well i was once again placed on the 3rd leg of the 4×1, the curve. and i once again ate up everything in sight. so it got me thinking about what makes a good curve runner.
first off, a curved sprint makes interesting changes to the dynamics of sprinting, especially if you look at 100m in terms of acceleration, maxV, and SE. according to basic definitions in physics, velocity is speed in a direction, and acceleration is a change in velocity. this means that while running a curve an athlete is in constant acceleration.
whats this really imply? im going to take a guess and say stronger athletes are more suited to the curve (weightroom strong). along with the fact that curve running is a constant acceleration, i would say look for curve athletes in the following areas:
-athletes that lift big weights (strength for acceleration)
-jumpers (strong and usually good hurdlers)
-hurdlers (always accelerating)
-200m runners (guess why?)
anything else to add or take away?