Fastest Short Track Start??
December 1, 2011 • Posted by Tom in Blog •We all know the importance of a fast start in a 500m and also increasingly in the latter rounds of the 1000m but which style is fastest? The recent article below by Canadian coach Sue Ellis is one of the best out there! Just remember the fastest way is the one that feels natural but you can always work on that in the off season!
The Tip Over Toe Start
By Susan Ellis
The tip over toe start has been around for a while and has been used very effectively by many top athletes such as Mark Gagnon, Francois Louis Tremblay, and Katherine Ruetter, just to name a few.
I noticed that at this year’s World Cup there were many more athletes starting to use it. The tip over can be a very fast start if done correctly.
The goal of the tip over toe start is to allow the body to tip forward to an extreme angle and then launch your body further by pushing off the toe of the front skate. The set up position and the biomechanics of the first step are completely different than a traditional start where the propulsion comes solely from the back skate. The start has the potential to deliver much more hip drive than a traditional start as the hips are already well in front of the back skate in the set up. This allows the hips to engage right from the gun. In a traditional start the chest has a tendency to pop up which sacrifices forward momentum. With the extreme lean angle of the tip over start it is easier to keep the chest down and the momentum propelling forward. (To view the whole article with video click here)