Why does my hurdler lose speed between the hurdles even though the clearance looks clean?
Clearing every barrier well does not guarantee the three steps in between are still sprinting, and that is where the time usually goes.
A hurdler can clear every barrier cleanly, no trail leg clip, no stutter, and still slow down hurdle by hurdle across the race. Coaches usually watch the clearance because it is the dramatic part, and miss where the time is actually going.
The clearance is not the whole cost
Clearing a hurdle well and running well between hurdles are two different skills, and a hurdler can be good at the first without being good at the second. The three steps between barriers are still sprinting, and if those steps are wrong, a clean clearance in front of them does not save the split.
What is usually behind it
- Overstriding on the steps between hurdles: reaching for ground instead of running under the hips, which brakes the athlete on every step, not just at the barrier.
- Standing too tall coming off the hurdle, so the first step after landing is a recovery step rather than a running one.
- A landing that lands too far under the body or too far out in front, both of which cost a stride's worth of rhythm before the next push even starts.
None of these show up in the moment everyone is watching, which is the hurdle itself. They show up in the three steps nobody films closely.
What the hurdles setting actually shows
The Film Room's hurdles measure reports trunk dip over the barrier, lead-leg extension, how far the hips rise at the hurdle, and overstride between the barriers. A hurdler whose trunk dip and lead-leg numbers look fine but whose overstride between hurdles is high is not losing time at the barrier at all. The fix belongs in the running, not in the hurdle.
A single side-on camera reads the steps between hurdles the same way it reads any sprinting: position and timing, frame by frame. It cannot tell you how much force went into the ground on those steps, which is what would show whether the recovery step is a technical habit or the athlete simply running out of gas by the back half of the flight. That reading needs a force plate or an instrumented mat, not a phone at the side of the track.
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Related
Why does my hurdler fade in the back half of the race?
Clean hurdles early and a chopped, slowing stride pattern late is usually fatigue finding the exact technical fault good conditioning was hiding.
Read →Why does your hurdler take a different number of strides between each hurdle?
The step count between hurdles is a symptom, not the problem, and Film Room's overstride number usually moves before the pattern actually breaks.
Read →How many steps should a hurdler take to the first hurdle?
Seven and eight both show up at the highest level of the sport, so the number that matters is not tradition, it is whether the athlete arrives at the mark running over the barrier rather than jumping it.
Read →Try it: Hurdle technique analysis from video: trunk dip, lead leg, hip rise