Power and speed differences between Brazilian Paralympic sprinters with visual impairment and their guides: A pilot study

This study compared the physical performance of Paralympic sprinters with visual impairments (PSVI) and their guides in jump/sprint tests. Ten PSVI and guides executed squat-jumps (SJ), countermovement-jumps (CMJ), horizontal-quintuple right/left leg jumps (QR/QL), decuple-jumps (DEC) and 50-m sprint tests. The guides were superior to the PSVI in SJ (35.9 ± 6.3 vs. 45.6 ± 3.2 cm), CMJ (38.5 ± 6.2 vs. 46.7 ± 4.0 cm), QR (9.2 ± 1.9 vs. 12.7 ± 1.0 m), QL (9.4 ± 1.9 vs. 13.1 ± 0.8 m), DEC (21.0 ± 3.3 vs. 27.2 ± 1.7 m), and 50-m sprints (8.4 ± 0.4 vs. 7.6 ± 0.5 m.s-1). The average differences between the PSVI and their guides in the sprint tests amounted to 10%, varying between 1-24%. Therefore, substantial differences in sprinting speed (in favor of the guides) between the peers were observed. Coaches should develop new strategies to train the guides to improve their muscle power performance.