by Dr John Kelley and Dr Ben Heller Athletics, or Track and Field, is the poster-sport of the Olympic Games. There are many running disciplines – sprints, middle distance, long distance, track, road, cross country and even hurdles. There’s a steady, if not prolific, grass roots structure for competitive clubs, but perhaps the most likely […]
International collaboration is important to widen opportunities for research, to work collaborative on research and on innovation and to share good practice. Since 2019 Sheffield Hallam University has a strategic partnership with La Trobe University, and, as part of this, funds three PhDs per year. I am part of this PhD programme – I am […]
This week saw the 19th anniversary of parkrun! On Saturday 2nd October 2004, 13 people turned up at Bushy Park in London to complete the very first parkrun. Step forward to last weekend and almost 300,000 individuals completed a parkrun or junior parkrun at almost over 2450 events worldwide, whilst being supported by more than […]
The marathon event, is the longest running event held at the Olympic Games, where competitors race over a distance of 42.195 km (26.219 miles) on a set road course. The marathon distance became standardised in 1921 but a version of the marathon event was held at the first modern Olympic Games in 1896. The women’s marathon […]
Blink and you’ll miss it The next question in our Ask a sports engineer series is: Are sports getting too fast to view? With the constant pushing of boundaries by athlete’s and the wider availability of sports scientists and top coaches many sporting events are becoming more and more closely fought, by a greater number […]
In my previous article I examined how quickly Usain Bolt completes his 100 m race, and the difference between his maximum and average running speed. We found that Usain Bolt is the fastest man in the 100 metres, but how fast is he compared to other athletes in other running events or even other athletic […]
Introduction Four years ago Usain Bolt from Jamaica was pretty much unknown, but since then he has become, arguably, the most famous athlete in the world. In 2010 I wrote an article attempting to predict how far he would jump in the long jump. The fame surrounding Bolt is so great that this article quickly […]
Continuing with our guest blog submissions, we’ve got a great new post looking at the minimalist running shoe craze. As most runners are probably aware, minimalist shoes are currently all the rage. Proponents of these shoes believe that they are beneficial for both performance and health. Opponents, on the other hand, contend that these shoes […]
Over the past couple of years I have been quite busy speaking about the role of technology in disability sport at numerous science festivals and conferences. South Africa’s ground breaking decision to select the bi-lateral amputee, Oscar Pistorius, to compete at the IAAF World Championships in South Korea has prompted me to finally write a […]
What do physicists think about when they’re running? I’m currently training for my first marathon (gulp) which gives me a lot of time to think. Running around Sheffield, most of the time I think about how unfair it is that there is another hill and wonder why it is that the wind is always against […]
Engineering Sport 