Why do coaches say to run over a hurdle, not jump it?
The instruction sounds like a cliche until you see what jumping actually costs a hurdler on the clock.
Every hurdles coach says some version of the same thing: run over the hurdle, do not jump it. New hurdlers hear it, nod, and keep jumping it anyway, because from the inside a hurdle looks like something you have to clear, and clearing something feels like jumping.
What "jumping" actually costs
A jump adds time in the air on purpose. A sprint stride barely leaves the ground, the foot is down again almost as soon as it is up. A hurdler who jumps the barrier turns one stride into something closer to a standing long jump, and every extra hundredth of a second spent airborne is a hundredth spent not accelerating.
The hips rising higher than they need to is the tell. A hurdle is 33 to 42 inches depending on the race, and a competent hurdler clears it by a few inches, not a foot. Filmed from the side, the gap between a runner and a jumper shows up as daylight under the hips at the top of the clearance.
What running over it looks like instead
- The lead leg snaps down to the ground rather than reaching for it.
- The trunk dips forward over the barrier instead of sitting upright.
- The trail leg comes through low and fast, closer to a sprint stride than a leap.
None of this is about height. A hurdler clearing by six inches and one clearing by one inch can both be running well, if the one clearing by six inches is doing it in the same amount of time in the air. Time, not clearance, is the thing worth measuring.
The Film Room reports trunk dip, lead-leg extension and how far the hips rise at the hurdle, which is the measured version of run it, don't jump it. It cannot tell you whether an athlete is jumping out of a lack of confidence rather than a lack of technique, and those two get coached differently.
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Related
Why does my hurdler clear the hurdle with way more height than they need?
Every extra inch of air over the barrier is time spent in flight instead of time spent running, and most hurdlers who do it have no idea they are doing it.
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 →How do you adjust a hurdler's rhythm when the hurdle height goes up?
Same steps, same speed, a few extra centimetres of bar, and the rhythm that used to be automatic stops working.
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