USA Track & Field athletes finished their qualifying rounds this last week with many solidifying their position as official Olympians. Many may be familiar with the athletes themselves, and even the coaches and training staff. What you may not know is Team USA uses scientific data from BYU to help their runners improve.
A runner's secret weapon
Dr. Iain Hunter in the BYU Exercise Science Department has been working with the USA Track and Field team since 1997, starting with steeplechase and adding the marathon more recently. It all started when Hunter collaborated with Coach Craig Poole and Patrick Shane at BYU, who introduced him to the Olympic coaches.
“These studies have provided great information for the athletes along with ourselves for publications and presentations,” said Hunter. “The work has provided many great experiences for my students to measure in a unique exciting environment.”
Each qualifying round, steeplechase race, and many of the past Olympics, the BYU group travels along with Team USA to track each running-based athlete.
(L) Dr. Hunter poses behind a camera at the marathon time trials. Photo courtesy of Iain Hunter; (R) Dr. Hunter poses with a student and Luke Vankeersblick (left) at the steeplechase time trails. Photo courtesy of Iain Hunter.
To collect the data, Hunter and his students set up cameras on the side of the track and sets cones up to mark a distance and to measure speed changes. They then record each race and separate the video out for each athlete.
Pixel by pixel, the scientists measure speeds for each recorded leg of the race with each pixel counting for a difference. They measure their incoming or approach velocities by measuring the time between two set points prior to the hurdles.
Mid-jump, Hunter and his team measure biomechanical data like knee and hip angles. Height up from the barrier and landing distances off the barrier are then calculated.
As the runner lands and runs from the barrier, exit velocity is also calculated as the speed leaving the barrier to the next preset distance marker.
“Did they gain speed? Did they maintain speed? If a steeplechaser is losing speed with every barrier, they have to make that speed up every time they do a hurdle or water jump,” said Luke VanKeersblick, one of Dr. Hunter’s grad students.
With 28 hurdles to overcome, with a mix of both normal and water hurdles, athletes need to know all the data they can get to better approach and leave each jump.
For the marathon runners, Hunter and his team measure their speed at six different race locations. They look at how the running mechanics change as the runner progresses through the race. The data from these races is currently being processed.
Dr. Hunter poses on the side of the marathon Olympic trials with the camera used for measurements. Photos courtesy of Iain Hunter.
How the athletes improve
These videos help athletes know their strongest and weakest parts of the race. They can then use clips and advice for actionable improvement between races, and in comparison to their competitors.
“We want to make sure that we can optimize, so the athletes are not losing speed,” says VanKeersbilck.
Knowing these statistics and information hones practice. This data helped Kenneth Rooks know he often gains speed when jumping a hurdle and showed James Corrigan he can pull ahead when at a water jump.
Hunter credits Team USA’s success in the steeplechase to the reports and measurements, along with the athletes’ fitness, talent, hard work, and coaches.
“It’s been really exciting to work with these athletes whether they are from BYU or elsewhere,” said Hunter. “It’s an activity that brings excitement and relationships that I value greatly.”
All of this data and practice helped 8 BYU steeplechase and marathon runners qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympics.