This article looks at the effect of caffeine in sprinting
What’s the deal?
While caffeine is known to boost endurance performance, little attention is ever given to sprinting. This study aimed to see whether a single dose of caffeine could shave off some time in a 100m sprint.
What did they do?
Thirteen male sprinters took part. On different days, they swallowed either caffeine (about 6 mg per kilogram of body weight — roughly 400 mg for a 70 kg athlete) or a placebo, without knowing which one they got. They then ran an all-out 100m sprint. The researchers used a laser system to measure speed and adjusted the times to remove the effects of wind or other environmental factors.
What happened?
With caffeine, the athletes ran about 0.14 seconds faster over 100m, representing a roughly 1% improvement. The biggest gains happened early in the race, with sprinters shifting faster in the first 20m. In other words, caffeine seemed to help them explode out of the blocks and accelerate more powerfully.
What can you tell me about the people?
All participants were trained male collegiate sprinters, with 100m times around 11-12 seconds.
What else should I know?
Since sprinting is such a technical sport, I imagine the same results may not apply to athletes who are less experienced with starting blocks. Importantly, this was a controlled test setting; race-day nerves and real competition might change the picture.
What will I do differently?
Unfortunately my competitive sprinting days are behind me, but I wish I had known this at the time. Taking a caffeine pill to run a tenth of a second quicker is an absolute no-brainer!
Acknowledgements
This research was published in March 2023 by T Matsumura and colleagues from Ritsumeikan University in Kusatsu, Japan.
This article highlights our personal take on their research, but there is so much more information available! Check it out here and see what you think!
Abstract Athlete 