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All content in this area was uploaded by Brian Hanley on Apr 24, 2022
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Content uploaded by Brian Hanley
Author content
All content in this area was uploaded by Brian Hanley on Apr 24, 2022
Content may be subject to copyright.
Why endurance athletes rarely
set season’s best times in
championship racing and why
it doesn’t matter
Dr Brian Hanley
Distance runners rarely run their best
times in major championships
The best are still more likely to win
•What differentiates
the best athletes
from one another is
how they pace the
championships.
Macro-, meso-, and micro-pacing
Pacing strategies in championship racing
Macro-pacing across championship
middle-distance races (heats, semi-
finals and finals)
Championship pacing in the 3000m
steeplechase
•Of all distance events, 3000m steeplechase
championship racing highlights the importance of
analysing performances using macro-, meso- and
micro-pacing.
•Macro-pacing is important in terms of pacing the
heats correctly to qualify, but also in avoiding
fatigue before the final.
•Meso-pacing allows us to analyse how the
athletes pace the race on a lap-to-lap basis.
•Micro-pacing analysis shows us the effect of the
barriers on each section of the race, including the
water jump.
Meso-pacing in the 3000m steeplechase
•Men and women
had different pacing
strategies in
qualifying for the
final of the 3000m
steeplechase.
Men Women
Micro-pacing in the 3000m steeplechase
•Micro-pacing analysis
shows us that the
effect of the water jump
is more pronounced for
lower-finishing men
and for women.
All values are m/s
Micro-pacing in the 3000m steeplechase
•Although the barrier
is lower for women,
the water jump is the
same size (depth,
length and slope).
Athletes can lose their medals in the water
Meso-pacing in the men’s 10,000m
•A meso-pacing
analysis of the
men’s 10,000m
suggests that pace
is quite even from
2000 to 8000m.
Developing even
pace running
seems sensible.
•The same data
analysed from a
micro-pacing
perspective shows
that the pace is
continually changing.
Micro-pacing in the men’s 10,000m
Modelling 10,000m racing to assess
pace fluctuations (“nano-pacing”)
•Modelling the
10,000m race to
go beyond micro-
pacing shows
that there are
fluctuations in
speed caused by
the bends.
Modelling 10,000m race performance
with 5% less anaerobic reserve
•The nano-pacing
model was also
able to show the
effect of having
less anaerobic
reserve is an
inability to sprint
at the end.
Champions are racers, not pacers
Winning regardless of finishing time
FINAL SEMI-FINAL HEAT
Middle-distance champions
•Men’s 800m / 1500m and Women’s 800m champions from 15 championships
•Women’s 1500m champions from 12 championships
Heat and Semi Heat only Semi only Neither
Men’s 800 m
Champions 10 4 0 1
Women’s 800 m
Champions 13 2 0 0
Men’s 1500 m
Champions 12 0 1 2
Women’s 1500 m
Champions 5 0 4 3
Olympic and World Championship 800m
racing – “seahorse-shaped pacing”
•London 2017
♂1:44.67
♀1:55.16
•London 2017
♂3:33.61
♀4:02.59
Olympic and World Championship
1500m racing –“J-shaped pacing”
Athletes who stay next to each
other (as friend or foe) tend to
have more even pacing.
www.worldathletics.org
Winning a private battle can become
more important than achieving the
best possible time or position.
Onions, B. (1996). “Local heroes”.
Runner’s World UK, 4(1), 106.
www.worldathletics.org
Structural changes to championships
Are there too many rounds?
We already know that champions
tend to win their heat and semi-final
It is possible that the 1500m could be
shortened to heats and final (no semi-finals)
27 (two heats)
28 (two heats)
33 (three heats)
Preparing with age-group championships
Examples from the European U23 Championships
European U23 Championships
•About 40% of
athletes who
compete in the
European U23
Championships
progress to global
competition.
European U23 Championships
•There is a much smaller benefit to competing in the
European U20 Championships
European U23 Championships
•Günther Weidlinger (AUT) 3000m Steeplechase –1999
•Rui Pedro Silva (POR) 5000m –2003
•Mark Kenneally (IRL) 5000m –2003
•Scott Overall (GBR) 5000m –2005
•Marius Ionescu (ROM) 5000m –2005
•Kári Steinn Karlsson (ISL) 5000m –2007
•Mustafa Mohamed (SWE) 10000m –1999
•Stsiapan Rahautsou (BLR) 10000m –2007
•Jessica Augusto (POR) 1500m –2001
•Alessandra Aguilar (ESP) 5000m –1999
•Olivera Jevtic (YUG) 5000m –1999
•Zsófia Erdélyi (HUN) 5000m –2007
•Remalda Kergytė (LTU) 5000m –2007
•Vanesa Veiga (ESP) 10000m –2001
•Katarína Berešová (SVK) 10000m – 2007
www.worldathletics.org
2012 Olympic Games
Marathon
www.worldathletics.org
Championships within championships
•There is already an U23 category in the European Throwing Cup.
