Muscle‐tendon architecture in Kenyans and Japanese: Potential role of genetic endowment in the success of elite Kenyan endurance runners

The specificity of muscle‐tendon and foot architecture of elite Kenyan middle‐ and long‐distance runners has been found to contribute to their superior running performance. To investigate the respective influence of genetic endowment and training on these characteristics, we compared leg and foot segmental lengths as well as muscle‐tendon architecture of Kenyans and Japanese males (i) from infancy to adulthood and (ii) non‐athletes versus elite runners.

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