Affiliations: [a] Department of Physical Therapy, Sackler Faculty of
Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Ramat Aviv, 69978, Israel. Tel.: +972 3 640
5589; Fax: +972 3 640 5436; E-mail: dlieberm@post.tau.ac.il | [b] School of Physical Therapy, University of South
Florida, FL, USA | [c] Sport Technology Research Centre, Faculty of
Kinesiology, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Note: [] Corresponding author
Abstract: {\it Purpose:} This study was aimed to explore the relationship
between lower limb extension power measured by isokinetic knee extensions (IK)
and vertical jumps performed on a force plate (VJ) and speed skating (SS)
sprint power measured by a laser device. {\it Methods:} Twenty elite short- and long-track speed skaters
performed 100 m sprints followed by VJ and IK trials. Power-time curves were
calculated off-line. Pearson correlation coefficients were used to determine
the degree of association between the variables. {\it Results:} SS sprint power correlates strongly with VJ power
(r=0.870; p<0.001) while IK power showed a weaker but significant
correlation to both (r=0.707 and r=0.706, respectively; p<0.01). As
expected, SS times at 15 m and 100 m were inversely associated with SS sprint
power (r=-0.818 and r=-0.909; p<0.001) and VJ power (r=-0.730 and r=-0.763;
p<0.001), and to a lesser degree with IK power (r=-0.602; r=-0.618;
p<0.01). {\it Conclusion:} The analyses differentiate between methods of
estimating power in speed skaters, and show a strong relationship between
initial SS performance and muscular power. Given that 100 m split times
strongly relate to final 500 m results (r=0.972; p<0.001, N=332), it is
reasonable to believe that an initial power and a stable peak speed before the
first curve may lead to achieving the winning edge in short SS events. A
finding of particular interest is that isokinetic power results are correlated
significantly with the practical outcomes of the performance in spite of the
high specificity of the isokinetic testing method.
