The reliability of accelerative sprint performance: Does starting position matter?

The purpose of this study was to determine the influence of starting position on the reliability of 10m and 20m sprint times. Two groups of 11 physically active men attended three separate testing sessions. One group performed three 20m sprint trials from a standing start position; the other group performed the trials from a crouched start position. Sprint times of 20m with a 10m intermediate time were recorded using photocells. Reliability was assessed by calculating intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) and coefficient of variation (CV) of the mean sprint times recorded at each testing session. No differences were obtained between the testing sessions for any of the sprint times (p>0.05). Both starting conditions produced acceptable reliability for 10m and 20m times. The reliability statistics for the sprint times performed from the standing start (ICCs of 0.91, CVs ranging from 1.8% to 1.9%) were similar to those performed from the crouch start (ICCs ranging from 0.87 to 0.90, CVs ranging from 1.5% to 1.6%). In conclusion, the results of this study show that high degrees of test-retest reliability in 20m sprint performance can be obtained in physically active men regardless of starting position. The results suggest that both standing and crouch starts produce reliable measures of sprinting and either could be used to monitor athletic performance.