Differences in kinematic parameters of athletes of different running quality

The aim of the study was to determine the differences among subjects of different sprinting quality in the variables of running dynamics in the 100 m sprint event and in the variables of kinematic indicators (stride frequency, stride length, foot-ground contact duration, airborne phase duration). The research was conducted on a sample of 133 physical education teacher male students, aged 19 to 24 years (age 21.7 ± 1.08 yrs ; body height 180.8 ± 6.98 cm ; body mass 76.6 ± 7.62 kg), first year students at the Faculty of Kinesiology, University of Zagreb, who regularly attended their athletics classes. Basic descriptive statistical parameters were computed. Cluster analysis was used to determine sprinting-quality-based homogeneous groups of subjects. The qualitative differences among the subjects pertaining to the defined groups were established by canonical discriminant analysis. One significant discriminant function was obtained differentiating the group of students who performed well from all the other groups of students with poorer sprint performance. The best performance group demonstrated running technique characterised by the shortest foot-ground contact time in the phases of starting acceleration and maximum speed running, and a larger stride length in the phase of maximum speed running.