Características antropométricas, de potência muscular e cinemáticas de atletas com deficiência visual e seus respectivos guias de provas de 100 m: um estudo de caso

Abstract

The objective of this research was to describe the anthropometric, muscular power and kinematic characteristics of blind athletes and their respective guides in 100m sprint events. Six male athletes participated in this study, three with visual impairments classified as T11 and T12 and three without visual impairments participating in 100-meter track events at national and international level. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and presented in tables and graphs. In final considerations, the results observed in this study provide information that leads to highlighting important points about the differences in speed and acceleration with the possible influences of anthropometric factors and physical attributes between Paralympic sprinters with visual impairments and their respective guides. In this sense, the intrinsic anthropometric differences between the pairs did not demonstrate great variations. However, these small differences were greater for guide athletes in general. Regarding lower limb power, the results of this study raised assumptions that differences in lower limb power greater than 10% in favor of the blind athlete may be a preponderant factor for worse race performance. The findings of this study demonstrate the need to identify in more detail the acceptable limits of differences and also the moments in which these differences can more intensely compromise the result of the test. The small range of studies involving kinematic behavior and physical attributes in visually impaired sprinters and their respective guides, when associated with the best times achieved in the race between the pairs and based on the zones of differences and time to reach PmaxV, maintenance of levels of acceleration and speed for the athlete in real competition, we do not have references to compare our results. Such observations are new to knowledge and highlight the need for more investigations (cross-sectional and longitudinal) to better elucidate the findings and mainly improve training aiming for better results.