STRIDE REGULATION AT THE APPROACH PHASE OF LONG JUMP IN VISUALLY IMPAIRED (F13) ATHLETES

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The present work studied whether visually impaired (VI) class F13 long jumpers showed at the approach run the same pattern of variability in footfall placement across trials as their non-VI counterparts. The long jump finalists (men and women), of the IBSA 2009 European Athletics Championship were recorded. VI long jumpers demonstrated an initial ascending variability followed by a descending one suggesting some type of regulation. This control emerged on the 5th and 4th stride prior to take-off and at a mean distance of 8.8±1.9m and 8.3±2.6m from the take-off board for men and women respectively. TBD variability reached a maximum value of 30.0±18.9cm and 25.2± 14.4cm and was finally reduced to 7.73cm (± 6.65cm) and 8.2± 2.6cm for males and females respectively. The striding pattern observed was similar to that reported in the literature for non-VI athletes.