Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
Scientists have used advanced laser technology to measure and analyze Olympic Champion Usain Bolt’s speed during his 9.76-second performance in the 100m sprint at the Van Damme Memorial on 16 September. It was the first time the technology has been put to use in competition. The new data will provide insights into improving the training regimens of world-class sprinters.
“With the laser, we can accurately measure an athlete’s performance at each phase of the race. From this data, we can determine where the possible weaknesses are.”
This article gives me some insight into other research on the running phases of track sprinters. In this article, scientists were looking at Usain Bolt’s speeds during specific phases of two different races. It’s nice to read more about this topic because as a sprinter I know how important each phase of a sprint is to the time of a race, but people outside the sport may not know the importance. I’m trying to figure out if my research problem is actually a problem that others have and if I can make my contribution to help solve it, or approach it in a way that others haven’t tried yet. The approach in this article is a different technological approach from what I am envisioning for my research, but it is very helpful to know that theres study in that topic area.
“The differences between each sprinter can only be revealed through a detailed analysis of each phase of their race.”
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. “Laser technology used to analyse Usain Bolt’s speed at Van Damme Memorial.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 21 September 2011.
