The Effects of Wind and Altitude in the 200-m Sprint

Abstract

A mathematical model is used to determine the effect of wind resistance and altitude on 200-m race times. The model is used to simulate the effect of different wind speeds, wind directions, and lane allocation in the 200-m sprint. For the 200-m event there is a single wind gauge recording only the wind’s component velocity in the straight, and not the wind direction. For record purposes the wind reading should not exceed 2 m/s. It is evident that for the same official wind reading, an athlete may face vastly different conditions. The model estimates that for the same wind reading, the prevailing conditions can produce a time difference of as much as 0.5 s. Results indicate that many legal performances in the 200-m are currently ruled out for record purposes. Some performances which are officially wind-assisted have in fact been hindered by an overall head wind when it is averaged throughout the race. Conversely, some performances which are run into a head wind in the straight have benefited from an overall tail wind. We estimate that, on average, for a 2-m/s wind blowing down the straight, the 200-m runner benefits from an overall tail wind of only 0.95 m/s. The lower air density at an altitude of 1,500 meters produces an advantage of 0.11 s in the 200-m, which equates to a 2-m/s tail wind at sea level blowing directly down the straight. Correction estimates are provided for the combined effect of both wind and altitude in 200-m races. A new all-time world top five ranking list for men and women is produced for the 200-m event, corrected for wind and altitude effects.