ORIGINAL ARTICLE  EXERCISE PHYSIOLOGY AND BIOMECHANICS 

The Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness 2021 September;61(9):1202-7

DOI: 10.23736/S0022-4707.20.11685-2

Copyright © 2020 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Correlations between jump measures and competitive performance remain stable over time in top-level sprinters

Irineu LOTURCO ^{1, 2, 3} ✉, Victor FERNANDES ¹, Daniel A. BOULLOSA ^{4, 5}, Felipe SIQUEIRA ⁶, Katsuhico NAKAYA ¹, Dayse CARRACO ¹, Valter P. REIS ¹, Lucas A. PEREIRA ^{1, 2}, Michael R. MCGUIGAN ^{7, 8}

¹ NAR - Nucleus of High Performance in Sport, Sao Paulo, Brazil; ² Department of Human Movement Sciences, Federal University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil; ³ University of South Wales, Pontypridd, UK; ⁴ INISA, Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul, Campo Grande, Brazil; ⁵ Department of Sports and Exercise Science, James Cook University, Townsville, Australia; ⁶ Pinheiros Sport Club, São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil; ⁷ Sports Performance Research Institute New Zealand (SPRINZ), Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand; ⁸ School of Medical and Health Sciences, Edith Cowan University, Perth, Australia

BACKGROUND: We examined the relationships between jump performance measures, sprint tests, and 100-m competition times in 11 top-level sprinters during two successive competitive 4-week mesocycles.
METHODS: Physical tests were performed 7-12 days before 3 sequential competitions. Sprinters completed standing long jump, squat and countermovement jumps, and 60-m sprint tests on each occasion. A repeated measures analysis of variance was used to compare the physical assessments and actual competition results among the three moments. A Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient was used to analyze the relationships between the multiple variables over the consecutive mesocycles. Significance level was set at P<0.05.
RESULTS: No significant differences were observed among the periods for any jump or sprint performance measure (ES ranging from 0.02 to 0.33; P>0.05). Very large to nearly perfect correlations were observed for all sprint and jump variables and 100-m dash times in the three moments analyzed (P<0.05).
CONCLUSIONS: Our data indicate that simple jump measures can be prospectively used to monitor sprint performance. Notably, the standing long jump test was the most consistently related to 100-m time. This simple strategy may help track and field coaches to better adjust the competitive approach of their sprinters, thus optimizing their peak performance.

KEY WORDS: Athletic performance; Track and Field; Muscle strenght; Athletes; Running