Sanya Richards-Ross explains how to win the 400-metre sprint
- 01 August 2024
Legendary sprinter Sanya Richards-Ross knows exactly how to complete a lap of the track in the fastest possible time: the Nike athlete is the American record holder in the distance, she won Olympic gold in the 400m in London and she's recorded more sub-50-second finishes in the event than any other woman sprinter, with a career total of 49 times. Here, she shares her secrets to topping the podium—and what the sprinters in Paris will need to do to bring home some hardware.
Preparing for the 400 metres is intense. I always say the 400 is not just a test of your physical capabilities, but also your mental stamina. For these athletes who obviously have been training, preparing and dreaming of this moment for so long, it's about executing the race that they've run a million times, the race they've seen in their mind's eye that their coach has prepared them to run.
To win the 400, I always used the four Ps:
Push: this is the first 50 metres and you're coming out strong
Pace: down the back, you're looking to hold position and not over-rev
Position: rounding the final turn, try to stretch your position as much as possible
Pray: coming home, stay poised, execute your best kick and land on the podium
"The 400 is not just a test of your physical capabilities, but also your mental stamina".
– Sanya Richards-Ross, American 400m record holder
You need to be ready to adapt as well. In 2012, I worked with a sports psychologist who told me, "Something is going to happen that you can't prepare for—and when it does, you're going to put your hand on your lower stomach and you are going to breathe into your hand and you're going to get back in the moment". And I'll never forget, I was standing on the track in London, ready to run my final, and they were announcing the athletes and they got to the winner from 2008, the year I won the bronze—she was announced after me and it was her home country, and I had never heard a crowd get that loud before in my life. It was unnerving. And then I thought, this is the moment that I prepared for and I put my hand on my stomach, took my breath and I rebounded and refocused.
Overall, you need that mental preparation. I think of what our Nike athlete TeeTee Terry said about coming to Paris, that you've got to walk in like you've already won. You've got to embody what it means to be a champion. And that's my mindset too. I remember in 2012, I kept saying to myself, "How would I be if I already won? Like, what would this experience be like?" And it made it so much more fun, so much lighter, because I was like, "I already did it! I've already won". I psyched myself up that way, mentally, so that I wasn't so anxious for the experience. And then I really won.