Stewart McSweyn is Injured??

Watching him in the repecharge, I thought I noticed a limp a couple of times.

Yes. With the less forward extension of the left thigh, the stride-length of his right leg is longer.

It’s not something majorly obvious until observed in slow motion. I have no idea how long he has been running with this abnormality, without going back and checking.

Since no one has mentioned it before, maybe or maybe not, being subtlety intertwined with his choppy stride, it has been there for quite a while? Nonetheless, at this level, such asymmetry will limit performance.

Normal

Great observations. He needs to see someone like the balanced runner to address what the hell is going on. May not make him faster but good lord I can barely watch him run anymore…so awkward.

Sadly he will stick with one trick pony Nick Bideau (8x1km, ~30 min tempo [now broken into 3 efforts / what a change Nick so progressive!!] oh and Dimond league entries on tap….). till it all over red rover….nothing will change

If he is running without pain, he may not even be aware of the asymmetry. The first step is being aware there is a issue, followed by wanting to fix it.

The root cause of the observed difference in knee-lift/hip-extension is probably structural, something that repeating a mantra/cue may not rectify. Hopefully it is something not too severe that can be addressed without surgery (e.g., breaking up scar tissue, myofascial release, etc.)

Unlike the gifs, the streamed videos at that site expire in 2 days, so re-posting the close-up slo-mo:

streamable.com

unnamed

Watch "unnamed" on Streamable.

Link:streamable.com/8ao93i

All runners have asymmetries in their strides, it's just more pronounced in some.

Stewy is quite tall and tends to generate his power from his calves, rather than his hips/glutes - which tends to accentuate the choppy nature of his stride.

Also, a lot of track runners tend to become right leg dominant; a consequence of track bends demanding more of the outer leg.

The manner in which he runs these races also adds to the form degeneration. He's hammering from the beginning, and then slowly falling apart.