Athletes in Action

HIGH HURDLES (6) THE landing position is sho\\'n in Fig. 6. It will be observed that, although the athlete has not committed the fault of letting his heel actually touch the cinders, he is not quite as well up on his toes as he should be, nor has he landed as close to the hurdle as perfect left-arm action and a more powerful snap-down of the leading leg would have allo·wed him to do. The strong perpendicular column of the left leg, however, is notable, because the position of that leg proYides a perfect fulcrum for the forward swing of the body to com- plete the first stride after landing. The left arm should certainly be lower and it may be thought that the right elbow might have been carried a little further back. The forward body-lean at the true sprinting angle is, however, admirable and, again, the high pick-up action of the knee of the right (rear) leg is certainly noteworthy. Before the next stride forward after landing is made by the right leg, the right knee will complete the rotary swing, thus rising up to the point of the right ~houlder, so that the lower leg hangs down vertically below the knee, \' 1 ..'hen the right foot will be directed downwards and the knee straight to the front. One excellent point about Fig. 6 is the placing down of the left foot, at the completion of hurdle clearance, with the toes pointed straight to the front. So many hurdlers put down the leading foot with the toes turned outwards, which means that they lose time by swaying the body to the side to which the toes are pointing. ......, l