New Trend for Evaluating the Technichal Performance of 4×100m Relay through Predicting the Team Targeted Record

Abstract

Relay is an athletic event that demands a combination of physical capabilities from the athletes, as well as well-formed technical skills, especially when it comes to handing off and receiving the baton in the high-speed exchange zone. The studies, which aimed to model the relay race mathematically, have common targets to identify the optimal handing-over of the baton or locate the best position for safe baton change. Still, no study had targeted to evaluate quantitatively the performance physically and technically. The present study aims to overcome the limitation of the mentioned studies by suggesting equations that can evaluate the technical performance quantitatively of 4×100m relay performance, as a way to know the reason for the weakness, then predict the targeted team record of 4×100m relay. More importantly, the equation could be used by any coach without complicated procedures. The authors used data from World Athletics website about the top 4 teams of the 4×100m relay, as well as non-elite groups. The supposed equations were applied. The resulting values emphasized the ability to predict the next team record as well as to evaluate quantitatively the technical performance with details about the source of weakness for any team wether elite or not.