Do you have the right leg to height ratio to be a fast sprinter? It´s simple. Longer legs are unfair advantage because they cover more ground with each stride. But there´s just one problem: long legs don´t make you faster.

Scientists studied elite sprinters and found absolutely zero connection between leg length or leg to height ratio and speed. Now, maybe what you´re thinking: “Didn´t Usain Bolt prove longer legs are the advantage?” Well, here´s the thing: longer legs can cover more ground per stride. But you pay a triple penalty for that extra length:

1. MOMENT OF INERTIA. The first and most obvious is at the start. Accelerating and controlling longer legs is harder. Think of it like swinging a sledgehammer versus a regular hammer.
2. STIFFNESS DEMAND. Longer legs mean there is more distance between ground impact and your joints. So, you need more force to stay stiff or they compress and you slow down.
3. GROUND CONTACT. At top speed, all sprinters get around 90 milliseconds on the ground. And longer ankles create a mechanical disadvantage. Your muscles have to work harder to generate the same ground force in that split-second window.

What made Usain Bolt legendary wasn´t his leg length. It was doing what biomechanics said was impossible. He trained relentlessly to turn his disadvantage into the most unbeatable weapon in sprinting. So yes, you have the right leg length. So does everyone else. Usain Bolt proved what matters is training for the body you have.

Bibliographic references:

• Outperform. (2024). Do you have the right leg length to sprint fast? [Video file]. YouTube. https://youtube.com/shorts/ULQeb_lLfkk?si=xzfPNNbImMR1bKAe
• Tomita, D., Suga, T., Terada, M., Tanaka, T., Miyake, Y., Ueno, H., Otsuka, M., Nagano, A., & Isaka, T. (2020). A pilot study on a potential relationship between leg bone length and sprint performance in sprinters; are there any event-related differences in 100-m and 400-m sprints?. BMC research notes, 13(1), 297. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13104-020-05140-z