Athletics (British Sports Library)

SPRINTING 37 split up, especially from the crutch to the knee, and he must have a high instep. If he has all these attributes and can, by practice, acquire general looseness, then he is the natural sprinter who only needs turning into a real champion. Speaking broadly, there are only two styles of sprinting. The one that makes for looseness and a full stride has as its chief factor the cross-arm swing during the race, and a final going down to the tape. It was on this plan that Mr. Mussabini built up W. R. Applegarth and H. F. V. Edward into world beaters, and it is significant also that when he took over H. M. Abrahams, modified his - style, and taught him his particular creation in the way of finishing, that Abrah.ams, at the Paris Olympiad, beat the record-breaking Charles Paddock of America, who favours what is some– times styled the " dusting " method, and of which more will be said presently. In the cross-arm style the hands are carried low, the shoulders pitched perceptibly but slightly forward, while the feet, working on the smallest possible portion of the sole of the shoe, strike the track directly under the body and as lightly as possible in a bounding stride. Every part of the anatomy works loosely. The legs are controlled by the arms, and they in turn are actuated from the shoulders.