Related papers: It's a Wrap! Reviewing the 1997 Outdoor Season
A quick and fun investigation into the effects of correcting for wind assistance/resistance and drag on 100m sprint performances. Considered are World 100m rankings, as well as Canadian rankings
A simple algebraic expression is presented to correct men's and women's 100 metre sprint times for ambient wind and altitude effects. The simplified formula is derived from a more complicated equation of motion used to model the athlete's…
In the wake of numerous injuries and Donovan Bailey's media-stamped "sub-par" 100m victory of 10.03s at the 1997 Canadian Track and Field Championships, a medal hope at the 1997 World Championships seems grim for the Olympic Champion and…
It is well known that ``equivalent'' sprint race times run with different accompanying wind speeds or at different altitudes are anything but equivalent races. The drag force acting on a sprinter is a function of air density and the…
A quasi-physical model (having both physical and mathematical roots) of sprint performances is presented, accounting for the influence of drag modification via wind and altitude variations. The race time corrections for both men and women…
A numerical model of 100 m and 200 m world class sprinting performances is modified using standard hydrodynamic principles to include effects of air temperature, pressure, and humidity levels on aerodynamic drag. The magnitude of the…
In a previous article (physics/9705004), the best 100m performances in track and field were determined by accounting for wind effects and atmospheric drag. In this report, I seek to ascertain what was the "fastest" 100m final through a…
Based on a mathematical simulation which reproduces accurate split and velocity profiles for the 100 and 200 metre sprints, the magnitudes of altitude and mixed wind/altitude-assisted performances as compared to their sea-level equivalents…
Cross country running races are different to track and road races in that the courses are not typically accurately measured and the condition of the course can have a strong effect on the finish times of the participants. In this paper we…
This paper applies existing and new approaches to study trends in the performance of elite athletes over time. We study both track and field scores of men and women athletes on a yearly basis from 2001 to 2019, revealing several trends and…
World records in athletics provide a measure of physical as well as physiological human performance. Here we analyse running records and show that the mean speed as a function of race time can be described by two scaling laws that have a…
Any collection can be ranked. Sports and games are common examples of ranked systems: players and teams are constantly ranked using different methods. The statistical properties of rankings have been studied for almost a century in a…
Track and field world records have risen and fallen throughout the history of the sport. A recent rash of record-breaking performances has prompted the question: "How good can we get?". This article offers a review of several attempts to…
This project aims to shed light on how man-made carbon emissions are affecting global wind patterns by looking for temporal and geographical correlations between carbon emissions, surface temperatures anomalies, and wind speed anomalies at…
Many university texts on Mechanics deal with the problem of the effect of the air drag force, using as example the slowing down of a parachute. Hardly no one discuss what happens when the drag force is proportional to both $u$ and $u^2$. In…
We present a new way of estimation of the role of chance in achieving success, by comparing the empirical data from 100-meter dash competitions (one of the sports disciplines with the most stringent controls of external randomness), with…
Many time-trial and triathlon bicycle races take place on relatively flat, closed-circuit courses. In the absence of hills, riding-speed is limited almost solely by aerodynamic drag; consequently, winds can have a big effect on elapsed…
Starting from basic physical principles, we present a novel derivation linking the global wind power to measurable atmospheric parameters. The resulting expression distinguishes three components of the atmospheric power (the kinetic power…
We assess evidence for changes in tail characteristics of wind, solar irradiance and temperature variables output from CMIP6 global climate models (GCMs) due to climate forcing. We estimate global and climate zone annual maximum and annual…
Weather regimes describe the large-scale atmospheric circulation in the mid-latitudes in terms of a few circulation states that modulate regional surface weather. Subseasonal forecasts of prevailing weather regimes have proven skillful and…