BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article
Front. Sports Act. Living
Sec. Elite Sports and Performance Enhancement
Volume 7 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fspor.2025.1672028
Comparison of Lower-Body Neuromuscular Performance Profiles Between 100m and 400m Olympic Sprinters
Provisionally accepted
- 1The University of Kansas, Lawrence, United States
- 2Uniwersytet Kazimierza Wielkiego w Bydgoszczy, Bydgoszcz, Poland
- 3Univerzitet Singidunum, Belgrade, Serbia
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The purpose of the present study was to examine and compare the lower-body neuromuscular performance characteristics of Olympic-level 100m and 400m sprinters. Following a standardized warm-up procedure, fourteen professional female athletes completed three countermovement vertical jumps with no arm swing, while standing on a uni-axial force plate system sampling at 1000 Hz. Force-time metrics, expressed both in absolute (A) and relative (R) terms, were analyzed across braking (eccentric) and propulsive (concentric) phases of the jumping motion, including inter-limb asymmetry measures. Independent t-tests or Mann-Whitney U tests were used to examine between-group statistically significant differences (p<0.05). The results reveal that 100m sprinters tend to display greater force and power-producing capabilities than their 400m counterparts. Specifically, average braking power (A: 1212.3 vs. 1052.9 W), average propulsive power (A: 2343.8 vs. 2026.9 W), peak propulsive power (A: 4030.1 vs. 3503.5 W; R: 64.1 vs. 59.4 W×kg-1), average propulsive velocity (1.79 vs. 1.69 m×s-1), peak propulsive velocity (3.13 vs. 2.93 m×s-1), and jump height (47.8 vs. 41.4 cm) were all greater in 100m than 400m sprinters. In addition, average and peak braking and propulsive force inter-limb asymmetries remained below 10% in both groups, with no significant differences being observed. Therefore, these findings suggest that 100m sprinters may benefit from training regimens focused on the development of force and power-producing capabilities, particularly through exercises that enhance the propulsive (concentric) phase of the movement, while 400 m sprinters may benefit from a more integrated training approach, focused on balancing speed development with strength-endurance components.
Keywords: Vertical jump, Sprinting, Force plates, asymmetry, female, eccentric, concentric
Received: 23 Jul 2025; Accepted: 19 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Cabarkapa, Batra, Cabarkapa and Fry. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Dimitrije Cabarkapa, The University of Kansas, Lawrence, United States
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