Why are athletes advised to come to stop slowly after finish

[Guest]

hello, i need this question answered for a project work. i can't seem to find an answer anywhere else (or maybe i just didn't search hard enough). could anyone help me, i'm stuck at this one. i suppose they're advised to come to stop slowly to prevent strains happening, but i'm not sure.

Why are athletes advised to come to stop slowly after finishing the race?

-ch
thanks in advance

[joel]

Re: Why are athletes advised to come to stop slowly after fi

If you're coming off a full sprint then you are pushing down and/or back with your foot. To stop quickly, you would have to change your direction of force to pushing forward. This will cause a lot of impact in your heel, knee, and hip. Also, the leg muscles will be very fatigued at the end of a race, and to suddenly ask them to work in the opposite direction at a high intensity is understandably risky.

[Guest]

Re: Why are athletes advised to come to stop slowly after fi

thanks! are there any more reasons?

[gh]

Re: Why are athletes advised to come to stop slowly after fi

Joel's answer is basically as I learned the concept decades ago. But when I watch modern sprinters (particularly indoors) frequently brake to a stop in a very-very short space I have to wonder if the thinking isn't outdated?

Given the amount of weight training modern sprinters do, suspect the forces which this would exert on the whole leg structure are minimal compared to doing full squats with double your body weight.

And while I've seen countless dozens of sprinters pull up innjured DURING races, I don't recall ever seeing a single one get hurt after the finish line. Maybe the proscription against rapid decelleration never held water to begin with?