White, JonathanWilson, Cassievon Lieres Und Wilkau, HansWyatt, HannahWeir, GillianHamill, JosephIrwin, GarethExell, Timothy A2023-11-272023-11-272023-06-17Journal of Sports Sciences, ISSN: 0264-0414 (Print); 1466-447X (Online), Taylor and Francis Group, 41(6), 519-525. doi: 10.1080/02640414.2023.22250260264-04141466-447Xhttp://hdl.handle.net/10292/17010This study investigated the short-term responses of step characteristics in sprinters and team-sports players under different bend conditions. Eight participants from each group completed 80 m sprints in four conditions: banked and flat, in lanes two and four (L2B, L4B, L2F, L4F). Groups showed similar changes in step velocity (SV) across conditions and limbs. However, sprinters produced significantly shorter ground contact times (GCT) than team sports players in L2B and L4B for both left (0.123 s vs 0.145 s and 0.123 s vs 0.140 s) and right steps (0.115 s vs 0.136 s and 0.120 s vs 0.141 s) (p > 0.001-0.029; ES = 1.15-1.37). Across both groups, SV was generally lower in flat conditions compared to banked (Left: 7.21 m/s vs 6.82 m/s and Right: 7.31 m/s vs 7.09 m/s in lane two), occurring due to reduced step length (SL) rather than step frequency (SF), suggesting that banking improves SV via increased SL. Sprinters produced significantly shorter GCT in banked conditions that led to non-significant increases in SF and SV, highlighting the importance of bend sprinting specific conditioning and training environments representative of indoor competition for sprint athletes.© 2023 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent.http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Athleticsindoor competitionspecificitytrainingAthleticsindoor competitionspecificitytraining42 Health Sciences4207 Sports Science and Exercise1106 Human Movement and Sports Sciences1302 Curriculum and PedagogySport Sciences3202 Clinical sciences4207 Sports science and exercise5201 Applied and developmental psychologyHumansRunningTeam SportsRadiusBiomechanical PhenomenaUpper ExtremityAthletic PerformanceUpper ExtremityRadiusHumansRunningAthletic PerformanceBiomechanical PhenomenaTeam SportsHumansRunningTeam SportsRadiusBiomechanical PhenomenaUpper ExtremityAthletic PerformanceJournal ArticleOpenAccess10.1080/02640414.2023.2225026