, before America's Evelyn Ashford hit back with a time of 10.79 a month later and an Olympic gold in 1984 - although the Soviet bloc countries boycotted the Los Angeles Games in response to the US absence from Moscow in 1980.

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While Ashford continued to battle with East Germany's Gohr, Heike Drechsler and Katrin Krabbe, they were all blown away by the startling performances of the flamboyant Florence Griffith-Joyner.

If the performances of East Germany's athletes raised suspicions of drug abuse, the same charge, unfortunately, was - and continues to be - levelled at Flo Jo's.

Her incredible world record of 10.49 seconds, set in 1988, still stands. The longevity of this record, as well as the mysterious circumstances of her death in 1998, have fuelled allegations of steroid use.

Marion Jones, the current darling of American athletics, is the next fastest woman with a time of 10.70 seconds, and has spoken about running times in the 10.50's this season.

Although it seems likely that Griffith-Joyner's record will remain in the books for some time, the last century has taught one thing, 100m records are made to be broken.

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Other sports

• The most common distance for rowing races is 2 kilometres. Races may be held at less than 1 km, which are known as dashes.
• Horse Racing and Hamster racing have sprint distance events.
• Track cycling features a sprint event, in which usually two riders compete over a distance of 1000 metres, though only the final 200 m may be timed. However, the time is normally immaterial - the aim is to be first across the line and win two races in a 'best of three races' match.
• The term sprinting can be applied in any racing sport, such as swimming.
• A 90 m beach sprint is held in surf lifesaving carnivals in Australia.

See also

• 100-yard dash
• Athletics (track and field)
• Athletics long distances
• Athletics middle distances
• Footspeed
• List of sprinters
• Relay race
• Motorsport

External links

• Top 10 greatest sprint races in history