•Could we have an U23 category in other events such as the European Race Walking Team
Championships or the European 10,000m Cup?
•Does this approach help or hinder the development of athletes moving into senior
competition?
•Apart from the European U23 track and field championships, would
more U23 competition help the development of young athletes?
Practical applications
•Pacing profiles can make it appear that the best athletes run an even pace, whereas micro-
pacing analysis shows us that there are continuous, mostly tactical changes in speed.
•The best middle-distance runners are able to adopt both a short-term strategy of winning
each round and a long-term strategy of conserving energy for the final.
•Champions are racers, not pacers – most did not run their season’s best time during the
championships; in the most extreme example, the 2016 Olympic 1500m men’s champion,
Matthew Centrowitz (USA), ran the final more than 10 seconds slower than either his heat
or semi-final.
•Athletes should practise championship-style racing where there are no pacemakers as in
Diamond League competition or big city marathons, and training for distance racing
requires practice of different speeds and varied tactics.
•The emphasis on winning, especially amongst the best athletes,
means that achieving a season’s best is secondary to performance.
References
•Casado, A., Renfree, A., Maroto-Sánchez, B. & Hanley, B. (2020). Individual performances relative to season bests in major track
running championship races are distance-, position- and sex-dependent. European Journal of Human Movement, 44(1), 146-161.
https://doi.org/10.21134/eurjhm.2020.44.526
•Filipas, L., La Torre, A. & Hanley, B. (2021). Pacing profiles of Olympic and IAAF World Championship long distance runners. The
Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 35(4), pp.1134-1140. https://journals.lww.com/nsca-
jscr/Fulltext/2021/04000/Pacing_Profiles_of_Olympic_and_IAAF_World.35.aspx
•Hanley, B. (2016). The role of European age-group championships in senior participation rates. New Studies in Athletics, 31(1/2),
pp.43-57.
•Hanley, B. (2015). Pacing profiles and pack running at the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships. Journal of Sports Sciences,
33(11), pp.1189-1195. https://doi.org/10.1080/02640414.2014.988742
•Hanley, B. (2014). The role of the European U23 Championships in the development of elite athletes. New Studies in Athletics, 29(3),
pp.41-56.
•Hanley, B., Bissas, A. & Merlino, S. (2020). Better water jump clearances were differentiated by longer landing distances in the 2017
IAAF World Championship 3000 m steeplechase finals. Journal of Sports Sciences, 38(3), pp.330-335.
https://doi.org/10.1080/02640414.2019.1698091
•Hanley, B., Bissas, A. & Merlino, S. (2018). Biomechanical report for the IAAF World Championships 2017: steeplechase women’s.
International Association of Athletics Federations, Monte Carlo.
References
•Hanley, B. & Hettinga, F. J. (2018). Champions are racers, not pacers: an analysis of qualification patterns of Olympic and IAAF World
Championship middle distance runners. Journal of Sports Sciences, 36(22), pp.2614-2620.
https://doi.org/10.1080/02640414.2018.1472200
•Hanley, B., Stellingwerff, T. & Hettinga, F. J. (2019). Successful pacing profiles of Olympic and IAAF World Championship middle-
distance runners across qualifying rounds and finals. International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance, 14(7), pp.894-901.
https://doi.org/10.1123/ijspp.2018-0742
•Hanley, B. & Williams, E. L. (2020). Successful pacing profiles of Olympic men and women 3,000 m steeplechasers. Frontiers in
Sports and Active Living, 2, 21. https://doi.org/10.3389/fspor.2020.00021
•Hettinga, F. J., Edwards, A. M. & Hanley, B. (2019). The science behind competition and winning in athletics: Using world-level
competition data to explore pacing and tactics. Frontiers in Sports and Active Living, 1, 11. https://doi.org/10.3389/fspor.2019.00011
•Mercier, Q., Aftalion, A. & Hanley, B. (2021). A model for world-class 10,000 m running performances: Strategy and optimization.
Frontiers in Sports and Active Living, 2, 226. https://doi.org/10.3389/fspor.2020.636428
•Onions, B. (1996). Local heroes. Runner’s World UK, 4(1), 106.
•Phillips, M. (2017). Coe seeks radical change to keep athletics relevant. Retrieved from https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-sport-leaders-
coe/coe-seeks-radical-change-to-keep-athletics-relevant-idUKKBN1C92DI