Hey guys it's Dr. JP and today we are going to analyze Abraham Kiptun as he
broke the world record during the half marathon in Valencia! The first thing
we will look at is his pacing throughout the race. Kiptum ran the first 5
kilometers in 13 minutes and 56 seconds. Then, the second 5k split at 14 minutes
and six seconds. Now, this was obviously very fast; however not enough to where
anyone would expect the world record to be broken.
What was truly amazing is what happened during the second half of the race.
Kiptum picked up speed and ran the third 5k split in 13 minutes and 35 seconds...
and he barely let up this pace as during the fourth and final split he
ran it in 13 minutes and 41 seconds. Similar to when Kipchoge broke the
marathon record, Kiptum ran the second half of the race at a faster pace.
Doing this really showcases Abraham Kiptum's mental discipline and drive. Now
the footage we will be looking at is Kiptum during the final 5k split.
As I mentioned earlier, he still ran this part of the race faster compared to the
first and second 5k split; however, there may be some breakdown of form ..as he ran
this slower than the third 5k split. I would have loved to use footage from the
third 5k split; however, this was the only decent footage I can find throughout the
entire half marathon. Looking at this footage, let's look at general parts of
his running, such as stride frequency which is the rate of steps he takes and
stride length. He presents with a solid cadence of 180 steps per minute. This is a
pretty quick rate of steps and is a common stride frequency for many elite
long-distance runners. What actually sets Kiptum apart from other elite
long-distance runners is his stride length. He presents with a long step length
as based off a few calculations, it seems to be around 2.03 meters. This is
comparable to Mo Farah, who is considered to have one of the longest
strides as well. This is obviously impacted by leg length, but this is also
attributed to leg mobility and power produced through those legs. Now, taking a
closer look at the legs when the foot hits the ground, he seems to be striking
around the mid-foot area. Landing around this area is pretty common in long
distance runners. Now let's take a look at the landing relative to the body.
Initially, it may seem like he is over striding because of the long stride he
has. Just a quick tip for anyone relatively new to my videos. Overstriding
is when someone takes too big of a step. This causes a bit of a braking
mechanism to occur during landing. Leading to wasted energy as well
as adding increased stress to the knee and ankle joints. Anyway, taking a closer
look at the landing, his foot still lands relatively close to the body center of
mass, which would be almost right under the hips. The landing is still slightly
farther from the body compared to the other long-distance runners we have
looked at before, but at the same time remember... he has long legs. Another way to
see whether he's over striding is looking at the shin angle. Typically,
during foot landing, the shin angle is perpendicular or slightly less in elite
long-distance runners. As you can see, this is the case for Kiptum as well.
Moving up to the hips, we will take a look at how much vertical movement is
going on as he runs. Compared to most long-distance runners, there is not much
vertical movement going on. This is showing efficiency as he's making sure
to have adequate amount of vertical force and is really maximizing force
directed forward. However, if we do compare this to my most recent breakdown,
which was Eliud Kipchoge breaking the marathon world record, you'll see that
Kiptum does have a bit more bounce. This is more possibly due to likelihood of
increased power generation through those legs as he's running at a faster pace.
This may also be due to running at a slightly slower cadence compared to
Kipchoge. A slower cadence typically causes increased vertical movement. Looking at
the trunk, you can see he has good postural alignment.
He keeps it in basically a straight line; however, he does present with a pretty
decent forward tilt especially for a long distance race. This tilt helps with
forward momentum as well as a improved force generation from the hips during
push off. Now looking at the body from the front, we will compare movement from
the right and left side of the body. Symmetry is very important for efficient
running. As you can see, even when going at a record-breaking pace, he is
maintaining symmetrical movement from the arms and legs as he runs. Now looking
at arm movement, he presents with a similar style like Eliud Kipchoge. He
keeps his arms high and close. He presents with mostly rotation in his arm
swing, but still not letting those arms cross mid line.
This helps on counteracting rotational forces from the legs, so we can maintain
a straight path toward the desired direction. Looking at the head movement,
he does look around throughout the race for situational awareness, but overall, he
presents with a neutral position of the head... basically looking straight forward. Doing
this helps maintain core stability which allows for maximized force generation
from the legs. And... that's it for the quick analysis on Abraham Kiptum! I hope
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