A Study On Speed Difference Between Inner And Outer Tracks In 400 Meter Hurdling

Athletic sports is not only a contest in physical ability but in skill. Both are of great importance and they supplement each other. In the course of a person's sports career, the development of physical ability is a smoothly rising curve, while the improvement of skill is a step-by-step one. Every progress in technique leads to certain boost in competition results, therefore, to get better results on the base of good physical ability, technique must be improved. In 400 meters hurdling, the physical ability of the athlete is the critical factor to success, yet the technique of hurdling is also important to results. Every technical progress in history leads to large-scale improvement in results. For example, swinging leg develops from vertical to bending swing;hurdling leg develops from simple replicating to quick drawing;the upper body develops from little change to considerable inclining at the time of hurdling. Nowadays, the fast development of technology has also improved results to a large scale, for example, every improvement in the pole used in pole vault leads to better results;the use of plastic track since the 1960s raises every single result in field and track competitions. Physical ability, skill and technology are fair to every athlete, that is to say, those who have a sounder body and higher skill, who apply advanced equipment will surely win good results. However, in the 400 metre hurdling, the impact produced by track difference is unfair to athletes. The conclusion of this paper is that it is advantageous to race in outer track than in inner track, and the result is better in outer track than in inner track. Sometimes track will have a critical influence on results and places. In women's 400 metre race in the 1968 Mexico Olympic Games, the French runner C. Bison in track 5 got the first place by 52 seconds, while L. Boda in track 1 became the runner-up by 52.1 seconds. Certain people have analyzed that the time disparity running 400 metres in the first and fifth track respectively is about 0.1 second, and that if L. Boda had run in the track 5, she would have been the champion instead of C. Bison. In the same way, in men's 200 dash of the same Games, the Australian runner P. Normare in track 6 got the second place by 20 seconds, but he may have been defeated by J. Carlos in track 4 whose result is also 20 seconds. It is obvious that difference in tracks may considerably affect athletes. This paper will use theory and demonstrations to analyze and prove the effect on the results of the athletes simply from the point of view of track difference without considering the influence of other factors such as surroundings upon athletes. The 400 metre hurdling includes five procedures of starting, bending running, hurdling pace, the combination of running-hurdling and hurdling-running, and the switch from straight track to bending and the opposite. This paper does some research on these five parts respectively to show the difference of running in inner-outertracks in 400 metre hurdling.This article chooses to use only one bending as an object of study. First of all, it gives an elaborate illustration of starting in different tracks. Then, 20 level-2 runners from the field and track gifted class of Grade 2002 are chosen as objects of study. Every runner races once in tracks 1, 4, and 8, the whole distance of which is right 114.04 metres, equal to that of a bending. When the results are compared, the average result of track 1 is T,=13. 601+0. 007, that of track 4 is T4=13. 584±0. 004, and track 8 is T8=13. 545+0.004, making a marked difference (P<0. 01). This shows that in the 400 metre hurdling, the bending running in different tracks also makes significant difference. Then two national master sportsmen from Shandong Normal University, one named Wang Binghua, are chosen for research. Each of them runs ten times in each track, and pictures of their hurdling scenes in tracks 1, 4, 8 are taken before being analyzed with Aijie sports analysis system. The information is changed into data which is processed smoothly. The apiece parameter data is input into SPSS Stat software to have a statistic process, thus getting the difference. Here the difference of apiece parameter in time of hurdling in tracks 1, 4, and 8. In addition, the data is transmitted to Excel software to be changed into pictures and curves, making the difference of inner and outer tracks more intuitionistic. Finally, the combination of running-hurdling and hurdling-running and the switch from bending to straight track and the opposite way are illustrated in details.This article has a detailed research on hurdling pace, choosing seven moments in hurdling as objects of study, i.e., the moment of landing of the starting leg;the moment of the barycentre behind the hurdle being right over the supporting point;the moment of the starting leg leaving ground and hurdling;the moment of the barycentre being at the peak over the hurdle;the moment of the swinging leg landing;the moment of the barycentre before hurdle being at the lowest point;the moment of the swinging leg leaving ground. At every moment, the following are chosen: barycentre height, barycentre speed Vx (Vx for short), barycentre speed Vy (Vy for short), barycentre Vz (Vz for short), barycentre speed V (V for short), the distance L from barycentre shadow in X direction to supporting point (L for short), left knee angle, right knee angle, speed of left knee angle, speed of right knee angle, angle formed by two legs, landing angle or pressing angle, inner obliquity, galloping angle, lasting time of the starting leg, distance of the rise of barycentre, distance of the fall of the barycentre, lasting time of the swinging leg. Several of the above parameters are chosen for compare. Then histogram is used to have an intuitionistic compare of the averages of barycentres in different tracks at the seven moments, which are compared with Wang Binghua' s such curves as the first barycentre height made in track one. Generally speaking, there is a significant difference between differenttracks in barycentre height at the moment of landing of the starting leg and the leaving ground of the swinging leg (P<0.01), while there is no disparity between tracks at the moment of hurdling (P>0.05). The reason is that the hurdlor adjusts himself for the sake of hurdling, making no difference in barycentre height when galloping. Every other point of the barycentre speed Vx bears marked difference, P<0.01, except that the landing moment of the starting leg is P<0. 05. This means that due to track difference, there is great effect on speed in X direction, while there is no disparity all along between Vy and Vz, which shows that track difference has little influence on speed both in X and Y directions. No difference in barycentre speed V behind hurdle while marked difference before hurdle explains clearly that it is hurdling that makes the difference in barycentre speed V. Hurdling makes the difference more obvious between different tracks. The difference racing in inner and outer tracks proves the existence of the difference. A conclusion can be drawn that the result in outer track is better than inner track. Thus the following suggestions are made in this paper for reference.1. When practicing, athletes should hurdle in different bendings, experience racing in different radiuses, thus adapting for different tracks in competitions, exerting their best potentials.2. The difference of left knee angle speed between inner and outer tracks makes it necessary that in training the athletes, the coach should develop not only the force of the front thigh but also anklebone and hind thigh.3. A proposal is made to the rules as well. In starting, forward extensions are usually made, a little more from track 2 to track 8. The data obtained from the research on tracks 1, 4, 8 is that 0.862 metres should be added to the original forward extension of track 4, and 1.999 metres to track 8. The forward extensions of other tracks can be calculated in this way, and a vague extension can be got through the average difference between track 1 and 8.4. In the present rules, the first four in tryout are arranged in tracks 3, 4, 5, and 6, while the last four in tracks 1, 2, 7, and 8. My suggestion is that the athlete chooses his own track according to their places in the first round, or that the eight are arranged from outer to inner tracks according to their places. In this way, it is more likely to exert their most, thus making the best result.5. To avoid such unfairness to the athletes, the starting point can be moved backward or changed from bending to straight track, making the athlete in the outer track cover a longer bending and a shorter straight track. This can reach a balance between hurdlers in inner and outer tracks, and making it fairer for all athletes.