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How Much Can You Improve After High School?

You are here: Home / Coaching / How Much Can You Improve After High School?
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December 12, 2014 by Jimson Lee Leave a Comment

In my previous article Why Usain Bolt is so Dominant (and Tyson Gay, too), I outlined how Usain Bolt’s top speed at 60-80m is over 3 percent faster than Ben Johnson or Mo Greene.  That’s quite a bit considering less than 1 percent makes a difference between 1st and 4th.

The other article How Long Does it Take to be a World Class Sprinter? outlined how you can reach World Class anywhere from 1 to 6 years after you demonstrate sprint speed at a younger age.

So we know when but how much better can you perform?

Sure, there are Outliers, but I am trying to get a general average.

How Much Can You Improve After High School?

If you have time, read You can’t teach speed: sprinters falsify the deliberate practice model of expertise by Michael P. Lombardo and Robert O. Deaner.

As you can see from the chart below, the percentage increase varies from 1 to 5 percent, with about three percent being the norm.

Conclusion?

Unless your kids have a disposition to endurance or aerobic sports, make sure your they are involved in a program that involves speed, power and strength.  Then those attributes can be translated to any sport, be it Track & Field, or any other high paid team sport.

Histories of the 20 fastest male American 100m sprinters.

Ranking of sprinters and fastest 100 m times at age 19 and older obtained from U.S.A. Track and Field (http://www.usatf.org) and I.A.A.F. (http://www.iaaf.org) performance data.

Rank Name Year of
Birth
Age when
superior sprinting
speed first
recog-nized
Age at start
of DPc
Fastest time
at age 19
Fastest
time
Percent
improve-
menta
Years from
start of DP
to world
class statusb
Reference
1 T. Gay 1982 13 13 10.27 9.69 5.64 9 Maloney (2007), Hendershott (2007)
2 M. Greene 1974 8 8 10.19 9.79 3.93 13 Layden (1997), Hendershott (2000), Deford (2001)
3 L. Burrell 1967 14 14 10.46 9.85 5.83 7 Hollobaugh (1991), Nooden (1991)
4 J. Gatlin 1982 14 14 10.08 9.85 2.28 6 Hendershott (2005), Layden (2004)
5 C. Lewisd 1961 NAe NA 10.00 9.86 1.40 NA Lewis & Marx (1990), Hurst (1994), Gleason (1980), Hendershott (1989)
6 S. Crawford 1978 12 12 10.51 9.88 5.99 11 Denman (2006)
7 W. Dix 1986 9 14 10.06 9.88 1.79 4 Landman (2008)
8 R. Bailey 1989 15 15 10.28 9.88 3.89 5 Binder (2012)
9 T. Padgett 1986 NA NA 10.00 9.89 1.10 NA Clemson University (2014)
10 D. Patton 1977 NA NA NA 9.89 NA NA Patton (2014)
11 D. Mitchell 1966 6 6 10.21 9.91 2.94 15 Hendershott (1994a), USATF (2000)
12 L. Scott 1980 NA NA 10.29 9.91 3.69 NA USATF (2008)
13 A. Cason 1969 NA NA 10.08 9.92 1.59 NA Hendershott (1994b), IAAF (2014)
14 J. Drummond 1968 9 9 10.25 9.92 3.22 14 Weiss (1991), Reid (1999)
15 T. Montgomery 1975 NA NA 10.11 9.92 1.88 NA Hendershott (2002), Abrahamson (2003), Fish (2009)
16 T. Harden 1974 NA NA 10.32 9.92 3.88 NA USATF (2001)
17 C. Smith 1961 NA NA 10.17 9.93 2.36 NA Martin (1980), Lee (1987)
18 M. Marsh 1967 11 11 10.22 9.93 2.84 8 Hendershott (1993), USATF (1997)
19 I. Williams 1985 16 16 10.29 9.93 3.50 7 Ainsworth (2012)
20 B. Williams 1978 16 16 10.45 9.94 4.88 4 Satterfield (1997), Korth (2000)
See also  Inside the Training with HSI - Part 2
Source: 10.7717/peerj.445/table-2

Notes:

a-Percent improvement = 1 ? (fastest 100 m–100 m time at age 19) × 100.
b-World class status defined as either (1) representing the U.S.A. at international championships (e.g., Pan American Games, World Championships, Olympic Games) in an individual sprint event or as a member of a relay team or (2) participating in the U.S. Olympic Trials which requires the athlete to meet Olympic A or B standards to qualify to compete at the Trials.
c-DP = deliberate practice.
d-C. Lewis was the 5th ranked long jumper in the world and 2nd ranked long jumper in the U.S.A. by the age of 18.
e-NA = no data/information available.

Category iconCoaching,  Track & Field

About Jimson Lee

I am a Masters Athlete and Coach currently based in London UK. My other projects include the Bud Winter Foundation, writer for the IAAF New Studies in Athletics Journal (NSA) and a member of the Track & Field Writers of America.

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