Athletics (British Sports Library)

92 ATHLETICS record holder for lOO Yards in 9 1 7 0 seconds, also Olympic and World's 400 Metres record holder, 47-f seconds), were none of them real big 'uns. In this connection it is significant that although Liddell in 1923 won the English lOO Yards Cham– pionship in 9 1 7 0 seconds and the 220 Yards in 21 f seconds, he failed to reproduce his real sprint form in the Championships of 1924, but won the Quarter Mile in 49-f seconds, subsequently establish– ing the Olympic record already referred . to. It must be remembered that Liddell was not going for the lOO Metres sprint at Paris, and therefore concentrated his attention upon training for the longer distance. This seems to bear our Mr. Mussa– bini's contention that " to the first-class sprinter there is nothing more likely to take the fine edge off his speed than a term of quarter-mile training." A careful collation of statistics seems to prove that the first-class quarter-miler should be some– thing over 5 feet 8 inches in height, powerfully built, and able to go bang through the worsted at the end of a hard race without ever having diminished his speed from start to finish. Liddell at Paris did something more than this. In the final of the 400 Metres he went at what looked like absolutely top speed from · the crack of the pistol, and yet altered his action coming into the home straight