A Somax analysis of the 2001 Track and Field Championships shows that the Men’s 200 and Women’s 100 was won by the runner with the biggest Stride Angle.

Women’s 100 Meter

   Marion Jones-Left Stride          Zhanna P-Block-Left Stride

The track and field world was surprised when Marion Jones lost the Women’s 100m, ending a 42-meet winning streak. Jones finished in a time of 10.85, while winner Zhanna Pintusevich-Block won with a 10.82.

Both runners had a symmetrical Stride Angle. Jones was 97 degrees on each side, while Zhanna was 122 degrees.

The Stride Angle is the maximum opening between the front and trailing leg, and usually occurs either at, or shortly after toe-off from the trailing leg. For every degree you increase Stride Angle, you increase stride length by 2%. Zhanna’s 25 degree advantage means she was covering 50% more ground with each stride than Jones, which should have led to a much greater margin of victory than just the .03 second difference between the two runners.

The reason for the small time difference between the two runners is that Jones had a higher turnover—she was moving her legs more quickly.

There is no doubt that if Jones increased her Stride Angle, she could easily beat Zhanna at this distance.

  Marion Jones-Right Stride      Zhanna P-Block—Right Stride

The Men’s 200m was a reprise of the 2000 Olympic 200 meter race. Konstadinos Kederis was a surprise winner at Sydney, and the reason is apparent from an analysis of his stride angle.

Kederis finished first with a time of 20.04 and an average Stride Angle of 115 degrees (108+122=230/2=115). Chris Williams of the USA was second with a time of 20.20 and a Stride Angle of 95 degrees. Shawn Crawford of Jamaica was third with a time of 20.20 and a Stride Angle of 92 degrees.

Crawford (92) and Williams (95)   Kederis (108)-Left Stride

  Kederis (125)--Right Stride

The fact that these three runners finished exactly in order of their Stride Angle is not unusual. Somax videotaped all the men’s and women’s races from the 1500 to 10K at the 1988 US Olympic Trials in Indianapolis in 1988. In every race, without exception, the top four runners finished in order of their Stride Angle. Often the difference between 3^rd and 4^th place (which was the cutoff for going to Seoul) was just one degree.

                    Before Somax                                          After Somax

These photos show the improvement in Stride Angle in Nathan Osborne, a high school hurdler.. We increased his Stride Angle 30 degrees by releasing microfibers, a mild form of scar tissue, that were binding together the muscles of his hips.

Microfibers form as part of the healing process, to immobilize an area as it repairs. Microfibers are nature’s internal cast. Because they form between the muscles, they cannot be stretched out. But they can be released by Microfiber Reduction, Somax’s special form of connective tissue massage.

A good indication that an athlete has microfibers is that they try stretching but find that it does not improve their flexibility.

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