I actually see two heelstrikers in the top 10 (Braun and Mack), but that’s splitting hairs and I don’t believe it’s one of the more important things to pull from this discussion.

Back in 2011, I remember seeing a lot of comments post-Boston about how Kilel, a forefoot striker, beat Davila, a heelstriker. Yet everyone seemed to ignore the fact that Davila beat every single female midfoot striker and all but one forefoot striker. I think it’s important to remember that these runners are all the cream of the crop. The biggest thing that I’m noticing are a variety of footstrikes among the top 10K runners in the nation. As 10K guys, I think it’s safe to say that these athletes are mixing high volume with intense track workouts, which should force them to develop an extremely efficient stride.

Great video! I’d say that’s ding everything you possibly can to reach that finishline first – definitely not the form she’d use for the entire race. Painful to watch Lucas though, she had nothing left.

—-
Pete Larson’s Web Links:
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-rovatti

Wrote an entire chapter on the overpronation issue in my book – I’m not a big believer in the idea that controlling “overpronation” should be a major factor in choosing a shoe.

—-
Pete Larson’s Web Links:
My book: Tread Lightly – http://ow.ly/bdUO0
Work: http://www.anselm.edu/internet…
Blog: https://runblogger.com
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Like I wrote in the blog of Brian, it’s interesting to see that for male, in the first half, there is a lot
less heel striker (2) compare to the last half (6)… (same tendency for
female)… more your are in back of the pack, more we observe “more rear
foot striker (more positive angle between the foot and the ground) ”

Are they “more heel striker” juste because they run slower? … or, they run slower because they are less efficient?

Blaise

I’d put it this way. The runners have adapted to the way they habitually run. Each individual probably has the potential to run in many different styles but they do settle on a dominant one. It’s not necessarily the most efficient as other motivators could be compensation for a prior injury, muscular imbalances, and footwear choice. I’d rather have my calves bearing the load than my shins. The shin muscles are much smaller and the risk of anterior tibial stress fracture scares me. It’s easier to massage and roll out calf muscles than shin muscles. There’s the risk of Achilles problems, but I’m mindful about my form and I massage the knots out of my calves if any develop.

Ditto that. Would love to see hip down. Here’s some stuff that may be of interest:

Hunter also got full body shots of the women’s 800:http://biomechanics.byu.edu/w8…
More forefoot striking as we approach a sprint, versus the 10,000. That’s in line with what I’ve been guessing based on my own stride and the strides of other people I’ve observed. More importantly, they’re all landing slightly ahead of their COG, with a bent knee and a close to perpendicular tibia. No surprises there.

Women’s 5000, skip to 4:22, there are two slo-mo replays:
http://www.nbcolympics.com/vid…

Watch D’Agostino (Dartmouth, in green), who I believe is known for her kick, and who made up a ton of ground on Lucas in the last 200m. Looong stride in those final steps. Could not tell you whether that’s her normal kick or if she’s just straining at the finish, but wow. Overstriding? By what most of us have assumed was the appearance of an overstride, I’d guess yes, and I would assume that if she did all of her running (rather than just her kicking) with that stride length, she’d be in trouble. But by the “ideal stride length for a given speed is whatever is most efficient, and anything smaller or larger is under/overstriding,” I don’t know. Can we really assume that a kicker hasn’t figured out their most efficient stride length for their kick? What’s your take?

I would agree with that for the most part, there are some issues that foot strike can have bearing on though, and extremes in either direction are probably problematic. But, I think overstriding is the bigger issue for most. There is likely some correlation between stride length and foot strike too, important to keep that in mind.

—-
Pete Larson’s Web Links:
My book: Tread Lightly – http://ow.ly/bdUO0
Work: http://www.anselm.edu/internet…
Blog: https://runblogger.com
Dailymile Profile: http://www.dailymile.com/peopl…
Twitter: http://twitter.com/oblinkin

Well put!

—-
Pete Larson’s Web Links:
My book: Tread Lightly – http://ow.ly/bdUO0
Work: http://www.anselm.edu/internet…
Blog: https://runblogger.com
Dailymile Profile: http://www.dailymile.com/peopl…
Twitter: http://twitter.com/oblinkin

The majority of the runners appear to be leading with their heels as well. It would be cool to see a long series of one runners striking patterns to see how consistent they are.