The AFL player sprint race was again held at half time of the 2019 AFL Grand Final. The winner was Ben King from the Gold Coast Suns, the first time a Suns player has won the event. Thankfully there were no ring-ins this year, with all the 18 participants coming from AFL clubs. Last year’s race included a couple of amateur U18 players, with one of them, Godfrey Okereneyang from the Coolamon Hoppers Club, winning the final. See more about the history of the Grand Final Sprint.
The NFL Quarterback Challenge was a long-running competition held up until 2007. This video of the 1998 event featured Brett Favre winning the long-distance throw with 74-yards.
It wasn’t the best ever in the competition, the longest was 80 yards (73 meters) by Vinnie Testaverde achieved in 1988. Equal second were Kordell Stewart and Drew Bledsoe with 73 yards, followed by Steve McNair with 72 yards.
Check out our page which in which we have collated many of the results, featuring many great names in NFL history. Peyton Manning was second in 2002 with 68 yards, and the competition was won by Tom Brady in 2003 with 62 yards.
Here is another variation of the yo-yo test, the Water Polo Intermittent Shuttle Test (WIST), designed to mimic the demands of the sport of water polo, based on the running Yo-Yo Intermittent Recovery Test Level 1. Swimmers shuttle across 7.5m in the pool, with 10-second recovery after every 15m. The test may have the same timings as the yo-yo intermittent recovery test level 1, but the swimming distance is reduced to compensate for the slower swimming rate. This test is part of the suggested fitness testing for water polo players, and on our new list of swimming fitness tests.
Here is the final for the AFL player sprint race held at half time of the 2018 AFL Grand Final. The winner was Godfrey Okereneyang from the Coolamon Hoppers Club, representing young footballers from around the country. The 16-year-old Okereneyang is a player from the GWS Academy. The highest placed AFL player was Jordan Murdoch from Geelong, who finished third. A little embarrassing for the professional footballers (the same thing happened in 2016). See more about the history of the Grand Final Sprint.
The camel jumpers in Yemen look impressive, though the ramp up to the take-off point gives them a good lift. It would be interesting to see how they would go doing a standard long jump, or for a long jumper or high jumper to have a go at camel jumping!
They usually jump between 4 to 6 camels, though the hight of the ramp and the height of the camel would obviously vary, and they also sometimes have saddles on the camels, so standardization is an issue. A new Olympic sport? There are a few things to sort out first, and sourcing a standard set of camels would be the first thing. See more about Camel Jumping.
Imagine a sports league where enormous machines, controlled by an athlete sitting within, would compete in challenges like racing through obstacle courses, overcoming hurdles such as pushing giant boulders and scaling tall hills, or even fighting each other. You can only imagine such a sport at the moment as only one has been built yet, and it is still a little slow and cumbersome. But one day …. See more about Mech Racing, and other New Sports.
A description of all the physical tests conducted at the AFL annual pre-draft combine, with information about how the tests relate to football performance. This video was produced before some changes to the testing list in 2017, when the beep test and was replaced with the yo-yo intermittent test and the 3-kilometre time-trial was reduced to a 2km run. See more about the AFL combine.
The Star Excursion Balance Test (SEBT) is a test of dynamic balance, which requires subjects to balance on one leg and reach as far as possible in eight different directions. This test has been used as an indicator of lower limb injury risk. Read about the Star Excursion Balance Test, and the similar Y-Balance Test which was derived from this test.
Winning gold at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin did not guarantee Jesse Owens financial success. In the years to follow, he regularly raced against horses to generate income. Here’s a video of one of his races in which he beat the horse. He is not the only person ever to race against animals: Michael Phelps raced a shark (sort of!), and others raced a cheetah. See our article on Man versus Animal.
To cap off a sensational year for the Tigers, in addition to the Grand Final, the Brownlow, and the Norm Smith medal, Richmond player Connor Menadue won the 2017 Grand Final half-time sprint. See more about the history of the Grand Final Sprint.
