Track & Field Terms Every Athlete Should Know
A track meet can have up to 18 different field events and races in it, which creates an enormous amount of strategy and coordination for coaches to manage. Field events usually take place simultaneously with the running events. For fans and even coaches and players to understand what’s going on, it’s important to know the terminology used to describe the events. Below is a guide to many of the important terms you’ll hear at a track meet.
Event Types & Competition Terms
Below are some common terms used to describe the structure of a track meet.
Heat: A heat is one component of a race which takes place in a qualifying round. For instance, there could be 4 heats in the 100-meter dash. Each heat would have a designated number of runners and the top finishers in their heat would advance to the next round. There can be several qualifying rounds before the final heat, which feature the top runners.
Lane: Lane is the designated area that runners are assigned to before the race. Tracks typically have between 4 and 8 lanes. Generally, runners are supposed to stay in their lanes.
False Start: A false start is when a runner begins the race before the gun goes off. If a runner false starts, they’re disqualified from the race.
Relay: A relay is a race that involves multiple runners. For instance, the 400-meter relay has 4 runners each running 100 meters. The runners pass a baton to their teammates after they’ve finished their portion of the race.
Leg: A leg is the portion of the race that a runner runs during a relay. For instance, the runner who starts a relay is typically called the lead-off.
Anchor: The anchor is the last leg of a relay. Usually, coaches save their fastest runners for the final leg because they want to finish strong.
Track Events & Strategy
Every runner has their own individual pacing strategy for a race. Your pacing strategy consists of the times you want for each section of the race. For instance, if you run an even split for a 3200-meter race, your goal would be to have the same time for each 400 meters. A negative split is when you start slow and finish fast. Any race over 800 meters favors a negative split. You want to finish with a strong kick while avoiding burning out too early by going too fast and losing your energy. Some runners could use a positive split strategy, where they start fast and finish slower, if they believe they can build up a big early lead and coast to the finish line. Below are descriptions of the different races in a track meet.
Sprint: Sprints are the shortest races in a track meet. They’re the 100-, 200-, and 400-meter relays. The 100-meter sprint is an all-out dash. There’s a minimal amount of pacing in the 200-meter sprint and a more involved pacing strategy for the 400.
Middle Distance: The 800- and 1600-meter runs are middle distance races. They’re roughly a half mile and mile runs. An 800-meter run is typically 2 laps around a standard track, and a 1600-meter run is 4 laps around it. It’s critical to have the proper pacing and position on the track to be successful in these runs.
Long Distance: A long distance run is 3200 meters or approximately 2 miles. It’s perhaps the most physically demanding race in a track competition. Runners must have excellent endurance and cardiovascular capacity to excel in the 3200.
Hurdles: Hurdles are barriers that runners must jump over. The hurdles are usually 42 inches high for men’s races and 33 inches for women’s races. Hurdle distances are 100 meters for women, 100 meters for men, and 400 meters for both men and women.
Steeplechase: A steeplechase is a 3000-meter race where athletes have to jump over 35 hurdles. Seven of the hurdles are over water. Unlike a regular hurdle race, the barriers in a steeplechase don’t give, which means that the runners have to jump over them completely or put a foot on top of them before coming down.
Field Events & Jumping Terms
Field events are divided into 2 categories: jumping and throwing. Below are descriptions of the jumping events.
High Jump: An event where an athlete jumps over a bar and lands on a padded mat. The goal is to clear the bar without knocking it down. The winner of the high jump clears the bar at the highest height.
Pole Vault: An event where an athlete uses a pole to vault over a bar onto a padded mat. Poles are not a standard height. They can vary from 10 to 17 feet.
Long Jump: A long jump is when an athlete jumps into a pit of sand as far as they can. The goal is to jump as far as possible.
Takeoff Board: A takeoff board is a white rectangular board that’s 48 inches long and 8 inches wide that runners must jump off on the long and triple jumps. If a runner misses the takeoff board, it’s a foul and the jump is disqualified.
Flight Phase: Flight phase is the period when athletes are in the air during their jumps.
Triple Jump: A triple jump is when an athlete must hop, skip, and then jump as far as possible into a sand pit.
Approach: An approach is the pre-activity or the running time an athlete performs before making a jump in the pole vault, high jump, long jump, and triple jump.
Throwing Event Terms
Standard events in every track meet are the shot put and discus. Many state-sanctioned high school meets do not have javelin and hammer events.
Shot Put: An event where an athlete propels a 16-pound ball as far as possible. The ball is pushed from a squatting position with a twisting motion.
Discus: An event where an athlete throws a circular disc that weighs between 2.2 and 4.4 pounds as far as possible. The thrower has to launch the disk from a circle that has a diameter of 2.5 meters.
Javelin: An event where an athlete must throw a metal spear that looks like an arrow as far as possible. A javelin is around 8’6” long.
Hammer: An event where an athlete throws either an 8-pound (women) or 16-pound (men) ball attached to a 4-foot wire as far as possible. The thrower winds up and twirls the wire before letting it go to get the maximum distance.
Combined Events & Athlete Metrics
Combined events take place over 2 days, and they’re intended to push athletes to the limits of their endurance. The winner of each event is the athlete that totals the most points. Below is a list of events that have multiple competitions in them along with some training terms.
Decathlon: A competition consisting of 10 events: the 100-meter dash, the 400-meter run, the long and high jump, shot put, the 110-meter hurdles, discus, pole vault, javelin, and the 1500-meter run.
Heptathlon: A competition consisting of 7 events: the 100-meter hurdles, the high and long jump, the 200- and 800-meter runs, the shot put, and javelin.
Pentathlon: A competition consisting of 5 events: a hurdle event, the high and long jump, the shot put, and the 800-meter run.
Macrocycle: The overall personal training block for an athlete for a big track meet is called their macrocycle. Athletes want to train to have their peak performance at the meet.
Mesocycle: A training cycle that lasts a shorter time than a macrocycle, focusing on a specific goal. For instance, a runner could focus on cutting time off their splits in the 800-meter run.
VO2Max: A barometer for your cardiovascular fitness, VO2Max is the amount of oxygen your body can use during exercise. Athletes want to get their VO2 to the highest level possible.
PR/PB: PR stands for personal record and PB stands for personal best. They both mean your personal best achievement in an event. For a run, that’s your lowest time. For a field event, it’s your longest throw or highest jump.
Field and running events started with the Ancient Games in Greece, which eventually led to the first Olympics in 1896. There are dozens of events that could be included in a meet, but high schools and colleges have mostly standardized different field and running events. Knowing the terms can help you understand what’s happening during a meet.