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JOURNAL
OF
SPORTS SCIENCE &
MEDICINE
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Research
article
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EFFECTS OF RUN-UP VELOCITY ON PERFORMANCE, KINEMATICS, AND ENERGY EXCHANGES IN THE POLE VAULT |
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Nicholas P. Linthorne 
and A. H. Gemma Weetman |
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Centre for Sports Medicine and Human Performance, School of Sport and Education, Brunel University, Uxbridge, Middlesex, United Kingdom |
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© Journal of Sports Science and Medicine (2012) 11, 245 - 254 |
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| ABSTRACT | |||
| This study examined the effect of run-up velocity on the peak
height achieved by the athlete in the pole vault and on the corresponding
changes in the athlete's kinematics and energy exchanges. Seventeen jumps
by an experienced male pole vaulter were video recorded in the sagittal
plane and a wide range of run-up velocities (4.5-8.5 m/s) was obtained by
setting the length of the athlete's run-up (2-16 steps). A selection of
performance variables, kinematic variables, energy variables, and pole variables
were calculated from the digitized video data. We found that the athlete's
peak height increased linearly at a rate of 0.54 m per 1 m/s increase in
run-up velocity and this increase was achieved through a combination of
a greater grip height and a greater push height. At the athlete's competition
run-up velocity (8.4 m/s) about one third of the rate of increase in peak
height arose from an increase in grip height and about two thirds arose
from an increase in push height. Across the range of run-up velocities examined
here the athlete always performed the basic actions of running, planting,
jumping, and inverting on the pole. However, he made minor systematic changes
to his jumping kinematics, vaulting kinematics, and selection of pole characteristics
as the run-up velocity increased. The increase in run-up velocity and changes
in the athlete's vaulting kinematics resulted in substantial changes to
the magnitudes of the energy exchanges during the vault. A faster run-up
produced a greater loss of energy during the take-off, but this loss was
not sufficient to negate the increase in run-up velocity and the increase
in work done by the athlete during the pole support phase. The athlete therefore
always had a net energy gain during the vault. However, the magnitude of
this gain decreased slightly as run-up velocity increased. Key words: Sports biomechanics, kinematics. |
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