Individual characteristics of the long jump takeoff technique among highly skilled athletes

Abstract

At the current stage of athletic development, technical training within a long-term development program must be based on clearly defined reference parameters for technical movements and the athletes' level of physical fitness. Determining the biomechanical characteristics and criteria of technical proficiency in elite athletes makes it possible to optimize the training process, taking into account the individual characteristics of their long jump technique and their competitive results. This approach ensures the development of effective models for the individual technical training of elite athletes. Objective: The aim is to improve the technical proficiency of elite track and field athletes by establishing clear requirements for the individualisation of technical training for highly skilled long jumpers, taking into account the specific features of take-off technique and identifying the key components of technical readiness. Material and methods: To achieve our objectives and address the tasks set, we employed the following methods: theoretical: analysis of specialist scientific and methodological literature and online databases; instrumental: for quantitative and qualitative biomechanical analysis of the running long jump technique, a measurement study was conducted experiment was conducted using video recording followed by analysis of movements on a video computer analyser. Qualified athletes (n=32) took part in the experiment; methods of statistical data processing: descriptive statistics, parametric criteria, correlation analysis. Results. As a result of the correlation analysis, it was found that in order to achieve high sports results in the long jump from a running start, out of 58 biomechanical characteristics of the technique, it is necessary to take into account the following most important indicators: speed of departure of the general center of mass of the body (GCMB), m·s-1; horizontal and vertical components of the speed of run-up, m·s-1; angle of departure of GCMB, degree; minimum angle of bending of the knee joint of the supporting leg in the push-off phase, degree; angle of push-off, degree; length of the last three steps of the run-up, m; position of the GCMB of the athletes during push-off, m; duration of the push-off phase, s. Conclusions. The improvement of sports and technical skills of athletes is accompanied by changes in the individual characteristics of push-off movement patterns, which represents its most essential feature. As athletes’ qualification improves, significant changes occur in the key indicators of push-off technique that have the greatest influence on sporting results.