Caffeine & Sprinting

 

A study in Japan, led by Professor Takeshi Hashimoto from Ritsumeikan University and published in the Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise journal, reported interesting findings. Previous studies related to caffeine and running had failed to show conclusive enough results to support the World Athletics consensus. A majority of the studies had looked at caffeine’s effects on single sprint runs of less than 60 meters. Hashimoto and his team decided to study the ergogenic effects of caffeine on the 100-meter sprint performance. They found that caffeine supplementation provided more explosive acceleration to the sprinters in the early stage of the race. 100-meter sprint time was decreased by 0.14 seconds in the first 60 meters of the race, but no significant difference was observed for the last 40 meters. Hashimoto now would like to study what happens with other athletic sports such as jumping.