The Impact of Dry-Land Sprint Start Training on the Short Track Speed Skating Start

ABSTRACTHaug, WB, Drinkwater, EJ, Cicero, NJ, Barthell, JA, and Chapman, DW. The impact of dry-land sprint start training on the short track speed skating start. J Strength Cond Res 33(2)544–548, 2019—This investigation sought to determine the effects of dry-land sprint start training on short track speed skating (STSS) start performance. Nine highly trained short track athletes completed a control period of normal STSS training followed by a 4-week training intervention. Before and after the control and intervention periods, athletes performed 3 electronically timed dry-land and on-ice 14.43 m maximal sprint start efforts. The intervention consisted of 2 sprint sessions per week consisting of 9 electronically timed 14.43 m dry-land sprint starts in addition to normal STSS training. The control period resulted in no substantial change in on-ice start performance (mean Δ−0.01 seconds, 95% confidence limit [CL]−0.08 to 0.05 seconds; effect size [ES]−0.05; trivial); however, a small change was observed in dry-land start performance (mean Δ−0.07 seconds, 95% CL−0.13 to −0.02 seconds; ES−0.49). After brief specific dry-land sprint start training, a small improvement was observed in both on-ice (Mean Δ−0.07 seconds, 95% CL−0.13 to −0.01 seconds; ES−0.33) and dry-land (Mean Δ−0.04 seconds, 95% CL−0.09 to 0.00 seconds; ES−0.29) start performance. This investigation suggests that STSS start performance can be improved through a brief dry-land sprint start training program.