ORDER OF EVENTS
RUNNING EVENTS
4x800m. Relay
100/110m. Hurdles
100m. Dash
4x200m. Relay
1600m. Run
4x100m. Relay
400m. Dash
300m. Hurdles
800m. Dash
200m. Dash
3200m. Run
4x400m. Relay
FIELD EVENTS
(Order of Events Vary)
Long Jump
Shot Put
Javelin
Pole Vault
High Jump
Triple Jump
Discus
In this relay each of the four runners runs 800m. The 4 x 800m relay is primarily run as a high school event, but is an occasional college and international event. Unlike the other events the handoff is not crucial, just as long as the baton gets from runner to runner. It takes depth on a team to put together a good 4x800m relay. This event leads off each meet.
Modern sprint hurdlers are first of all sprinters. They must possess the characteristics of speed specialists - reflexes, power and strength. It is a question of sprinting through 10 hurdles - each 39 inches high - like a big cat, without seeming to break stride. The girls sprinters run hurdles at 100m. and at 36 inches height. Hurdlers must always search for a fluidity that is impaired neither by the aggression of the start, nor the need for rhythmic speed between hurdles, nor the act of hurdling. The motion of going over a hurdle requires a great amount of flexibility in the hamstrings, lower back, groin, and hips. Athletes with football, basketball, dancing or gymnastics backgrounds often make for good hurdlers.
The 100m is the classic sprints race distance. The reigning 100m world record holder is often named "the fastest man/woman in the world", and the 100m Olympic title is usually considered among the most prestigious. This 100m is the domain of absolute speed. Athletes of all builds can do well at this distance. Being fast means being able to transmit the orders needed for muscular contraction instantly from the brain. When the gun fires, athletes must react with adrenaline-charged urgency. The 100m demands exceptional reflexes at the start and great explosive power. In the first few strides sprinters must have perfect control of movement and balance without "tightening up". Then they must use their acceleration skills to reach top speed. Since it is difficult to maintain top speed after 6 to 7 seconds of effort, sprinters need strong muscles and relaxed technique. Maintaining the right balance between frequency and length of stride is the key to sprint technique.
This race is not a typical Collegiate or Olympic event, but it run as a regular high school event. Each runner runs 200m and the team must complete 2 laps of the track. While not as fast as the 4x100m relay, this realy still takes precision with baton passes and speed.
The 1600 meters (also referred to as the mile and the sister race of the 1500m) is the premier distance track event and one of the most prestigious Olympic events. The race is 4 laps around the track. The only place the 1600m is run is in U.S. high school meets. College meets and international meets run the 1500m (see video), which is also known in the US as "the metric mile". In this race the athlete must strike a balance between oxygen supply and oxygen debt. Here stamina begins to really count, but speed matters too, given the frequent participation of 800m specialists. The great 1500m pioneers never set themselves limits, and so they continually surpassed themselves. Tenacity, energy and mental strength are the principal generators of action. Sometimes they can produce enough spirit for a last-bend attack against someone you have never beaten before. Very often championship races become tactical races, with the runners shadowing each other and jockeying for position, and the race is decided in the last 100 meters making for an exciting finish that can hold surprises.
The 4x100m, which is run in lanes from start to finish, calls for the utmost precision, and at times juggling skills, for the baton must be handed over, at top speed, in a limited zone. This changover of the baton is usually completed in less than 3 seconds! Changes made outside the box mean disqualification while dropped batons and bungled exchanges can wreck the best teams. In this race, each of the four runners run 100m.
The toughest of all sprint events, the 400m can seem both short in time and long in distance. The 400m runner needs to be a courageous sprinter. Willpower battles against pain as muscles become ever-heavier at the end of a race. Alone in his lane, the athlete must start fast, at ninety per cent of maximum effort and control his pace so as not experience the figurative brick wall that awaits the presumptuous. After 30 to 35 seconds of fast running physiological realities – oxygen debt, lactic acid build-up in the muscles – intrude. The whole body can suffer. The 400m is a school of courage in which you learn to surpass yourself. 400m runners are traditionally divided into two groups, 200m/400m and 400m/800m types.
