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Aim. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between strength - power parameters and sprint performance and to predict sprint times from strength - power parameters.
Methods. Twenty-five male young sprinters participated in this study. Squat jump(SJ), counter-movement jump (CMJ), drop jump height (DJH), repeated jump(RJ) and 100m sprint time from block start, including reaction time (RT) and times at 10m, 30m and 60m were measured. Reactive strength index (RSI), the difference between counter-movement and squat jump (CMJ-SJ) and the mean velocities of the intermediate sections 0-10m, 10-30m, 30-60m, 60-100 m (V0-10, V10-30, V30-60 and V60-100) were also calculated.
Results. The canonical correlation analysis with strength - power parameters as predictors and reaction time and mean velocities as dependent variables revealed two canonical variables that explained 89.6% of the total variance. The first canonical variable (R=0.840) explained the association between SJ, RJ, DJH, RSI and all mean velocities. The second canonical variable (R=0.707) had only one predictor, CMJ-SJ, and loaded only on RT. Stepwise multiple regression analysis confirmed that RT depends only on CMJ-SJ. V0-10 depends on both DJ and SJ, while V10-30 depends only on SJ. Finally, V30-60 and V60-100 are primarily dependent on RSI. Multiple regression analysis of the 100m sprint time revealed that 46.5% of the variability could be explained by the variability of the strength- power predictors.
Conclusion. Performance at 100m sprint is strongly associated with strength- power parameters. The best predictor of the overall performance is probably SJ (or CMJ).
KEY WORDS: Reaction time - Athletic performance - Muscle strength.
Running speed over short distances is a fundamental quality, necessary in various sports. Especially the 100 m sprint is one of the most exciting Track and Field events and the winner of the event earns the title of the fastest human. A successful sprinter has to "react quickly (reflex speed), accelerate for as long as possible (power), reach the highest possible running speed (maximum velocity), maintain this for as long as possible (maximum speed endurance) and minimize the loss of velocity caused by fatigue (submaximal speed endurance)".1 The sprint kinematics of the 100m race can be divided into the following phases: acceleration, maximal velocity, and deceleration which are generally accepted as the determinants of the velocity...