Everything you should know about hurdling

Hurdling is one of the athletics disciplines. It has a lasting history and seems to be a combination of running and jumping. This kind of sport requires a lot of physical effort and training. What else should you know about it?

The basics of hurdling

Hurdling is a sport that involves running at high speed while overcoming various obstacles. There are many distances, some of them are short and others are quite long. The distances are:

• 50 meters;
• 60 meters;
• 100 meters;
• 110 meters;
• 400 meters.

There are individual tracks for each sportsman. Several obstacles are situated throughout the distance. The distance between them is 9.14 meters for men and 8.5 meters for woman if the whole distance is not too long. The longer it is, the further the obstacles from each other. The height of the obstacles varies from 90 to 100 centimeters for men. As for women, they have to jump over the obstacles that are 70-84 centimeters high. When hurdling, in is important to do one’s best not to knock over any hurdles. Of course you will not be disqualified in case it happens, but such an accident might lead to losing the race. Yet, there is a detail that must be mentioned: a sportsman will not be disqualified if the hurdle is knocked over by accident. If it is done intentionally, or if an athlete passes under the obstacle, he or she will not be allowed to keep competing.

There is a variation of hurdling, which is called shuttle hurdle relay racing. This sport involves several teams consisting of four hurdlers. Each of them has to run in the opposite direction from the athlete who covered the distance before them. Usually the length of the race for men is 4*110 meters, while for women it is only 4-100 meters. There may be up to 4 teams due to the limited amount of lanes. Two of them are taken by one team. The first athlete runs in one direction, the second one has to run in the opposite direction (he or she runs on the next lane), then the third athlete covers the distance on the same lane and in the same direction as the first sportsman. THe fourth sportsman repeats everything after the second one. To begin one’s race, athletes wait for their teammates to get to certain points marked before the beginning of the race.

The technique

Since the distances in this discipline are not too long, it is very important not to lose speed when overcoming the hurdles. Many sportsmen rely on the speed they can reach. Yet, there are many important aspects that can affect the success of the athlete. Jumping is not the best idea because it can slow you down, so it is necessary to kind of step over the hurdles.

Start

The competition starts when athletes occupy a position known as ‘low start’. They have special equipment to push themselves and reach high speed as soon as possible. After the starting signal, they make 3-4 steps, straighten their back and bend forward a little bit. This stage lasts till the first hurdle.

The first obstacle

The purpose of hurdling is to move as fast as possible, the height of the jumps does not matter so much. The first hurdle is the most important as it serves as a base for the rest of the distance. This stage comprises three steps. The first one involves raising one leg when it is bent. Then it is necessary to straighten it and push with another leg. At this point, this leg must rise even more and then rapidly go down. The landing means that this leg touches the ground at approximately 130 centimeters from the hurdle.

The distance

After overcoming the first hurdle, it is necessary to keep running at high speed for the rest of the race. Since there will be more hurdles, it is important to follow a certain sequence of steps when approaching the closest one. At first, it is necessary to make a short step. The next one must be as wide as possible. The last one should be a little bit shorter than the previous one. This will help to prevent the sportsman from losing the speed before the jump.

Finish

The last stage of the race is crossing the finish line. Two ways of approaching it exist. The first one is done with the help of one’s chest, when the athlete bends one’s back and thus touches the line with his chest first. Another one is concerned with turning one’s body. In this case, the athlete touches the line with his or her shoulder.

Training

Hurdling is a type of sport that is considered to be one of the hardest disciplines in athletics. Many skills are needed to win the race, including the ability to jump and reach high speed. In addition, endurance and leg strength come in useful. Taking into consideration all the skills athletes must possess, it is necessary to make the training process effective by combining different types of working-out.

First of all, endurance is crucial. To improve it, it is advisable to practice jogging or swimming. Secondly, the pushing force can be enhanced by jumping, squatting or running with additional weights. Finally, the ability to reach high speeds very fast is the key to success, which is why practicing sprinting while training is useful. To overcome the hurdles successfully, it is paramount to improve the hurdling technique in general by practicing on a regular basis.

History

This type of running appeared in England. Back in the 19th century, shepherds competed against each other. The purpose of their competitions was to jump over the paddocks. For the next few years, new types of obstacles were created. For example, some of them resembled the letter ‘T’, others were similar to the letter ‘L’. The ‘L’ type was safer because it was more stable and, thus, could not injure athletes. In 1886, this discipline became an Olympic sport. Only men could compete in the competition then. Only in 1920s, women were allowed to participate in the Olympics as well.

All in all, hurdling is a stunning sport that is harder than it seems due to many peculiarities of the running technique and the difficulties in training. Still, it is very popular among athletes worldwide.