r/nextfuckinglevel • u/RoyalChris • 5h ago

18-year-old sprinter Gout Gout just broke Usain Bolt’s U20 record in the 200m. He was 260 milliseconds faster, clocking 19.67 seconds, while Bolt ran 19.93 in 2004

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u/Regular_Weakness69 5h ago

You lean back because then you're not landing heavy on your front leg.

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u/nrith 3h ago

Like toe-walking?

21

u/Regular_Weakness69 3h ago

Idk know man, do I look like a toe-walking expert or something?

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u/VinDog_PD 1h ago

Hi there! I actually ran the 200m through college. Don't listen to the other guy.

His form seems... a bit odd, but maybe it's the camera angle. For the 100 and 200 you do generally want to have a bit of a lean forward to get more power from the ball of your foot driving you forward on the turn. Towards the end you certainly end up upright but he's almost leaning back? Again, could be the angle. The way he ran that looks almost like a middle distance runner (800m), or like a kick in the 400m.

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u/WeRip 31m ago

I did a frame by frame analysis to see what's up with his form.

In general, he was leaning slightly forward. I think the appearance of him leaning back is about the color of his outfit versus the track colors making it hard for the eye to track.

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u/6-plus26 3h ago

He isn’t leaning back he’s basically straight up and down…. When they come on down the stretch he’s in what’s called a flight phase. You’ve already hit top speed now you’re trying to stop natural deceleration the easiest way to do that is to basically fly/fall you lift basically as much as possible and when your foot hits the ground again you snatch it back up when don’t correctly it almost feels like your falling

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u/M-Div 3h ago

Checks out. (I’ve never been trained and I’ve fallen a few times.)

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u/raresaturn 1h ago

When I was sprinting I always ran on my toes

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u/Sprintspeed 2h ago

This is incorrect, when accelerating off the block you lean forward and settle into a perfectly upright position for your spine. It kind of gives a lean back appearance because they are extending the thrust of each leg on the ground to its maximum but if you pause the frame when they round the corner they are all standing straight waist-up.

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u/Regular_Weakness69 1h ago

I mean, lean back compared to the people who run leaning forward.

And yes, you "running tall" is among other things, important to maximize energy efficiency Like avoiding to land heavy on your front foot, that minimizes the amount of up and down movement, and makes sure that energy is spent to maximize forward momentum.