What the difference between 200m sprints and 400m sprints?

Question

apart from the legnth what makes someone better at 400m than at 200 metres or the other way round because sureley if you are the best at 400m you can easily win 200 metres

Answer 1

As an ex-400m runner, I'd never have called myself a decent 200m runner.

Basically, the 100m and 200m are all about speed.  The gun goes off and you are out of the blocks and run as fast as you can until the end.

In the 400m, the game changes.  My coach said that nobody can sprint for more than 350m, and I would agree with that.  Having just watched the women's 400m final, you see Ohurugu (GBR) pacing herself whilst Richards (USA) went like the clappers but faded big time in the home straight.

I'm not up on the physiology, but I suspect that the reason for fading is lactic acid building up faster than the body can clear it out.  Running above the so-called lactate threshold.  Link below if you want more information.

There are always exceptions of course, and Michael Johnson is the obvious one.  Total class at both distances.  Generally though, you see the best 100m runners also going in the 200m.  I would say that the 400m is actually closer to 800m (which I used to do if the middle-distance team were short) as you need to pace yourself in both.

With his long legs, I wouldn't be at all surprised to see Usain Bolt go for the 400m before he retires.  A few years ago coaches would have just taken one look at him and told him to forget the 100m and do the 400m instead, but he's just torn up the manual.

Answer 2

no not really, I'm good at the 200m but cant do the 400m.

400m is still fast pace but not as fast as 200m, you have to have more endurance to do the 400m. you could outlast most people that just do 200m but they have you in how fast you run

Answer 3

Although 400m and 200m seem similar, in fact they are totally different.

It's rare to see athletes run both 200m and 400m, it tends to be 100m and 200m together. This is because 200m is basically a speed race, where the distance is short enough to run full out.

400m tends to be a little more on the endurance side of things, if you watch the competition, you see the athletes gradually become slower as the fatigue sets in.

Michael Johnson was a rare athlete, he was a fast man with so much endurance, or an endurance man with so much speed.

Answer 4

400 requires a lot more speed endurance, it is very hard to run a fast last 100m of the 400 if you dont have good speed endurance. 200m requires fast leg speed and like the 100m a lot of stength. But you are right, if you are good at the 400m you are usually going to be good at the 200. But i dont think this works the other way around.