Question

Sprinters push off from the ball of their foot, then bend their knee to bring their foot up close to the body as they swing their leg forward for the next stride. Why is this an effective strategy for running fast?

Answer 1

There are two interchangeable concepts that can be applied to this theory. The first one is the moment of Inertia and the second the perioricity. When the runners put their leg forward they reduce their moment of inertia allowing their center of mass to maintain the speed they carry and not waste energy. In this way when they swing, the leg begins to act as a kind of pendulum, and remember that the pendulum is directly proportional to the length, that is,

$T = 2 \pi \sqrt {l / g}$

In this way, by bringing their legs closer they reduce the distance and make the period shorter.