The mathematical model that will make 400m and 1500 runners run faster is being developed

Scientists Antoine Le Hyaric, Amandine Aftalion and Brian Hanley according to their published study, are developing a mathematical model that promises to optimise 400m and 1,500m running performance using high-resolution data.

This study aims to model men's and women's 400 m and 1,500 m championship performances to gain a deeper understanding of the key mechanical and physiological factors affecting running speed and bend running using high-resolution data from live competition.

The scientists used modelling and simulation to analyse the athletic performances of the European Athletics champions in the 400m metres, such as Matthew Hudson-Smith and world indoor 400m record holder Femke Bol for men and women respectively.

They also looked at the performances of Norwegian Olympic 1,500 m champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen, and Gaia Sabbatini, the European Athletics U23 women's 1,500m champion.

Using GPS sensors placed under the athletes' jerseys, the researchers accurately tracked each athlete's speed and position, updating their location ten times per second.

They used chips with IsoLynx technology during the 2022 European Athletics Championships in Munich, Germany, and the 2021 European Athletics U23 Championships in Tallinn, Estonia.

This advanced system, known as the IsoLynx Real-Time Location System (RTLS), uses wireless athlete tags embedded in the number bibs to collect real-time data during races, such as speed, acceleration, and distance covered.

A mathematical model has been fitted to this speed data for each selected athlete. This model enables predictive simulations and analysis of the impact of various physiological factors on performance.

It predicts important variables such as anaerobic reserve (muscle energy stored for intense, short-duration activity when oxygen supply is limited) reserve and peak aerobic value (maximum oxygen consumption during intense exercise). This modelled data can be adjusted to understand the effects of individual variables by changing their values.

"We wanted to understand what happens at the physiological level during 400 metres, which is a sprint, and 1,500 metres, which is the first endurance race," Amandine Aftalion, one of the researchers involved in the study published in the journal Frontiers in Sports and Active Living, told AFP.

The simulations clarified how Ingebrigtsen's ability to quickly reach and maintain maximal oxygen consumption "allows him to run at a faster pace than his competitors throughout the race, even though we see him start less strongly," Aftalion said.

The model could lead to performance-enhancing software that would allow coaches to "refine the race strategy based on the runner's physiological profile," he concluded.