Altitude didn’t help Pellmann, Held holds

Hall of Famer Bud Held, who’s had some success at the spear and the jumps (and also with engineering), has weighed in on the issue of whether M90 Don Pellmann, a fellow Californian, had the benefit of Fort Collins, Colorado, elevation (5,000 feet) when setting seven world age-group records there during the Rocky Mountain Masters Games in September. Bud sez nahh.


A note Bud sent me (and also National Masters News):
ALTITUDE ADJUSTMENT
Don Pellmann’s astounding M90 world records at mile high Ft. Collins raised some speculation about altitude assistance. Not only did he break seven world records and one American record in one day, but he posted some very impressive times and distances. His 30’- 7 1/2” (9.33m) shot put, for example, is a remarkable 120.64% age graded performance.
It turns out that altitude helps some events and hinders others. The lower gravitational effect has relatively little direct effect, but the resulting thinner air has a significant effect. The noticeable benefits are to the sprinting events up through 200 meters, the long jump, the triple jump and the pole vault. The hammer gets a slight, but measurable benefit. The shot benefit is barely measurable and the high jump benefit is not practically measurable.
Altitude is a detriment to the javelin, discus and distance running, The loss of aerodynamic lift is much greater than the gravitational gain for both javelin and discus. The loss of oxygen is a significant hindrance for all distance running events over 400 meters.
A number of studies have been made relating sprinting times to both wind and altitude. A relatively recent one is available on the Internet at http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/physics/pdf/0007/0007042.pdf with formulae, charts and a bibliography.
The formulae all involve some assumptions but provide reasonable approximations. Here are some numbers to show how much Pellmann’s marks were helped and hindered by the altitude.
Sprinting events benefit approximately .6% for a world class sprinter at 5000 ft., but only about .3% for a 17 second 100 meter time. Pellmann’s 100 meter time of 17.83 adjusted to sea level is about 17.88. In the long jump and triple jump, Pellmann would have gained about .3% in approach speed and an additional .06% from gravitational effect for a total of .36%.
His long jump of 3.26 and triple jump of 6.44 adjust to 3.25 and 6.42 meters respectively. His shot put effort of 9.33 got a boost of .06%, a little over a half a centimeter and adjusts to 9.32 meters.
His 1.15 high jump adjusts by about .03% of his vertical leap (estimated at about 40 cm.) so that his high jump benefit was about .012 centimeters (about the thickness of two pieces of writing paper.)
His pole vault mark of 1.83 meters adjusts by .03% of his vertical leap, plus .15% running speed for total benefit of about a quarter of a centimeter. The loss of aerodynamic lift for the javelin and discus are a little more difficult to determine, but a fair estimate is that they are about 10 times the gain from lower gravity.
This leaves an overall loss of about .54% for these events. Pellmann’s discus throw of 27.93 meters adjusts to a sea level 28.08 meters and his 22.71 meter javelin throw to a 22.83 meters.
Overall, Pellmann didn’t gain much from the altitude. His age graded shot put adjusted to sea level is still 120.51% which is pretty much off the chart when compared to other world record performances. There isn’t much explanation for Pellmann’s astonishing accomplishments other than that he is a remarkable athlete. He is an inspiration to us all.
Altitude appears to have a much less dramatic effect than a mild trailing wind. One would have to compete at the top of Mt. Whitney to approximate the effect of a legal two meters per second trailing wind at sea level.
Here are some helpful approximations regarding altitude and wind. In general a smaller lighter body gains more from elevation and trailing wind than a large heavy body, but a good rule of thumb for 100 meter times is to subtract .012 seconds per 1,000 feet in elevation gain and subtract .07 seconds for each meter per second of trailing wind.
A world class sprinter might expect to lower his time by about .06 seconds in the 100 meters at 5000 feet (less than the benefit of a one meter per second trailing wind at sea level.) A good rule of thumb for the long jump and triple jump is to add .13% per 1,000 feet elevation rise and .7% for each meter per second of trailing wind.
A 5 meter long jumper can expect an additional 3.25 cm. at 5,000 feet. (still less than a one meter per second trailing wind at sea level.) The pole vault is more difficult to evaluate because of the mechanics involved.
A five meter jumper might expect somewhere in the neighborhood of a .05% benefit per 1,000 feet elevation gain and a .4% benefit for each meter per second of trailing wind for moderate conditions. The shot and hammer are pretty much independent of the wind, so their altitude benefits are mostly confined to direct gravitational effect, a relatively insignificant .012% per 1,000 feet elevation gain.
In addition to altitude and wind, temperature, barometric pressure and even humidity affect performance. A 15 degree Fahrenheit increase in temperature is roughly equivalent to a 1,000 foot rise in elevation, or a .012 second decrease in 100 meter time. Barometric pressure seldom drops enough to make a significant difference, and if it does, the weather will probably not be suitable for a track meet. Higher humidity actually makes the atmosphere lighter yielding a small but practically negligible beneficial effect.
Bud Held
Me again:
Nuff said. Pellmann is The Man.

Related posts:

  1. Bud Held holds forth on new theory for tracking runners’ decline
  2. Masters double and triple up at high altitude in Lake Tahoe
  3. Swede claims M70 high jump world record held by Held
  4. Pellmann a pole-vaultin’, 100-meter-dashin’, discus-throwing fool
  5. Pellmann quitting while he’s on top — of M90 group

November 2, 2005