Biomechanical Analysis of Women’s 100 metres Hurdle (Final).

Biomechanical Analysis of Women’s 100 metres Hurdle (Final).

Sally Pearson was the only athlete to hit a top speed beyond 9metres per sec. between the hurdles, with a best of 9.11mps between the 5th and 6th hurdles. By the time Sally had got to the 4th hurdle she was already into the sub 0.95s range between the hurdles. Amazingly, Tiffany Porter from Great Britain, actually made some ground between the 3rd & 4th hurdle and was well in with a huge medal chance until the 80m mark before faltering after the 9th hurdle to drop out of medal contention.

Pearson's domination throughout the race was topped off by the run to the line where she increased her lead over the 20m, even after slightly losing ground on the 9th hurdle.

	Hurdle	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Finish
		(0-13)	(13-21.5)	(21.5-30.0)	(30.0-38.5)	(38.5-47.0)	(47.0-55.5)	(55.5-64.0)	(64.0-72.5)	(72.5-81.0)	(81.0-89.5)	(89.5-100)
1 Sally Pearson (AUS)	Split Time (sec)	2.53	3.52	4.49	5.42	6.37	7.31	8.27	9.22	10.21	11.20	12.28
	'Lap' Time (sec)	2.53	0.99	0.97	0.94	0.95	0.93	0.96	0.95	1.00	0.99	1.08
	Ave. M/Sec	5.14	8.61	8.76	9.07	8.95	9.11	8.82	8.98	8.53	8.61	9.72
2 Danielle Carruthers (USA)	Split Time (sec)	2.57	3.59	4.57	5.55	6.51	7.46	8.42	9.39	10.35	11.36	12.47
	'Lap' Time (sec)	2.57	1.02	0.97	0.98	0.96	0.95	0.96	0.97	0.96	1.01	1.11
	Ave. M/Sec	5.05	8.33	8.73	8.64	8.85	8.95	8.89	8.73	8.85	8.42	9.46
3 Dawn Harper (USA)	Split Time (sec)	2.60	3.60	4.57	5.52	6.47	7.43	8.41	9.39	10.37	11.37	12.47
	'Lap' Time (sec)	2.60	1.00	0.97	0.95	0.95	0.96	0.97	0.98	0.98	0.99	1.10
	Ave. M/Sec	5.00	8.53	8.76	8.92	8.92	8.85	8.73	8.64	8.64	8.56	9.52
4 Tiffany Porter (GBR)	Split Time (sec)	2.57	3.57	4.57	5.50	6.46	7.43	8.40	9.38	10.36	11.40	12.63
	'Lap' Time (sec)	2.57	0.99	1.00	0.93	0.96	0.97	0.97	0.98	0.98	1.04	1.23
	Ave. M/Sec	5.05	8.56	8.50	9.14	8.82	8.79	8.76	8.67	8.67	8.12	7.92

And here's the race to watch again!

Gday Youngy

I love data and that sort of analysis, a very good read. Well done to Sally, hopefully we get to see her around the circuit over summer (here's hoping any way).

Any splits/analysis for the 4 x 100m? Bolt ran super quick, like to see what he run.

A French sprints coach and a guy I consider an expert in extrapolating this type of information - Pierre-Jean Vazel has posted the following info on another forum.

Fastest 4x100m anchor legs

8.73 Asafa POWELL JAM WC Berlin 22 Aug 09
8.79 Usain BOLT JAM Penn Philadelphia 24 Apr 10
8.85 Carl LEWIS USA OG Barcelona 8 Aug 92
8.92 Leroy BURRELL USA WC Stuttgart 21 Aug 93
8.94 Donovan BAILEY CAN WC Athina 10 Aug 97
8.94 Richard THOMPSON TRI WC Berlin 22 Aug 09
8.95 Linford CHRISTIE GBR OG Seoul 1 Oct 88
8.98 Dennis MITCHELL USA OG Atlanta 2 Aug 96
9.00 Bryan BARNETT CAN WC Berlin 22 Aug 09
9.01 Vladimir KRYLOV URS WC Roma 6 Sep 87

* Electronic timing only (source : Omega, Official Reports and in-situ Biomechanical Analysis) *

In Daegu, i was filming the 4x1 with high speed camera (210 frames/sec) and found Bolt's anchor leg to be 8.80.

Bob Hayes' anchor leg in Tokyo'64 was timed in 9.0 by Soviet analysts as published in Legkata Atletika revue back then.