Are sprinters made differently?

I stole this story from Dennis Faye over at Fitness Nerd, but garnered it worth the thievery (thanks Dennis).  It's a study that he referenced that confirms that sprinters really are born and not made.

It's not that you cannot improve your speed, get stronger, and faster; but 'born' sprinters have an innate advantage over me and you.  It seems as though their heels are shorter and their toes are longer, thus giving them a leverage and 'time of contact to the ground' advantage. 

According to the computer simulation, having long toes also makes sprinters speedier, by extending the time that a runner’s foot makes contact with the ground. “Early in the race, the only way you have to speed up is through interaction with the ground,” Piazza said. “If you want to speed up quickly, you need to have some meaningful interaction with the ground.”

So that's why I'm so slow?

Until next time...