Hey guys, so today we're going to look at the running form of Dennis Kimmeto, when
he broke the official world record during the Berlin Marathon in 2014.
Here, he runs an incredible time of 2 hours 2 minutes and 57 seconds that's an
average of 4 minutes 41 seconds per mile! In this video, we are going to analyze
certain aspects of his running that really stick out. First, let's take a look
at his running form. Out of the entire race looking through over two hours of
content, this was the best and only side view I could get. Now to see it better,
let's look at this clip again, but this time with visual overlay and slowed down
a little bit.
Now let's break it down. One of the first things you may notice about the clip is
that it portrays his form toward the end of the race. Unfortunately as I mentioned
earlier this was the only clip that gave a good view of his form as there was
none during the beginning and middle of the race; however, this may not matter as
much as you think because of one of the first strengths I'll point out about his
form, which is his consistency. Kimetto is very good at maintaining form throughout
an entire race. This takes incredible mental focus and stamina to do,
especially during a race that can take hours. One way to highlight Kimetto's
ability to do this is to look at these clips that look at his running in a
similar view throughout the race. As you can see, it looks very consistent; however
you can notice his form slightly breaks down at the end. Therefore, while the
main clip may not be the most optimal clip, it is still worth looking at to
understand the way Dennis Kimetto runs.
The second strength I'll point out is how his foot lands. As you can see his
foot lands almost right under the hips. This allows for proper positioning of
the hip muscles to encourage forward movement as he runs.
I think positioning of the foot under the hips is something more people should
focus on rather than how the foot actually touches the ground. People tend
to focus on heel strike as being the cause of inefficient running or causing
pain when running; however what might actually be happening is a case of
over striding, which is taking too long of a step. Over striding can cause the
hip, knee and ankle joints to lock up which can cause strain on these joints
and eventually cause injury. For Kimetto and any other elite runner, they need to
run crazy amounts of mileage, while optimizing muscle activation and
preventing injury. The third thing is how he maintains an upright trunk. Initially,
it may look like he's bending at the trunk; however, if you look more closely...
it's not. His whole body is actually tilted forward. This position allows for
the utilization of gravity to help with moving forward, giving momentum in this
direction. Maintaining an upright trunk is crucial especially for a
long-distance runs like marathons. Kimetto's ability to maintain this
position allows for optimal exchange of air to take place in his lungs. Improved
ability to do this means more oxygen to the muscles allowing him to really
maximize each breath to fuel his muscles for these races. And those are
the three things that really stuck out to me in Kimetto's running form. Now, there are
only three aspects of his running that I pointed out; however, there are plenty
more aspects that make him a world-class athlete. If there is something that
stands out to you as well please feel free to comment below. I hope you guys
enjoyed the video. Thank you for watching!