Essay On 400m Hurdles

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The 400m hurdles consists of 10 hurdles, spaced 35m apart. The distance to the first hurdle is 45 metres with a distance of 40 metres from the final hurdle to the finish. Success in this event is hard, it is not always the fastest athlete who wins, but the athlete with rhythm, efficiency and momentum throughout the race. The event requires a mixture of speed, spatial anticipation and endurance; very few events require these qualities whilst under anaerobic pressure. B1: Hurdling Technique The 400m hurdles event is not only demanding because of the distance but it is very technical. When competing in hurdles, I have had problems with my trailing leg tending to drop my knee to early as I clear the hurdle and not bring it back to the centre making me ‘fall/drop’ off the hurdle. This causes me to lose balance therefore I use more essential energy trying to regain my centre of mass. Also when running over the hurdles my pelvis is at times unbalanced; in my 400m hurdles National Final in 2013, on hurdle 5 I leant to my left causing me to become unstable when I landed, this slowed my split time between hurdles from 4.91 to 5.31, demonstrating the essential time lost. During this competition, I ran with an upright posture and did not lean forward over the hurdle, meaning my flight was a few inches above the hurdle which would cause the horizontal force air resistance to act upon me. I would therefore lose forward velocity and centre of mass when passing over the hurdle as I am not low enough when clearing it. Also as fatigue sets in I begin to lose control of my arms, particularly over the last two hurdles and instead of pulling my trailing leg through quickly so I can ground, I don’t utilise this technique and I bring my trailing leg... ... middle of paper ... ...ows their trailing legs. Lui Xiangs trailing leg is parallel so he can move swiftly over the hurdle, however the amateur hurdler is almost ‘jumping over,’ losing essential time when clearing. She is also likely to catch her foot meaning she could fall and injure herself. 3. This shows the pelvis angle. Lui Xiangs pelvis is aligned and incredibly balanced; it’s parallel nature indicates how flexible and strong his hip flexors are; on the other hand the amateur shows that her hips are not parallel indicating she may not be flexible and may not have gluteal strength. 4. This shows the flight over the hurdle. As you can see Lui Xiang is incredibly low, almost skimming the hurdle; this is a quick and efficient way to hurdle as he can land to begin running to the next hurdle, however the amateur hurdler is almost bounding over, causing her to lose crucial time in the air.

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