{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,9]],"date-time":"2026-10-09T04:50:31Z","timestamp":1791521431287,"version":"4.3.4"},"reference-count":46,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,9]],"date-time":"2026-10-09T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1791504000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Physiol."],"abstract":"\n Background<\/jats:title>\n Sprint performance reflects coordinated mechanical and neuromuscular behavior across distinct sprint phases. This study identified phase-specific neuromechanical signatures of 40-m sprint performance and tested whether integrated kinematic and electromyographic information added predictive value beyond direct spatiotemporal determinants of running velocity.<\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>\n \n Methods<\/jats:title>\n \n In this cross-sectional study, 160 young adults classified as sprint-trained athletes or physically active non-sprinters completed three maximal 40-m sprints. Split times were recorded every 10\u00a0m. Four synchronized high-speed cameras (240 frames\u00b7s\n -1)<\/jats:sup>\n and wireless surface electromyography of six lower-limb muscles captured sagittal-plane kinematics, muscle excitation, coactivation, and excitation\u2013movement coupling across four sprint phases. Velocity-adjusted mixed-effects models and one-dimensional statistical parametric mapping assessed discrete and waveform differences. Reliability-qualified features were analyzed using elastic-net models with repeated nested five-fold cross-validation. Mean 40-m velocity was the primary outcome. Step length and step frequency formed the direct spatiotemporal benchmark; ground-contact and flight times were added in an extended benchmark. Sprint-training-status classification was secondary and exploratory.\n <\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>\n \n Results<\/jats:title>\n \n Sprint-trained athletes completed 40\u00a0m faster than non-sprinters (5.20 \u00b1 0.31 vs 5.95 \u00b1 0.40 s). Their profile showed longer normalized steps, shorter contact times, phase-specific trunk and lower-limb configurations, greater early-phase gluteus maximus and vastus lateralis excitation, and greater later-phase biceps femoris preactivation and medial gastrocnemius excitation. In the complete synchronized sample (\n \n \n \n n<\/mml:mi>\n =<\/mml:mo>\n 152<\/mml:mn>\n <\/mml:mrow>\n <\/mml:math>\n <\/jats:inline-formula>\n ), the integrated non-spatiotemporal model achieved\n \n \n \n \n R<\/mml:mi>\n 2<\/mml:mn>\n <\/mml:msup>\n =<\/mml:mo>\n 0.74<\/mml:mn>\n <\/mml:mrow>\n <\/mml:math>\n <\/jats:inline-formula>\n and RMSE\u00a0=\u00a00.34 m\u00b7s\n -1<\/jats:sup>\n , versus\n \n \n \n \n R<\/mml:mi>\n 2<\/mml:mn>\n <\/mml:msup>\n =<\/mml:mo>\n 0.60<\/mml:mn>\n <\/mml:mrow>\n <\/mml:math>\n <\/jats:inline-formula>\n \/RMSE = 0.43 for kinematics and\n \n \n \n \n R<\/mml:mi>\n 2<\/mml:mn>\n <\/mml:msup>\n =<\/mml:mo>\n 0.55<\/mml:mn>\n <\/mml:mrow>\n <\/mml:math>\n <\/jats:inline-formula>\n \/RMSE = 0.45 for sEMG. Adding neuromechanical features to the direct benchmark improved\n R<\/jats:italic>\n 2<\/jats:sup>\n from 0.72 to 0.86 and reduced RMSE from 0.36 to 0.25 m\u00b7s\n -1<\/jats:sup>\n (paired reduction 0.11, 95% CI 0.07\u20130.15). Improvement persisted for the extended benchmark (\n R<\/jats:italic>\n 2<\/jats:sup>\n 0.76\u21920.87; RMSE 0.33\u21920.24). Transition and high-speed features accounted for 82% of coefficient magnitude, not variance explained. Exploratory classification achieved AUC\u00a0=\u00a00.94 and balanced accuracy = 0.89.\n <\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>\n \n Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n Forty-metre sprint performance was characterized by a phase-specific neuromechanical signature that provided incremental out-of-fold predictive information beyond direct and closely related spatiotemporal velocity metrics. External validation is required before broader generalization.<\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fphys.2026.1939386","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,9]],"date-time":"2026-10-09T04:27:11Z","timestamp":1791520031000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Phase-specific neuromechanical signatures of 40-m sprint performance: an integrated two-dimensional kinematic and surface electromyographic profiling study"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"17","author":[{"given":"Xin","family":"Wang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Physical Education, Qilu Normal University","place":["Jinan, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,9]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"69","DOI":"10.1136\/bjsm.2006.032318","article-title":"Time-motion analysis and physiological data of elite under-19-year-old basketball players during competition","volume":"41","author":"Abdelkrim","year":"2007","journal-title":"Br. 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