Swiss Review 5/2020

Swiss Review / September 2020 / No.5 23 Sport STÉPHANE HERZOG On 11 June, at the Oslo Impossible Games, Lea Sprunger, born in Nyon 30 years ago and the first Swiss female to be- come a European athletics champion in the 400 metres hurdles discipline, accomplished a historical feat. She ran a 300metres hurdles racewith only 13 strides between the first two of the seven hurdles on the track, as opposed to the standard 14 or 15. This was a first in women’s athletics, as only male athletes had managed it until then. One nota- ble example being the American Edwin Moses who man- aged 13 strides between every hurdle in a 400 metres hur- dles race. “As there are nomajor championships right now, this ex- ploit focused people’s attention on something different,” ex- plains Laurent Meuwly, who has been training Sprunger since 2007. As for the athlete herself, she says: “It’s a stride which suits me. At the beginning of the race, I felt faster than in a 400metres event and I passed in front of the oth- ers. But it’s ultimately the time that counts.” Reducing the number of strides takes a lot of energy. InOslo, the sprinter achieved a time of 39.86 seconds, compared to 39.25 sec- onds recently inZurich. “She paid for the initial effort at the end of the race,” concludes Meuwly. A double-edged figure The question of the number of strides between hurdles is a sort of science, with the number 13 seemingly unachiev- able for a woman. “Lea is the only athlete to have been able to succeed in a race like this – with strides of up to 2.38 Lea Sprunger and the 13-stride challenge Swiss athlete Lea Sprunger was the first woman to run a 300m hurdles race with only 13 strides between the first two hurdles. She achieved this feat at the height of her career. Photo: Christoph Köstlin