In light of Keely Hodgkinson’s magnificent indoor performances, we thought it would be a good idea to explain the differences between indoor and outdoor athletic meets.

Indoor athletics is different to outdoor athletics but do you know why? Why do we see some athletes competing in both environments, and some preferring one over another? Our athletics expert, Ava John, gave us all the answers.

When is the indoor athletics season?

People tend to be surprised to find out that track and field has both a winter and a summer season. The indoor season can start as early as December and usually lasts until March.

What’s different about an indoor athletics track compared to an outdoor track?

An indoor track is half the size of an outdoor track and it’s banked. They are raised above the ground and inclined. These tracks introduce an uphill/downhill element to the indoor track races and transform events quite significantly.

Which events are excluded from indoor athletics and why?

Indoor facilities cannot accommodate longer throws and distances like the 100m. For this reason, the following events are removed:

• 400m hurdles – it would be very dangerous to attempt to run this event on a banked track.

• Hammer,

• Javelin

• Discus

Image from Wikicommons https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Special:EntityPage/Q6938433 Dandelion Sprout

Which athletic events are different indoors?

The heptathlon is condensed into a pentathlon, boasting only five of the seven events.

The nature of the banked track transforms the 400m and 800m into quite different events. The number of laps increases, making them require a different set of tactics.

From personal experience, sprinting on an indoor track is certainly very different. The bends feel very tight, and it is quite easy to accidentally step out of your lane and get disqualified (as I sadly know). However, it is a very cool feeling, charging down the track over the last 50m of an indoor 200m.

How do tactics differ for indoor athletic meets?

Indoors, due to the incline, positioning becomes much more important. For example, the outdoor 400m never requires athletes to break into lane one but indoors, it does.

Athletes must plan and be prepared for this break, an extra element they must add to their race preparation. If they get themselves into the wrong position, they may box themselves in. Finding yourself in the incorrect position after the break could completely mess up an athlete’s race plan and execution. As you can see, there is a lot of jeopardy running indoors. An indoor event that encapsulates this tense drama is the 60m.

Where the 100m is arguably the most universally appreciated and glorified track and field event, its indoor equivalent generates quite a bit of hype. This is a race that lasts around seven seconds, therefore there is simply no room for error.

Who are the athletes that we should look out for at indoor events?

Some athletes are better suited to the altered indoor version of their event compared to outdoors. Take Poland’s Ewa Swoboda for example: whilst she is a very high level 100m sprinter, she truly excels indoors at the 60m. This is because she has a lightning-fast start, which is the most important part of the 60m. She has had a lot more success on the indoor stage in comparison to the outdoor one. To compare her indoor vs outdoor performances, she has run the 25th fastest 60m time ever vs the 768th fastest 100m time ever.

Whilst it is no mean feat to dominate indoors, outdoor track and field is taken a lot more seriously. It usually acts as the main focus of an athlete’s season.

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Indoor athletics explained by Ava John