The distance of 300m is only run in U.S. high school meets. Collegiate and international meets run the 400m hurdles (see video). The 300m hurdler starts as a good 400m flat runner who is supple, has a good sense of rhythm as well as hurdling skill. Speed and strength alone are not enough. Negotiating 8 hurdles that are 36 inches high, in the harsh domain of the 300m demands smooth hurdling and control of stride patterns between hurdles. For the 300m hurdler, drilled rhythms and inspiration compete to govern running form. Like an explorer in unmapped territory, the 300m hurdler needs both mental and physical strength.
The 800 meters is the longest of the sprint events and is run over two laps of the track and has always been an Olympic event. It is the event where the demands of speed and speed-endurance converge. Here the athlete must challenge his rivals around two laps of the track: he sizes them up, comes into contact with them – clashing elbows are the norm here. Everyone, big or small, has a chance in this event, where anaerobic effort can unleash a final sprint to snatch victory. The 800m runner must embody boldness, strategy in movement, positional sense and anticipation. Together they can enable you to beat those stronger than yourself. It is a race steeped in romance, in which anything can happen, where the prolonged speed of the 400m meets the endurance of the 1500m. Why is the 800m considered a sprint? Because it is extremely difficult to be success in this event without a fast 400m team. Athletes who can't break 55 seconds in the 400m, will struggle to break 2:00 in the event. You can run a ton of mileage and it won't improve your 800m team. Improving speed will have a much greater impact towards event success.
This distance is similar to the ancient Greek sprint event the "stadion" (literally length of the stadium), but it derives from a mile-based distance, the furlong, or one-eighth of a mile. In the USA, the 200m was run in a straight line until around 1960. A curve was only included in Europe and at the Olympics, where the distance first appeared in 1900. The 200m specialist must combine the basic speed of the 100m sprinter with a running technique that allows her to cope with centrifugal forces when sprinting around the bend. The 200m takes speed beyond itself. Good distribution of effort and running the bend effectively are the keys to this sprint . Athletes must be just as aggressive as the 100m out of the start. The first 5-6 seconds of this race is vital to the "slingshot" effect. Strength is just as important as speed when the sprinter comes off of the curve to the home stretch.
The 3200 meter run, while considered middle distance in college and on the international level, is the longest regular distance that is run in high school. The closest event in college and pros is the 5000 meters (see video). Once again. like the 1600m, the 3200m is only run in U.S. high school. College and international races the 3200m as a Steeplechase which are 3000m in length, which is the metric equivalent. The 3200m is 8 laps around the track and requires excellent aerobic conditioning and mental focus. Here, runners with endurance take over from those with strength. The skill lies in keeping up a sustained pace for a long time, effortlessly. Pace is king, where the best keep their hearts beating under control. A long distance spirit is needed; you do not run these races without lengthy, painstaking preparation. Nevertheless, these events are not exclusive to those with the most endurance. Speed also has its place. At Olympics and world championship events this distance is raced as the steeplechase, with the next non-steeplechase event being the 5,000m run.
In this relay each of the four runners runs 400m. The 4x400m changeover is less dramatic than the other two sprint relays because of the slower speed. In this longer event tactical skill is more important, both from the runners, and from coaches who select which athlete to use on each leg. Most 400m relays are run in lanes until the exit from the first bend of the second leg (a line at the 300m marks the break point). Once the runners have broken from lanes the race resembles an 800m, but at much greater speed! This relay is highly entertaining for spectators and exhilarating for runners and is the last event of the meet, sometimes deciding the meet winner. Some people think this is the most exciting race.
