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Interesting article on the IAAF page (linked on home-page here). We had a thread before about his 'anomalous' OG marks, but his unorthodox start was also remarked upon. It is addressed here:
“What is this man doing”, was the criticism which Doucouré’s coach Renaud Longuèvre, used to regularly face. The answer he explains is quite straightforward, “with his long leg (98cm for a body height of 1.83m), Ladji has problems achieving efficient strides (out of the blocks) in the acceleration phase. Also, his back (right) leg used to bump against the ground when he took his first step. So we found a solution by straightening up his upper body. He also needed a visual indicator in order to adjust his 8 first steps and not hit the first hurdle.”
”However,” adds Longuèvre, “Ladji’s start technique fits the biomechanical criteria for efficiency as when he leaves the blocks, his ankle, knee, hips and shoulders are exactly in the same line. We just found another way to do it.”
“What is this man doing”, was the criticism which Doucouré’s coach Renaud Longuèvre, used to regularly face. The answer he explains is quite straightforward, “with his long leg (98cm for a body height of 1.83m), Ladji has problems achieving efficient strides (out of the blocks) in the acceleration phase. Also, his back (right) leg used to bump against the ground when he took his first step. So we found a solution by straightening up his upper body. He also needed a visual indicator in order to adjust his 8 first steps and not hit the first hurdle.”
”However,” adds Longuèvre, “Ladji’s start technique fits the biomechanical criteria for efficiency as when he leaves the blocks, his ankle, knee, hips and shoulders are exactly in the same line. We just found another way to do it.”
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