Does Height Effect Running Speed?

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Does Height Effect Running Speed?

4 Answers

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Answer 1

Normally it does, I've been an active runner for 3 years now since I've been in the army. Usually taller people can get more out of running because they have a longer stride. But if you don't have the proper breath control your not going to get far, doesn't matter how tall you are. Then again I've known short people who way 140 soaking wet and are a good 5 ft nothing that can run 11 minute 2 miles. It all depends on the person you are I guess. But normally taller people can run quicker.

Answer 2

The longer the leg the more stride and ground that is gained making the same effort in comparison. If you take a small wheel and roll it along side of a bigger wheel what is going to happen? How much more does the small wheel have to turn to accomplish covering the same ground as the big wheel taking only a few turns.

Answer 3

Most sprinters are TALL!!!
Over 6 foot but they are not all huge. You don't have to be tall to be
good at sprinting but you do to break a world record. For example, both
a tall and short man possess the same leg speed but the taller guy
would have a much greater leg span which would win him the race. So the
smaller guy would have to do twice the amount of work. So height has a great effect on how one runs

Answer 4

It depends. If you look at track and field, most of the athletes are around 5'9-5'10ish. In distance running, the athletes can be and typically are shorter than that. There are always exceptions though. Think Usain Bolt. He's 6'5. Craig Mottram and Matt Tegenkamp are both distance runners and 6'2. Mottram, slightly taller, is known as the Big Mazungo (Big White Man in swahili). In general, the extremes are worse at running and the norm is better. Hope that helps.