Jemima Sumgong, the winner of the Rio Olympics women’s marathon, did something unusual for a Kenyan woman: she didn’t move her torso side-to-side much. It appeared as if her sides from armpits to hips stayed basically the same length throughout her gait cycle. Her arm movement also looked increasingly unusal as she grew more fatigued. … Read more
Sometimes I watch a runner win a race and think, “I don’t know how that person is running that fast with that form.” Other times I think, “Ah, that person ran so fast, but just imagine if they sorted out that one technical problem, how much better they would be.” I didn’t think either of … Read more
In my analysis of the Olympic men’s 10,000 I wrote how Galen Rupp’s technique reminded me in some ways of Usain Bolt’s, with his use of the frontal plane (side-to-side motion, basically) more than rotation. In this race it became evident he also has this in common with Eliud Kipchoge, the winner. Like Bolt, Kipchoge uses … Read more
Okay, let’s talk some more about heads bobbing forwards and backwards. I expect to mention this when writing about Mo Farah, the winner, but in the whole Olympic Men’s 5000 field in Rio it was practically an epidemic. When I wrote about this phenomenon in my post about the women’s 10,000, I said that one way to think about … Read more
Watching Galen Rupp and Mo Farah running side by side is endlessly fascinating. They are the Odd Couple of men’s track. Rupp channels his height into a clean lean, moving primarily in the frontal plane (bending/shifting side-to-side) and using very little rotation of his pelvis or upper body. In fact I’m always amazed at how … Read more
Everyone wants to know how Ethiopian Almaz Ayana’s amazing world record run was possible. I can’t tell you that from looking at her technique–as always, running technique is just one of the elements of performance. However a close look at her technique does reveal a way she could actually be faster. Dibaba too, along with many … Read more
