Whilst the 100 metre sprint is often seen as the blue riband event for most outdoor track and field meets, the 60 metre sprint can be considered as its counterpart for indoor competitions, with the 6-7 seconds of intense action never failing to attract the eyes of huge crowds.
History
Many may be unaware that in addition to the 100 metre, the men’s 60 metre sprint was in fact contested at both the 1900 and 1904 Olympic Games in Paris and St. Louis, as well. With Americans Alvin Kraenzlein and later Archie Hahn taking home gold on both occasions, and both of which running a time of 7.0 seconds.
After being removed from the Olympic programme, the 60 metre sprint’s next appearance in a major championship programme was at the 1966 European indoor games, held in West Germany. On this occasion, Britain’s Barrie Kelly won the men’s event in a time of 6.6seconds, with Margit Nemesházi, of Hungary, winning the women’s in 7.3seconds. The European Indoor Games were held every year from 1966-69, before being replaced by the European Indoor Championships which we are still familiar with today.
In that time the men’s 60 metre championship record has progressed from 6.6seconds, as ran by Valeriy Borzov at the inaugural event in Vienna, to Dwain Chambers 6.42 performance in Turin, 2009. The women’s championship record remains one of the oldest still standing, belonging to Nelli Cooman for her championship winning performance of 7.00 in 1986.
On a global level, at the World Indoor games held in 1985, Ben Johnson became the first world champion at the distance, before the event was renamed as the IAAF World Indoor Championships. To date there have been 14 championships held under the new name, with the 60 metre records currently belonging to Maurice Greene (6.42 in 1999) and Gail Devers (6.95 in 1993).
Greene also holds the claim to six of the 10 fastest times ever recorded over the distance, including the world record of 6.39 seconds, a time which he ran both in 1998 and 2001. The current women’s world record belongs to Irina Privalova with a time of 6.92, who like Greene, ran this world record time on two occasions, and holds six of the top 10 performances of all time.
Science: Biochemistry
Unlike the 100 metres, the 60 metres can be considered to be almost exclusively reliant on the ATP/Pcr energy system, with a very minimal contribution being made to energy supply by the aerobic and anaerobic-glycolytic systems. It is therefore postulated, that for successful 60 metre performance to occur, the ATP/Pcr system must be highly trained in order to accommodate the substantial power outputs required for the event.
Physiology
As with the points raised in my Basic Scientific Look at 100m Running article, the elite 60 metre sprinter, similar to the 100 metre sprinter will possess a very high proportion of type II muscle fibres. These fibres possess the potential to produce the high forces and speeds of contraction needed for sprinting. It has been shown the ATP concentrations in type IIx fibres decrease rapidly at the onset of maximal sprinting, much more so than type IIa and type I fibres, which highlights the intense activity that’s going on within these fibres during sprinting.
The greater the content of type IIx fibres one possesses would, therefore, appear to be a key predictor of potential sprint performance. Whilst some evidence exists suggesting that some people are born with genetic predispositions for expressing a very high proportion of fast twitch fibres, particularly type IIx fibres, which account for their natural raw speed, many believe that (and have shown evidence for) the possibility of one dramatically changing the fibre type composition of their muscles through training.
Reaction Time
In addition to the physiological and biochemical demands of 60m sprinting, one should also consider the role of reaction time, which is a more pivotal component to 60 metres than arguably any other track and field event. Whilst possessing an innate characteristic, individuals do appear to be able to substantially improve their reaction times through practice.
Due to sprints only calling for a very simple auditory reaction time, reactions can be very fast, current IAAF ruling states that anything above 100ms can be seen as a legal start, whereas anything below this is deemed a false start with the assumption that it is impossible to naturally react in such a short time.
Interestingly, In 2007, Pain and Hibbs published research regarding sprint start reaction times, concluding that the neuromuscular-physiological component of simple auditory reaction time can be as low as 85ms (or less), thus challenging the IAAF’s rulings.
References:
https://www.iaaf.org/records/toplists/sprints/60-metres/indoor/men/senior
https://www.iaaf.org/records/toplists/sprints/60-metres/indoor/women/senior
https://www.iaaf.org/competitions/iaaf-world-indoor-championships/iaaf-world-indoor-games-12
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/60_metres
https://www.mapsofworld.com/olympics/athletic-events/sprint-60-meter.html
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17127583
The Biochemical Basis of Sports Performance – Maughan and Gleeson (2004)
