Abstract

Objectives. To describe acceleration capacity in relation to performance (time over a 30 m sprint), maximum speed and muscle strength (jumping ability) and power (half-squat) in 4 women athletes specialising in sprint events at the national level. Methods. There were two days of testing (track and laboratory). We evaluated acceleration ability (instantaneous speed at 1, 2 and 3 s (v_i1, v_i2 i v_i3)), initial acceleration (a_inicial), 30 m sprint time (performance), maximum speed (v_max), jumping ability (SJ, CMJ, LJ bw and RJ 5s) and maximum average power (P_m max) in a half-squat. Results. Significant correlations were found between performance (t_30m) and v_max (r=-0.980; P<0.01), acceleration ability (instantaneous speed) and t30m (r=-0.954; P<0.05) and v_max (r=0.992 and 0.979; P30m (r=-0.983; P<0.05) and maximum relative dynamic strength and ainitial (r=0.980; P<0.01). Conclusions. The main finding of this study is that vmax was the major determinant of t_30m. Also acceleration ability, especially v_i2, and CMJ had a great influence on t_30m and v_max.