: Thu Aug 20, 2009 11:54 pm
His height is the key. Not many at 6'5" can get their legs moving at the pace of smaller sprinters. Put it this way, my team has a player at 6'8". He's not a 'fast' runner, but bloody hell he's hard to catch at full stride simply because each stride covers half the pitch.
A quick google tells me that Bolt takes 40 to 41 strides for the 100m (a 2.5m stride), whereas Walter Dix, the bronze medallist at the Olympics, takes 47 (a 2.1m stride).
Bolt also runs with up to a 114° stride angle, against other sprinters with around 106°. So not only does he have longer legs, a longer stride, take less strides to finish, and run with a bigger stride angle, he can move his legs bloody fast for a big 'un.
What's scary is that his technique in general is awful, and he's a lazy runner (though he did seem to go flat out in the 200m). I wouldn't be surprised to see him smash the 100m further.
