Looking at the best splits ever in the men’s high hurdles it looks like 12.67 is possible. Unlike the 100m each hurdle creates a chance for something to go wrong because an athlete hurdling must have a great run in addition to each hurdle clearance. My belief is that we will need to see a bunch of .98 splits or faster with great starts and closing speeds (2.49 and 1.30) in the fist and last 15 yards. I have seen only one .97 split that was legitimate but I need to see IAAF data after a grand prix meet to be sure the air time was accurate because of video analysis. Their is no way someone is going to go 10 meters per second because of hurdle clearance, but 9.6 m/s is possible air time is .31 and ground time is .66. My belief is that we will see someone in the next 10 years dip into the low 12.8 before getting into 12.7 territory. Coach McGill is a very good writer (obvious talent and skill being an english teacher) and does a better job explaining the necessary biomechanics in his articles. While data analysis is not likely his forte, his summary of what is important is masterful because he is really identifying the differences between different hurdles while finding the commonalities between them. His summary of lead leg dominant and trail leg dominant styles of Robles and Oliver is excellent. Being the curious guy myself, will a combination of both styles reap an evolution or just neutralize the benefits of the approach? TSCM mentioned pelvic position will dictate various metabolic and fatigue patterns in the 110m based on hurdling style. My belief is that he is right, and we are going to see an explosion of better indicators and a renaissance of Coh variables being reviewed. We just know some basic indicators and as we get more information on what make a lead arm great time and biomechanics wise or snap down velocities and torso lean, coaches can start looking at what to coach and what to leave alone. This is the first time I have been excited about the 110m hurdle in a long time as I didn’t know what the limits were. Looking at hurdle split velocities (meters per second) like the 100m, coaches can drill down to each step and see how time is being spent on each stride. In the 110m no one stride is the same except for maybe the run in at the end. I would love to see various timelines on the trail leg step or cut step between extremely different hurdlers such as Robles and Trammell. We need more complied information on why things are efficient and how much anatomical and style (athlete expression and comfort) interacts with velocities. I have no answers here only questions that lead biomechanics experts pondering things. If coaches start getting information more public, we can see why things are limited, and in time break those limits. Discuss entry
