Photo Finish–The Last 10 meters, Drive, Relax, and Dip

This past weekend’s highlight reel had a lot of good footage to show athletes the importance of the last 10 meters.

That is, drive for the tape, stay relaxed, prevent further deceleration (where humanly possible!), and dip at the right time.

When the race is 100m, you run for 100m, and every step or phase is important. One bad phase can affect the next phase, and the final 10 meters is just as important as your first 7 steps out of the blocks (otherwise known as the Drive phase).

Here are 3 videos, and they are entertaining for the armchair coach as well as great lessons for your athletes.

For more articles on great photo finishes, and the importance of leaning, see:

Ngonidzashe Makusha 9.89 (+1.3 m/s) 100 meters

I love the way Ngonidzashe Makusha kept his composure throughout the race, and it wasn’t until the last 10 meters where victory was certain. His last 10 meters was flawless, and you would expect that kind of speed endurance from a 200m sprinter. In fact, Ngonidzashe Makusha won the long jump earlier in the meet. Do I see similarities in Jesse Owens or Carl Lewis here?

9.89 is a great run under less-than-ideal and wet conditions.

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Kirani James 45.10 400m in Lane 8

Like Lane 1 for the 200 meters, lane 8 for the 400 meters is the least favorite lane draw. Kirani James was the favorite as last year’s winner (you can see his indoor 44.80 here, and his fall at the NCAA indoor Championships here) but he didn’t run fast enough to get the preferential lanes 3-4-5-6.

In the video, 5 guys were still in contention in the last 20 meters, and an epic battle between lane 7 and 8 is one to remember. This is how you run the 400 meters. All guts, no glory.

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Tyson Gay’s loss in the New York DL 100 meters

I think Tyson Gay could have won the race, but a careful replay analysis showed he dipped for the finish line too early. Mind you, he is running at over 12 meters per second, and trying to multitask is no easy task. (I’ll bet some sprinters can send a text message one-handed without looking at the keypad while running!)

I’m not showing this video to discredit Tyson, I just want to point out the important of leaning for the finish line.

Inches matter. If you don’t believe me, check your SPAM folder.

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