Shot putters must be big, have strong arms and legs and natural speed. They must summon the dynamic power to propel a heavy, metal ball (12 lbs for boys and 8 lbs for women) as far as possible. Performance improvement will depend on improving this strength by various means, particularly weight lifting. Shot putters spin in a 7' diameter ring before sending their shot put into space.
The ancient Greeks have described this event better than any other. They used stone and then bronze disks between four and thirteen pounds in weight and 8" to 13" in diameter. The discus first appeared in the Ancient Games in 708 BC. In 1896 the discus was included in the revived Olympic Games in Athens. This ballet without music has fascinated since ancient times, when great sculptors used the discus thrower to symbolise athletics. The discus thrower must add a wide reach, speed on the turn and a sense of rhythm to the shot putter's sturdy skills. Success means taking advantage of the centrifugal force engendered by whirling inside a concrete circle 7' in diameter before a final energetic release. The whole body contributes to the action. The discus thrower is a dancer who performs the most complex and beautiful choreography in athletics. The boys disc weighs 1.6kg (3.5 lbs) and the girls weigh 1kg (2.2 lbs).
As an implement of war and hunting, javelin throwing began in prehistoric times. Along with the discus, the javelin was the second throwing event in the ancient Olympic pentathlon. Records from 708 BC show two javelin competition types co-existing: throwing at a target and throwing the javelin for distance. Unlike other throwing events, javelin allows the competitor to build speed over a considerable distance. In addition to the core and upper body strength necessary to deliver the implement, javelin throwers benefit from the agility and athleticism typically associated with running and jumping events. Thus, the athletes share more physical characteristics with sprinters than with others, although they still need the skill of heavier throwing athletes.
The long jump has been part of all sporting competitions since ancient times. It figured in the Games of 708 BC as part of the pentathlon: the jumper took his run-up holding a small weight in each hand which gave greater impetus. Here the athlete, who must first be a sprinter, uses speed as a means to fly through the air. Thanks to powerful legs and an elastic take-off foot (here relaxation counts) a long jumper transforms running movement into soaring flight. The event’s champions can fulfil Icarus's dream - with the aid of a mere run-up, they take off into a magic arc. The long jumper conquers an invisible barrier - distance.
The original triple jump as practiced by the Greeks was no more than three long jumps one after another. The Celts invented a style of three jumps in a continuous action and this was regulated at the end of the 19th century, first by the Irish and then by the Americans. Originally a hop-hop-jump, with the first two hops taken from the same foot, the triple jump became the hop-step-jump after 1900. Its complex technique - jumping while sprinting (same leg, then alternate leg) makes the triple jump is a combination of swiftness, power and coordination. The aim is to lose the minimum of speed and momentum during each phase. Athletes of any build can make their mark, provided they have strong joints and muscles of steel. Triple jumpers must know how to monitor their physical form all the time. The triple jump was long considered a refuge for the mediocre, but, thanks to superbly talented champions, it has won its spurs. In athletics, triple jumpers are the human kangaroos.
The high jumper must free the body’s mass from gravity’s fierce grip and send it vertically over a cross-bar - ever higher than imaginable limits. Here the athletes have to keep account of their build, of the length of their limbs, of run-up speed, of their ability to relax, of suppleness, of power and of coordination. They are geometricians of space who master supernatural arcs with explosive drive. The movements of each gigantic parabola must be controlled to the millimeter. Everything is linked as they accelerate towards lift-off. The high jumper challenges the infinities of space and gravity.
The pole vault, a jump for height achieved with the aid of a pole, demands a high jumper's skills of relaxation and coordination, a sprinter’s speed and a gymnast’s control. Every vault includes a fast run-up, a driving of the pole into the box, a catapaulting upwards of the athlete by the unbending pole, and an attempt to clear the bar. A pole vaulter must have very strong arms and shoulders, as well as boldness and a taste for risk. Vaulters are intrepid acrobats whose poles transform running speed into upward thrust to escape earth-binding gravity. They are truly astronauts of the stadium.