Sayers’s new UK javelin record under the microscope
June 5th, 2007 | Athletics, Biomechanics Consultancy, Quintic Video Software |
Goldie Sayers has broken the British javelin record with a mark of 65.05m at the Loughborough International athletics match on May 20th. The 24-year-old beat her own personal best by 3.60m and eclipsed Kelly Morgan’s previous national record of 64.87m, which was set in July 2002. And the effort also helped Sayers – a Loughborough graduate herself – claim top spot in the 2007 world rankings. |
“It’s a shock but not that much of a shock. I knew I was going to throw a personal best because training has been going fantastically well,” said Sayers.
And that training is down to some highly sophisticated sports analysis software, designed and developed in Britain. For the last 6 years, Sayers has been working with Midlands-based biomechanist Dr Paul Hurrion, who in 1997 founded ‘Quintic Consultancy’.
Quintic continues to be responsible for the evolution of some of sport’s most highly regarded analysis and performance development software. Using a combination of high-speed video analysis and proprietary Quintic Biomechanics software, every single aspect of Goldie Sayers’s throwing technique – both in training and competition – was broken down and examined with her coach Mark Roberson to determine areas for improvement and for potential stress.
It’s vitally important, says Hurrion for several reasons.
“Goldie is representative of a type of sportswoman whose best achievements are yet to come,” he explains. “Underlying all our work is the given that at her level of biomechanical ability and preparedness it is possible to make a marked improvement in most components of her performance, but only after the most penetrative understanding of the body’s kinematics.
“Secondly… and thirdly, I suppose,” says Hurrion with enthusiasm. “Goldie is young and there’s no reason she shouldn’t win Olympic medals in 2008 and 2012 – provided she is spared injury.
“And that’s an important preventative benefit of potent biomechanical analysis – it’s no use being the best if you’re always injured.”
In a red-hot field, GB & NI’s Goldie Sayers proved her early season form is no flash in the pan as she won the Norwich Union Glasgow Grand Prix (Sunday 3rd June) competition with a fine second round effort of 63.59m, just less than one-and-a-half metres down on the British record she set at the Loughborough International a fortnight earlier. Last year’s European Champion and current Olympic silver medallist Steffi Nerius (Germany) was 2nd with a best of 62.57m and European silver medallist Barbara Spotakova (Czech Republic) was 3rd with 62.26m. “It wasn’t a bad day as we’ve trained in far worse weather than this! My aim was to throw long and I’d expected to throw that far on a good day so I’m pretty pleased about it. I haven’s backed off training for Osaka (World Championships) so in theory I should have some more big throws.”
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