Replying To WanPintWin: "[quote=DonaldDuck: "Faster over what distance would be the question. Some are mentioning 100m, but acceleration and speed over 20m-40m is far more important in Gaelic football. A player will never run 100m flat out in a match. He'll rarely sprint anything more than more half that distance in one go. The player with the fastest 40m (or thereabouts) time, should be considered the fastest player. The AFL has a 20m sprint as part of their combine for new recruits. The record is 2.75 seconds. When Jack McCaffrey tested, he ran a 2.80 which was the fastest time that year and remains one of the fastest ever. He'd have to be up there.
WanPintWin (Galway) - Posts: 184 - 16/07/2018 19:28:44 Of course 100 flat out wont ever be ran by a player in a game but saying player with quickest 40m time should be considered the fastest isnt true. why 40? not not 50/60m?"
Because a 40m sprint is generally the longest any player will run flat out. Most sprints during a match are actually much shorter than that. It's therefore more indicative of applicable speed for the sport itself. There's a reason the Aussies measure 20m speed as part of their combine, rather than anything longer."
A 40m Sprint isn't fair either as you won't be at your top speed in the Sprint and isn't really more applicable to the sport"]It's a lot more applicable to the sport than someone's 100m or 200m time, which was my point. To address your point, high level sprinters hit top speed at around 45m. Athletes who aren't sprinters specifically will hit top speed before this, generally before 40m, so it is actually a fair measure on both counts.
The wording is fastest player in the GAA, that doesn't say club or county so any club player sprinting to the jacks in Croke Park 5 mins before halftime to avoid the queues